Colm Boyle completes dream year: 'It is nuts. For a long time, nothing happened for me'

Davitts Niall Treacy and Colm Boyle celebrate as they are crowned Mayo Intermediate Champions at MacHale Park. Pic Conor McKeown

As his club gathered in the middle of the stand in MacHale Park, Colm Boyle climbed higher again to watch the joyous scenes with his friend and family. The view from that makeshift summit was sweet.

Davitts beat Ballinrobe 0-23 to 0-17 to secure the Sweeney Cup in the Mayo Intermediate final on Sunday. For Mayo coach Boyle, it caps a remarkable year that saw him on the sideline as they won the All-Ireland final last July.

“I have had worse days,” he said.

“I have had worse years! It is a great day. It is hard to describe this county final day; we have three games on together. Three of the clubs in the games are very close together. Eastern Gaels lost the junior and Garrymore are our nearest neighbours. To be celebrating in front of them is kind of strange.

“It is some feeling.”

The 40-year-old is a four-time All-Star and won six Connacht titles as a player. He came on in the second half to steer his side home. It was his club that gave him the platform to shine for Mayo way back when.

In 2012, Davitts’ run to the All-Ireland intermediate final saw him brought back to the panel with his previous championship appearance coming in 2008.

“It is nuts. For a long time, nothing happened for me. Then a lot happened. Then you retire, play a bit of club and again, nothing happened for a long time. A year like 2026 comes out of nowhere, really.

“At the start of the year I wasn’t sure if I was going to play. With Mayo, I didn’t think I would have the time. In fairness to Mark (Concannon) our manager, he dropped me the odd text during the year checking in. Once the celebrations finished up and I got back to training, I was just happy to contribute.”

Both Boyle and manager Andy Moran played for their clubs this year. At the start, it stood to them.

“Definitely in my first year, I was playing against boys we were thinking of bringing in. Playing against them, you realise how good some of these boys are when you are on the pitch trying to run after them. Did that help? Yes. I played less this year. 20 minutes here and there, but delighted to get in.

“It brought back some memories. We won this title 15 years ago. I was in a bit better shape back then! I was able for 60 minutes. To do it again, 15 years on, there is two of us that played that day, myself and Liam Kearns. We bought come off the bench here and played that day in 2011.”

For Boyle, he is particularly proud of their younger cohort. That feeling is not unique to this group, but these prospects are theirs.

“That is in every club, especially country clubs. There is not much else going on, you need football and the boys. There is a core in that club who we were waiting to come. We knew they were coming since they were U16, we have been waiting for them.

“They are 22, 23 now. They are led by Fenton Kelly, obviously on the Mayo senior squad. Charlie Phillips, Niall Treacy, Jack Melvin, Tom Ronayne, they have been coming and we’ve been waiting for them. They finally arrived in 2026.”