COLUMN: Looking back at ‘Liberation Day’ that changed every Mayo person

No county has, and probably never will again, have the heartache and heartbreak of reaching eleven All-Ireland finals in the space of 37 years and coming up short, some in the most agonising of circumstances, and still finding the courage and fighting spirit to get back on the horse again.

Joe Corcoran from Ardnaree, Ballina, was among my first Mayo heroes, a genius who topped the National League scoring charts back in the 1960s.

The first Mayo game I attended was the 1966 Connacht Final in Castlebar when a last minute point from Liam Sammon gave Galway a 0-12 to 1-8 win over Mayo as they claimed their four in a row Connacht titles and went on to win their three in a row All Ireland finals.

Every year since then I have been on the road with Mayo teams.

But not just Mayo teams, I had a special affection for the great Roscommon team of the late 1970s, inspired by the legendary Dermot Earley, and of course, the wonderful Galway hurling teams of the 1980s when I had the privilege of being in Croke Park to see them win the Liam McCarthy Cup in 1980, 1987 and 1988.

When Leitrim won their second Connacht title in 1994 with manager John O’Mahony, we were there in Hyde Park and later in Croke Park to support them in the semi final against Dublin.

In Croke Park in August 1989, we were there to see Mayo defeat Tyrone and reach the All Ireland Final for the first time since back in 1951 before many of us were born. We lost out to a fine Cork team that won by three points on the day but it was the advent of an amazing journey that saw us through the peaks and valleys and that culminated in our most glorious of triumphs last Sunday week.

Never were the words of Louis L’Amour, my favourite writer in the American ‘Western’ genre so true: “Victory is won not in miles but in inches. Win a little now, hold your ground, and later, win a little more.”

And on July 26, 2026, the winds swept the clouds from our hearts and brought forth the sunshine that now brightens our pathways as we move forward with a gentle pride that, in the words of the Val Doonican song from former times, sees us ‘Walk Tall, Walk Straight and look the world right in the eye”

It was ‘Liberation Day’ for a people who have known what it is to face long odds but still remain defiant and steadfast and rooted from the bridge at Shrule to the brown lands of Erris. Our bonds with Wexford were forged in the heat of 1798 from Killala and Castlebar to Boolavogue and Vinegar Hill o’er the pleasant Slaney.

Michael Davitt from Straide, who died in 1906, led the rising of the Irish tenant farmers with the formation of the Land League. The vision of Msgr James Horan in providing the region with an international airport is almost miraculous in itself but yet embodies an incredible spirit that remains at the heart of the rebellious streak in the Mayo psyche.

The Mayo diaspora is the largest of all the counties and we can only try and comprehend what this victory means to the people of Mayo ancestry in Chicago, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Cleveland, California, Texas, Toronto, Melbourne, Sydney, and in English cities like Manchester, Leeds, Coventry, London, Birmingham and Liverpool.

For generations the song that touched their hearts in such a special way was The Boys From The County Mayo. The late Jerry Walsh from The Raftery Rooms, Kiltimagh, used to credit this song to Tom Ryan from Kiltimagh who Jerry said wrote this song around 1930.

“Far away from the land of the shamrock and heather.

In search of a living as exiles we roam

But whenever we chance to assemble together

We think of a land where we once had a home.”

The song became so well known in New York that Pete Seeger, known as the Father of American Folk Music, recorded this song on one of his albums in the 1950s.

The usual suspects had their ammunition stocks, nastiness and sarcasm, all lined up on social media to fire at us again on Sunday evening. They could hardly wait to unleash their venom and mock at a county and people that are at the heart of decency and all that is good about our culture.

But this Mayo team, after a seventy minutes that will become enshrined in the history of the GAA, decommissioned that vile brigade of begrudgers forever and a day. As Andy Moran so brilliantly said: “They’re not laughing at us now”

The buzz of July 26, 2026, in Croke Park will ring in our hearts until the going down of the sun. Never again will the nation join a team in such a celebration because, in their hearts, they understood that no county had endured so much pain and yet never once threw in the towel.

On the morning of the match, Robert Irwin from Castleblayney sent me this text. “I feel in my heart that Mayo will win today. The goodwill of 31 counties is with you.

This goodwill is unmeasurable but it is your extra man today. I was born in 1951 (the year of the curse) and I am asking that it be removed today. Seventy five years in limbo is more than enough. Time to go home again. Best of luck from Big Tom country.”

Robert’s optimism was reflected by another close friend, Ollie Hennessy from Carlow, who said all week that Mayo would get over the line.

We could write pages and pages about this glorious time for Mayo people, Delia Heneghan on the bridge near Maynooth and all the people who stood on several bridges over the motorway waving Mayo flags as we eased our way towards our glorious county. Perhaps we should switch Mayo Day permanently to July 26 in tribute to our gallant band of warriors!

And yet, we can never forget the graciousness of the people of Kerry who waited in their thousands to see Mayo life Sam after all those years and warmly congratulate us on our famous victory. It was ‘family’ and we will not forget this beautiful gesture and goodwill from the Kingdom.

It has been like Christmas over the last week, we don’t know what day of the week it is. People have changed so much and the joy is everywhere. “Google” has been parked and human communication is back at number one in the charts. We know Mayo will be the ‘Team of the Year’ when the national sports awards are announced later in the year. You can’t always live your life in the valley when you've got to feel the wind on the hill.

Have you noticed how everything in the county looks more beautiful? It is as if we are looking with new eyes at Nephin and the Reek and the Moy and the wonders of nature lavished on our beautiful Mayo.

Thousands of tributes have been paid to Mayo in recent days. But I think this one from Anne Marie Duggan-Hughes in Knock, encapsulates what it means in such a lovely way. “Every Mayo person is changed! The decades of disappointment has been replaced with overwhelming pride and joy - amazing feeling!”

This week in Mayo, in the words on The Eagles most beautiful and sensitive song, we have that ‘peaceful easy feeling’. And it is beautiful and we will cling to it wherever we go.

We all have emotions crashing on the shores of memories, thinking of those who longed for this day and did not see it and those who were here to feel it and carry it in their hearts for the rest of life’s journey.

Because, as our captain Jack Coyne said, in his incredible and passionate speech (in the same league as Joe Connolly of the Galway hurling team when he raised the Liam McCarthy Cup aloft in 1980 after a gap of 57 years), we will “stick our chest out and be proud to be from Mayo’. ‘Chesties’ abú!!