Éamonn Fitzmaurice: Moran and Mayo stick to the plan to banish the curse in style

Andy Moran made key alternations mid-season and stuck to his guns all the way to the steps of Croke Park.

Mayo’s Darragh Beirne scores his side's goal. Pic: INPHO/James Crombie

There is always a curse isn’t there? When a team are enduring a historically long drought, black magic is to be blamed. Lack of talent or performance is explained away. The Boston Red Sox went 86 years without winning the World Series, the famous Curse of the Bambino was responsible after they sold the great Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees. With the Clare hurlers it was the curse of Biddy Early, accused of witchcraft and hounded by the Catholic church in the late 1800s, which they bested to bridge their gap from 1914 to 1995. The infamous Mayo curse has been held up as the cause for misfortune and defeats for long enough. Yesterday it was purged emphatically in an incredible victory for them, and 75 years no more.

When Mayo lost the Connacht semi-final to Roscommon last April it was the first time we saw the normally genial Andy Moran rattled. The local inquisitions were saucy. It looked at the time as if Mayo were about to eat themselves from the inside out, once more. However, it enforced a hard reset from Moran. First of all they had six weeks until their next game.