Fanny Blankers-Koen, the Mayo GAA team and 'Sam'

by Johnny Mee

HOW time flies!

The first post-war Olympic Games were staged in London in 1948.

Athletic events were held in the White City. The star of the Olympics was Fanny Blankers-Koen, the flying Dutch woman who won four gold medals.

On the GAA scene it was a sad time for the Mayo football team.

They were beaten by Cavan in the All-Ireland football final in a controversial manner.

Cavan, with a strong wind behind them, were well on top in the first half and led by a number of points at the interval.

Mayo staged a great comeback in the second half and looked to be on track for an historic win.

However, it was alleged the referee blew the full-time whistle two minutes short of 60 minutes and Cavan took home the Sam Maguire Cup.

Disaster for the gallant Mayo boys.

However, Mayo battled back to win ‘Sam’ twice in a row, beating Louth and Meath in the early 1950s.

It is beyond belief Mayo have lost several All-Ireland titles since those heady days.

The world was a different place in the late 1940s and the 1950s, rationing of foodstuffs and other items was strictly enforced and few people had radios; television didn’t come to Ireland until the early 1960s.

The majority of young Irish people have grown up in good times and are well fed, well dressed and well educated nowadays.

I remember 1948 for another reason: I joined the staff of The Connaught Telegraph as messenger boy at 15 shillings a week.

It was one of the best things that happened to me in a long life.

I worked in the Telegraph for the following 57 years and I enjoyed every minute of it. The staff were like one big family; not a job in the real sense of the work.

The Gillespie family and in later years Dr. John Connolly were decent and understanding, excellent people to work for.

The Telegraph staff worked in a unified fashion, young and old.

An incurable optimist, I genuinely believe Mayo will win the All-Ireland title in the next few years.