Mayo football journey chronicled in new book
The pursuit of glory by Mayo has been one of the most intriguing sagas throughout the history of the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship. No other county has been to so many finals, has given so much to the inter-county game, yet come away with so little glory.
So much disappointment would surely break the soul of even the stoutest supporter of any other county, but the constant setbacks seem to drive Mayo supporters on to greater levels of fanaticism and devotion.
Through so much crushing disappointment, from narrow defeats to unlucky bounces to harrowing thrashings, the spirit of the Mayo fan and supporter seems indomitable.
Writer/journalist Declan Varley, a Ballinrobe native, has been a witness to this ongoing pursuit by his native county, and is one of just a handful to have attended every unsuccessful Mayo final since 1951 – a front row seat to pain.
In his new book Mayo - A Biography in Nine Lives, he charts that journey through conversations with some of those who wore the green and red, and those closest to them. He talks curses and snowy pitches and conspiracy theories and crushing disappointment. Blending in the conversations with episodes from his own life, he paints an honest depiction of the lot of a Mayo supporter, pursuing a dream through determination and bloodymindedness.
From the first Mayo All-Ireland-winning captain Séamus O’Malley through Seán Flanagan and Padraig Carney of the great team of the early '50s, to the towering giants who were John Morley and Tommy O’Malley, to James Nallen and John Casey who nearly secured silverware, and to Alan Dillon and Tom Parsons, members of the team of the last decade that put it up to the greatest of them all. Players and fans together, purveyors of a dream that they hope will die with victory, this is the Mayo story.
“The book opens up with the death of the Queen in Balmoral, not your normal setting for a GAA story, but it brings the reader through the potted story of Mayo football, with every joy and disappointment along the way,” said Varley.
“When she ascended to the throne in February 1952, only six months had passed since that Mayo team had reigned supreme in Croke Park. On that day, with a world of possibilities in front of her, there was no way she could have foreseen the longevity of her reign and the momentous changes that would follow suit.
“On that day too, there was little to suggest that an all-conquering Mayo team, who would soon be embarking on an historic quest for three in-a-row, would not taste success again, not just for that decade, but for at least six more after it, stretching well into the next century,” he added.
“To put it into context, imagine if you were told tomorrow that the Dublin team that won the All-Ireland final in 2023 would not win another until 2094. You would never believe it, but that is the span of barren-ness that Mayo fans have had to endure, so far.
“But it is not a story of failure of disappointment. It is a journey into the culture of a county’s determination and tenacity and humour and pathos.
“It is also a guide to the story of Mayo football for the supporters who have known only the glory years of the modern era. The book goes right from Mayo’s first final in 1916 to the exit from the championship in the same stadium three months ago,” he said.
Mayo - A Biography In Nine Lives is available in all good bookshops and online. It is published by Hero Books. The book will have its official launch tomorrow (Thursday, October 12) in Castlebar as part of the Wild Atlantic Words literary festival. It will take place in the Festival Dome at the rear of Bridge St Bar from 7 to 8 p.m. All are welcome.