Mayo St Patrick falls foul of law

A WELL-KNOWN Mayo GAA supporter who dresses up as St Patrick had his banner confiscated by a Garda sergeant at Sunday’s Allianz Football League clash with Dublin.

Westport man John Durcan had prepared the banner specially for the trip to Croke Park, and still doesn’t know why it fell foul of the law.

Durcan said: “He (the Garda sergeant) said it was incitement. I’m not a fella to look for the headlines... but what happened was very, very wrong. I pride myself on banners, but I always run them by two or three very intelligent people. And this one was a winner.”

The banner was entitled ‘St Patrick’s Five-Point Plan’, and was inspired, its creator explained, by the Fine Gael five-point plan outlined by Enda Kenny during the recent election campaign.

It called for women priests and an end to celibacy, and predicted All-Ireland football and hurling victories for Mayo and Galway respectively. The third point — ‘Free the Vatican Six’ — was, he says, “just a one-liner for a bit of craic”, a made-up statement without any deeper meaning.

Durcan prepared the banner especially for the game. The one he designed for Mayo’s victory over Galway in Tuam included a reference to Enda Kenny being “buried by Dublin 4 prophets of doom”, which he thought “would be derogatory to the Dublin media” in Croke Park.

He added that his 36 years in the Defence Forces meant he had great respect for the Garda Síochána, and says he asked people to stop booing the garda after the banner was confiscated.

Asked what words were exchanged during the incident, he replied: “It was a battle of wits, and I won’t say I lost!”

Durcan, a familiar sight at Mayo matches, recalled that he previously got into trouble at another Mayo-Dublin game, the All-Ireland ladies’ football final of 2003.

After the US invasion of Iraq, he dressed up as an Arab with Mayo gear and predicted that Mayo would strike oil. His banner — ‘Bush Invades Iraq; Mayo Arab Invades Hill 16’ — “went down a bomb” but he was “thrown out”, as not everybody saw the funny side.

In 2007, two gardaí put a stop to an impromptu céilí he staged outside Croke Park on the day of the NFL final between Mayo and Donegal. In 2008, a wooden spoon belonging to him was thrown at Kerry footballer Kieran Donaghy by an unidentified Mayo fan.

Undaunted, the Congo veteran is already working on his next banner, which he’ll unveil during the All-Ireland champions’ visit to Castlebar on Sunday week, April 3. And what will it read?

“‘St Patrick — The Original Rebel’. I’m going to welcome Cork, the Rebel County, to Mayo. Because I’m the original rebel! Sam (Maguire) will come yet!”