Mayo native in America wins trip home for All-Ireland Final

Michael Ruane, who has lived in New Jersey for the past 44 years, is heading home to Ireland after winning the national Allianz ‘Coming Home for Match Day’ competition, securing his trip back for Mayo's All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final against Kerry at Croke Park on Sunday, July 26.

Michael emigrated from Mayo more than four decades ago, but his connection to the county and to Gaelic games never faded. In his early years in America, he lined out with the Mayo Juniors in New York, and since then he has quietly given a lifetime of service to the Irish and GAA community across the tri-state area. He has coached youth football with St. Joseph's in New Jersey, coached girls' football with St. Brigid's in New York, volunteered countless hours at Gaelic Park, and remains a proud member of the New York GAA Mayo Football Club to this day.

It was Michael's niece, Niamh Daly based in Melbourne, who put his name forward for the competition, hoping to give her uncle the homecoming his decades of dedication deserved. Her nomination has now made that possible.

If Mayo reaching the final wasn't emotional enough on its own, the timing could not be more fitting. Michael will return to reunite with his brother, sisters, nieces, nephews, a grandniece and grandnephews, along with lifelong friends and neighbours from home. He will take his seat in Croke Park alongside his sister Anne, a lifelong and diehard Mayo supporter, for what promises to be one of the most personal days of his life.

After 44 years spent keeping the green and red flag flying in New Jersey and New York, Michael will finally get to stand among his own for an All-Ireland Final, sharing the day with his sister, family and the county he has carried with him every mile of the way.

The ⁠Allianz "Coming Home for Match Day" competition is designed to reconnect Irish expats with their communities and families during the peak of the GAA Senior Football Championship.