Did a funeral in 2023 funeral lift the infamous Mayo GAA curse or did it ever exist?
The alleged curse which is said to date back to Mayo’s last All-Ireland win in 1951 is now very much dead and buried following Mayo’s win over Kerry in Croke Park.
There are varying accounts of the victorious team of that year not realising that a funeral was taking place in Foxford and due reverence was not accorded.
Details differ on whether the Mayo panel was on a bus or the back of a lorry, but legend has it that a priest placed a curse on the team that the county would not win another All-Ireland until every member of the team had died.
Although other accounts have attributed the curse to the dead man’s grieving widow.
However, casting doubt on the story, the Connaught Telegraph reported at the time that the players who had travelled in their own cars from Dublin boarded a lorry at the junction of the Ballina and Swinford roads.
They then paraded into Castlebar, led by the Castlebar Brass Band, arriving in the town centre at 9.45pm for a reception hosted by the Urban District Council with an estimated crowd of over 5,000 people.
In fact, the team is not believed to have visited Foxford until the following day.
Our own head of sport Michael Gallagher has even gone to the lengths of searching death records for the area. While a local person did die over the weekend of the All-Ireland in 1951, Gallagher's research confirmed that the funeral did not take place until the following Wednesday.
Whether the event took place or not has been hotly debated over the years. However, one thing is for certain, Mayo entered the footballing wilderness for 75 years and lost 11 All-Ireland football finals in that time, some in agonisingly close fashion.
The curse did not extend to the women’s team though, who have won four All-Ireland titles from 1999 to 2003.
There has also been All-Ireland success at minor and U21 during the time of the alleged curse.
Sunday’s game was the first All-Ireland senior football final that Mayo contested since all players and panellists from the 1951 Mayo team have now passed to their eternal reward. The last member of that panel, Mick Loftus, died in 2023.
Paddy Prendergast, who was the final surviving team member and played at full-back, died at the age of 95 on 26 September 2021
The so-called curse has been relayed around the world with news of Mayo’s win broadcast to millions by one of Australia’s largest TV News broadcasters, 7 News Sydney.
The news segment announced: “County Mayo has won the Gaelic Football Championship, breaking a 75-year losing streak that locals attributed to a curse imposed by a catholic priest in 1951.”
News outlets from the BBC to Sky Sports News have all referenced the so-called curse in recent days.
But the only thing can now be certain is that the curse has finally been laid to rest, just as the Clare hurlers consigned the so-called Biddy Early curse to history in 1995.