A look back at better days for Mayo
“Bonfires over Bohola” offers a snapshot of the last Mayo side to win the Sam Maguire, the 1950-’51 team captained by Sean Flanagan.
The production team unearthed some home movie footage which takes the documentary beyond the usual moving heads and evokes the rough and tumble of 1950s club football: the ruck of midfielders and forwards for a 16-man throw-in; hatted male spectators, with v-neck jumpers under good sports coats; fans milling around behind the goals, which are notably short of nets and recognisable umpires.
The marquee stars of that great Mayo side are much in evidence in the programme, and an eloquent bunch they are. The famous Padraic Carney - the Flying Doctor himself - outlines the determination of the side, while Eamonn Mongey and Sean Mulderrig put flesh on the bones of legend.
Even five decades later most of them still recall the high emigration and limited prospects of the late 1940s and 1950s, and the valuable service the team did in keeping the spirits of an impoverished county high.
Not everyone’s prospects were limited, mind. More than one participant in the programme points out that the team was unusual in its level of education, with a good many players studying medicine, law, engineering and holy orders.
Unfortunately, this proved to be a disadvantage in the end for the team. Most of them were available to the county selectors precisely because of the extra couple of years they spent in the country studying. When they graduated and set out to find work, many of them discovered that an All-Ireland medal was no guarantee of employment, no matter how esteemed your qualifications. Carney himself, for example, ended up a Professor of Obstetrics in the University of California.
The documentary also hints at another reason for the team’s decline: rather than spoil the surprise for viewers, suffice it to say that it involves registered post, All-Ireland medals and the county board.
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