Five Mayo men alive in 1951 recall All-Ireland glory: 'To see them win again would be just incredible'

What was it like to be a young supporter from Mayo in 1951? Five men fortunate to be alive when Seán Flanagan lifted the Sam Maguire Cup after defeating Meath recall that glorious day 70 years ago.

THE MEN OF 1951: The Mayo senior football team that won the 1951 All-Ireland senior title by beating Meath. Back row, left to right: James Quinn, Eugene Quinn (brothers of Fr Peter Quinn), Paddy Jordan, Mick Loftus, John Forde, Joe Gilvarry, Tom Langan, Paddy Irwin, John McAndrew, Dr Jimmy Laffey (chairman, Mayo Co Board), Henry Dixon, Liam Hastings, Mick Mulderrig, Gerald Courell (trainer), Pat Conway (treasurer, Mayo Co Board). Front row: Willie Casey, Jackie Carney (trainer), Sean Wynne, Mick Flanagan, Eamonn Mongey, Seán Mulderrig, Fr Peter Quinn, Pádraig Carney, Seán Flanagan, Paddy Prendergast, Jimmy Curran and Joe Staunton.

Seán Rice, Breaffy and Castlebar Mitchels. Sports journalist

I was around 12 or 13 in ’51. It wasn’t as it is now. There was no hullabaloo. We were all mad about football and were all mad about the Langans and Flanagans but I can’t remember flags and bunting being out as is the case now.

Very few newspapers at the time had dedicated sports pages. The reports in the Connacht Telegraph and Western People were in the news pages but The Mayo News did have back-page coverage of the game.

We were probably too young to realise the significance of it, but what we do remember is people who were in Croke Park speaking about how the play went and Tom Langan’s great goal. It stuck in our imagination and often we’d go out then and pretend we were Langan and the rest of the team.

I do remember being in St Gerald’s College, and some of the players coming to the school with the cup. There was a big blackboard with “Céad Míle Fáilte” written on it by the brothers and the cup was laid down on a little plinth outside the college and a photograph was taken of it with all the pupils and the players. I remember seeing them on the back of a lorry in Castlebar. 1951 is diminishing in the mind all the time.

THE MEN OF 1951: The Mayo senior football team that won the 1951 All-Ireland senior title by beating Meath. Back row, left to right: James Quinn, Eugene Quinn (brothers of Fr Peter Quinn), Paddy Jordan, Mick Loftus, John Forde, Joe Gilvarry, Tom Langan, Paddy Irwin, John McAndrew, Dr Jimmy Laffey (chairman, Mayo Co Board), Henry Dixon, Liam Hastings, Mick Mulderrig, Gerald Courell (trainer), Pat Conway (treasurer, Mayo Co Board). Front row: Willie Casey, Jackie Carney (trainer), Sean Wynne, Mick Flanagan, Eamonn Mongey, Seán Mulderrig, Fr Peter Quinn, Pádraig Carney, Seán Flanagan, Paddy Prendergast, Jimmy Curran and Joe Staunton.

Naturally, because of time, the players are not as significant as they would have been in our minds 20 years ago. When we started to hit the headlines and make finals, they were the touchstone.

Seán Feeney, Ballintubber. Former Mayo GAA secretary and current county president

My cousin and next-door neighbour Paddy Prendergast was the full-back in that team.

He became a celebrity in the village after that, and he continued to be for the rest of his life. Paddy is the last of the 1951 team. He was who we looked up to.

One thing about 1951 that stood out was the three subs in the final. They hadn’t played in the previous games, whereas others had but they were the three who got the medals - there were only 18 medals available. I was first brought to a Mayo game for a National League match against Westmeath when I was eight or nine.

The one fella who stood out was a newcomer from Ballina called Stanley Rowe. I remember the great Joe Corcoran and he could kick off both feet. Willie Casey was another who stood out, and I met him several times after that.

Over the last 10 years, the Mayo support has grown to huge proportions particularly with the introduction of the season ticket in the early 2010s. Prior to that, you’d get 2,000 or 3,000 at a National League game but that increased five- or six-fold, which was enormous.

Seamus Gallagher, Claremorris. Former Mayo U21 selector

I was only five at the time but I remember being on the father’s shoulders when they came back with the cup on Mount Street in Claremorris.

They were on the back of a truck and on each side of the road there was hayfork and turf lit in honour of them. They had a reception then in the Western Hotel. I have photographs of a few of them with the cup, the likes of Seán Flanagan. The joy of it was out of this world. My father Bill was at the game. He was a great follower of football and he couldn’t miss it. I think he travelled by car. He worked in a bacon factory at the time and they had a team in there at the time.

There was a team in the town too, but the bacon factory was bringing in fellas from Milltown, Ballindine, and all the outlying areas.

My first game was in 1955 for the All-Ireland semi-final against Dublin. I’d follow the team avidly now. I love the game, I love Mayo football. To see them win again would be just incredible. Mayo people have never lost the faith that the day will come and I don’t think they ever will.

Austin Garvan, Claremorris. Former Mayo minor manager. Journalist

The bonfires blazed a long way out from Claremorris when they came through in ’51. They were later introduced to the crowd in The Mall in Castlebar, but it was enough for me to see them in the flesh in my own town.

My father Philip and mother Mary would listen to the games on the wireless and these players were huge heroes of mine and they became bigger ones as I got to know them subsequently, particularly Seán Flanagan. His son Dermot had a cycle for cancer the weekend before last. I was minor manager in ’79 when Dermot came down for a trial and we took him in and the rest is history.

I also got to know Paddy Prendergast well and would meet him periodically.

In 1952, I was introduced to inter-county football the following year when my father Philip brought me by train to Castlebar where Mayo were playing Roscommon in the Connacht final.

Unfortunately, we got beaten that day — Brendan Lynch was playing Paddy Prendergast. From that game on, my love for the game was huge.

I went to the ’54 game then when we beat Roscommon in Tuam, 3-11 to 1-3. I loved the primrose and blue jerseys of Roscommon but my team was Mayo, who were too good for them. I remember the players eating oranges after the game.

If you told me back then we’d be still waiting [in 2021] for another ’51, I wouldn’t have believed you because Mayo is such a huge GAA county.

The club scene is very strong and league games at the moment without the inter-county players are very competitive.

Des Jennings, Breaffy. Club president

A lot of that 1951 team played in the ’55 All-Ireland semi-final when I was of an age to appreciate them. My first game was the ‘54 Connacht semi-final against Roscommon in MacHale Park. The two men that always stood out to me were Paddy Prendergast and Tom Langan. To me, Tom Langan was an absolute genius. If you saw what he was able to do now, he would be hailed as one of the greatest.

Paddy Prendergast — you’d always see him launching into the air with his massive pair of hands and gathering a ball, which was way heavier than the one that is used now.

My late wife Nancy was a great follower of Mayo as I am and I’ll be there on Saturday — I’ve only missed one Mayo semi-final from all the semi-finals and finals they have played over the last 65 years.

This team is very new and there’s a huge amount of youth there which James Horan has infused into the team to rebuild it. The men in ’51 were huge men and there are many in this Mayo team and those who were in recent All-Ireland finals of the same build. They might be more skilful and fitter now, but that Mayo bunch of players were something else.