Tears in '89 to tears in '26: my lifetime waiting for Mayo's day

Writing now, I don't really believe it has ended. I'm expecting some sort of an objection. To wake up and find Pat McEnaney and Kieran Donaghy at the foot of the bed laughing
With 30 seconds to go when Kobe had the ball I broke down. Cried for 20 minutes straight. My 11 year old daughter was so worried. She could not understand what she was seeing. Pic: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

With 30 seconds to go when Kobe had the ball I broke down. Cried for 20 minutes straight. My 11 year old daughter was so worried. She could not understand what she was seeing. Pic: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

Wed, 29 Jul, 2026 - 02:15
Terry Reilly

It's taken 75 years to reach this moment. I've only had to suffer 45 of them.

1989: The bug hit in 1985. Like most young fellas, no one was better than by father. The first GAA memory was being inside the Ballina Stephenites clubhouse where it seemed like hundreds of men, with combovers and dodgy flair grey suits, had congregated in one place to talk to my father. He had just published Green Above the Red, a history of Mayo football, with Ivan Neill.

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<p>. Pic: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile</p>

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