On song: how The Saw Doctors created a Mayo anthem
TRUE COLOURS: Mayo supporter Tom Hickey, from Ballyhaunis, before the All-Ireland semi-final against Louth. Pic: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile
Mayo’s last score had a soundtrack. Literally. As Ryan O’Donoghue was sizing up his buzzer-beating two-pointer last Saturday week, Davy Carton was already launching into “The Green and Red of Mayo”.
The Croke Park DJ had pressed play, stopped then restarted after O’Donoghue boomed over the score. It only served to prime supporters for one of the great county anthems, the line “where the ocean kisses Ireland” reverberating with gusto.
Inspired by their first trip to Clare Island in the summer of 1990, it might seem ironic that it was The Saw Doctors, a bunch of Galway men to encapsulate what Mayo means to its people. Even if they are from only over the road in Tuam.
“The border is only a line the English made up,” smiles band co-founder and guitarist Leo Moran. “Maybe the fact that we're outsiders, we were able to see it with fresher eyes than the people that were looking at it all day, every day.
“There was a little festival on Clare Island, the Maimín Cajun Band were playing. We were coming back in Clew Bay, looking at Croagh Patrick and the green and the red of the heather of the landscape and realising that’s where they got their colours of their jersey. The weather was fantastic, the water was so calm, not a cloud in the sky. Everything was idyllic, and the song came out of that.
Read More
“(Former Galway manager) Alan Mulholland's uncle Gerry was with us and co-wrote the song. It was lovely to have him along. He had some great lines in it. And he's gone now, so I always think of him when it gets a big play.”
Moran heard “The Green and Red…” in Croke Park in 2023 but it wasn’t the one song of The Saw Doctors he wanted to hear that day. “The league final against Galway. I knew I was going to hear one of them, and I was hoping it wasn't the one I did hear. No ‘N17’ that day.”
“The Green and Red…” is a staple part of Mayo weddings and wakes. The reaction to its playing can be visceral like “The West’s Awake”.
Moran doesn’t think the lyrics or the melody resonates as much as the overall feeling it evokes.
“One of the good things about it, it's a slow song. And they're the kind of songs that generally end up being anthemic. They're easy to sing. We're awfully blessed that Mayo people have chosen it to be up there because there's a lot of great Mayo songs over the years. For our one to get so much exposure, we're awful lucky.”
Not that the band get many royalties for its playing in Croke Park where IMRO (Irish Music Rights Organisation) consider it as background music. Having said that, it received quite the boost on Spotify following the win over Louth as did “To Win Just Once” and “Clare Island”, their so-called Mayo trilogy.
Even though “To Win Just Once” had nothing to do with Mayo. “Just an underdog song, really,” says Moran. “There were young lads playing soccer, and they got to a semi-final and were out drinking. And I was thinking, ‘Man, come on, really? You have to think beyond the semi-final, about winning the final.’ But the song came out in a different way, funnily enough.”
It will be a poignant Sunday for Galway too as they celebrate their 2001 All-Ireland winning jubilee team and remember the recently departed Paul Clancy as well as their manager and Mayo’s John O’Mahony.
It was O’Mahony who insisted the county “keep the faith” and in Mayo’s first All-Ireland final appearance since his passing in 2024. Moran points out that between football and hurling Galway have lost four All-Ireland finals in the last eight years but an outpouring a Mayo win would be extraordinary.
“Nobody's given them a chance. But it would mean so much more to Mayo people than it would Kerry people if they were to win the All-Ireland. When Kerry win the All-Ireland, you hear players talking about being a relief. That's a strange emotion.
“It's hard for people who don't win All-Irelands to understand how it could be a relief. For them, it would be just ecstatic joy multiplied by millions. They would get so much more value out of it.”
The Saw Doctors play the Galway Arts Festival on Friday and are in Wickham next Saturday. Could they squeeze in a trip to Castlebar if Mayo make history? “It's very dangerous to be making preparations like that,” Moran laughs. “They don't seem to work for anyone. It would be something magical if they won.
“I've watched so many matches over the years and just been delighted that Galway or Mayo won. And then the song comes on, and it catches me every time. it’s always a very pleasant surprise to be part of it.”
Perhaps forever more.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
