Seamus Fogarty’s eyes always on Mayo’s eternal struggle

The London-based alt-folk singer played with Swinford up to minor when he won a county title as a substitute in 1997

But for the pandemic, Seamus Fogarty would have nestled himself into one of Croke Park’s stands that evening as he has done for several finals going back to the 1989 loss to Cork.

“More lockdowns, Mayo losing another All-Ireland… it just gets worse,” tweeted Seamus Fogarty last month, the day after his county’s 12th consecutive failed attempt at winning an All-Ireland final.

But for the pandemic, the London-based, Swinford-born, alt-folk singer would have nestled himself into one of Croke Park’s stands that evening as he has done for several finals going back to the 1989 loss to Cork when he was brought by his Ballinskelligs father “and Willie Joe (Padden) got bandaged up like a mummy”.

Seven years later and he was in the old Canal End with his school pals just as they thought the game was in the bag against Meath after Ray Dempsey’s goal in front of them put Mayo six points up in the 45th minute.

“Me and the lads were just waiting to run onto the pitch to start celebrating. There have been so many times like that since then that you just learn to bite your tongue and you’re petrified. Still it hasn’t happened.”

Fogarty played with Swinford up to minor when he won a county title as a substitute in 1997. Basketball was also big for him in school in Kiltimagh, under the guidance of Mary Mannion. Sport took a backseat when he went to study engineering in DCU and after that music brought him to Scotland before settling in London.

There is no ode to his fellow Swinford man David Heaney or his beloved football team on his excellent new, third album A Bag of Eyes, but in songs like ‘Johnny K’ Mayo features prominently, “no matter how much I try to keep it out”.

Inspired by photographer Liam Lyons’ capturing of nuns playing volleyball behind the convent in Swinford, it’s the disappearance of women in habits in Mayo that feature in his song ‘Nuns’ — not priests or how they may or may not have damned the footballers’ 70 years ago.

He knows football has replaced the Church for many Mayo people. 

“The parallels with religion and devotion are justified — we just have to believe that we can do it. The lads keep going out there and give themselves the chance. Growing up in the west of Ireland, there’s almost an air of pessimism, really, that’s just in the ground or something.

But the Mayo football team just seem to be able to transcend it and keep bouncing back. You can see how much it means to them. It’s kind of inspirational, really, but it’s awful at the same time. It really is. It’s heartbreaking.”

Adding up acts of ill fate like that have befallen Mayo, such as Colm Coyle’s point in 1996 and the two first-half own goals against Dublin in the 2016 drawn All-Ireland final, is Fogarty of the mind the county has been damned?

“I think it’s just life. You just have to keep at it. There’s no way around it. It’s not getting any easier, especially the last few years against Dublin. The fact they have forged so far ahead of the country doesn’t help confidence but this Mayo team ignore that and put that to the back of their mind.

“At the same time, there probably is a psychological thing that has seeped into the team — how could there not. To be close so many times… it’s about getting over the finishing line. There have been a lot of retirements in recent weeks but I don’t know if this team could have been better psychologically prepared.

“Other than some sort of magic potion to make them believe they can pull away and finish the job, I don’t know what else there is. OK there is luck too. You have those two own goals and the ball hopping over the bar and it’s easy to say we haven’t had all the luck but you can’t blame that either.”

As an expat, Fogarty is acutely cognisant of the potency of Mayo football. “As someone who spends a lot of time abroad, it’s something that brings so many Mayo people together. Outside of the winning and the losing, that’s something special, I think. I go down to Mannion’s in Tottenham and you’d bump into lads and ladies you would have seen in school 20-something years ago.

“It’s a really powerful thing and that happens all over the world. I think that’s one of the reasons why Mayo have such a strong support base because we are everywhere. Once you go abroad your passion for your county doubles and trebles.”

And what if the call came to play at a victorious homecoming in Castlebar? Fogarty illuminates at the thought. “That would be the highest honour. Jeez, just the mention of a homecoming, there’s a glow in me. Hopefully some time in my lifetime.”

- Seamus Fogarty’s A Bag of Eyes is out on Domino Records