Mayo Triumphs Over Kerry to Claim All-Ireland Title After 75 Years

London, United Kingdom Jul 27, 2026 ALN: It’s the same old story, yeah

Everywhere I go

I get slandered, libelled

I hear words I never heard in the Bible

And I’m one step ahead of the shoeshine

Two steps away from the county line

Just trying to keep my customers satisfied

Satisfied.

THIS time it wasn’t the same old story.

This time Mayo took the script and tore it up.

This time Mayo took the history books and wrote one word beside their name: Winners.

Always the bridesmaid?

Not this time.

Exactly three months ago, on April 26, Mayo’s players were being vilified after their collapse in the second half of the Connacht semi-final against Roscommon.

Slandered and libelled – by their own people.

Thirteen weeks later and Mayo are bringing the Sam Maguire Cup home.

For the first time in 75 years.

Let that sink in.

Three-quarters of a century.

The first All-Ireland SFC winners from Connacht in a quarter of a century.

The magnitude of their achievement cannot be over-stated.

Sixteen minutes into this match and the naysayers and doom-mongers would have been firing up their social media apps.

As the end of the first quarter approached Kerry were seven up, playing Champagne football.

The Kingdom’s 15th minute goal was pure David Clifford – playing a hand-pass 1-2 with Seanie O’Shea, then drifting left away from goalkeeper Jack Livingstone before finishing to the net despite the despairing dive of full-back Donnacha McHugh.

Mayo made a nervy start, hesitant to shoot and sloppy in their decision-making.

Kerry, in contrast, were sharp, in their thinking and their pacy counter-attacking.

Mayo had been going to the well and coming up dry.

So their win still seems slightly unbelievable.

They scored just one point in the opening 15 minutes and then went 10 nerve-wracking minutes without scoring at all in the second half as Kerry looked like remorselessly reeling them in.

Yet moments, magic moments, made the difference in Mayo’s favour.

The turning point was Jack Carney’s two-pointer midway through the first half.

The Kilmeena midfielder raised an orange flag – and Mayo hopes awoke again.

After Kerry had reduced a five-point deficit – 1-14 to 1-9 – down to the minimum margin midway through the second period, we all thought ‘We’ve seen this movie before…’

Step up the new teenage star Kobe McDonald.

The Crossmolina lad had been guilty of two misses in the previous 10 minutes, but he fired over after great work from Ryan O’Donoghue.

Kobe’s half-brother Jordan Flynn was a warrior throughout.

He struck two wides, but both times he immediately helped win the ball from the Kerry kick-out.

Flynn never stopped battling – and greeted his own 58^th minute point with a fierce fist-pump.

Kobe scored again, O’Donoghue struck his second two-pointer, and the lead was five once more, with eight minutes to go.

Yet when Flynn slapped a goal chance against the crossbar in the 64^th minute there was still the sense that this final was far from over.

Kerry, being Kerry, did not give in, nor give up.

David Clifford notched a two-pointer, and what might have been an eight-point gap was now only three.

His brother Paudie got away from Mayo captain Jack Coyne and clipped a point despite being off-balance.

Two in it.

David Clifford launched a left-footed effort from outside the arc – and, incredibly, it went wide.

100 seconds to go, which surely felt like 10 minutes to Mayo people.

Seanie O’Shea, the last-gasp action hero for Kerry on several previous big occasions, attempted a levelling two-pointer – but Mayo ’keeper Jack Livingstone broke the ball clear.

Carney, then Kobe, transferred possession on to Conroy, who fisted the insurance score.

All the debts had been paid in full, at last.

That passage of play will be replayed repeatedly, gleefully, but this win was based on huge effort from Mayo.

Ryan O’Donoghue created the Mayo goal and kicked two two-pointers, plus a free – but he also worked like a ravenous dog to win possession, harrying Kerry defenders every time they got their hands on the size 5.

Their other teenage corner-forward, Darragh Beirne, will always be remembered for his 40^th minute goal, coolly converted after centre-back David McBrien cleverly batted the ball across to him from O’Donoghue’s pass.

Yet the number of times he tracked back, tackled back, or just ran back to bump and barge into a Kerry jersey, showing he wasn’t going to be bullied or beaten, played their part too.

Perhaps we should have known, perhaps we should have believed, as Mayo clearly did.

Before the match, as if to rub salt in Mayo wounds, the silver jubilee side honoured were from Galway, the 2001 champs.

Yet maybe the memories of those magnificent men in maroon also served as inspiration.

Never forget that their manager, the late, great John O’Mahony was a Mayo man. He was represented on the pitch by his widow Geraldine, who was a Towey.

Paul of that clan was perhaps the only Mayo man who under-performed on the day, replaced before half-time by Tommy Conroy.

The Neale clubman marked one major milestone on Mayo’s journey to victory – and immortality – when he lofted them level for the first time in the 34^th minute.

Conroy’s shot seemed even more hopeful than it was high – but Hawkeye confirmed it was over the bar, and Mayo were level.

Big Joe O’Connor powered through once again to give Kerry the edge at half-time, 1-8 to 0-10, but this Mayo team were not going to be denied.

Their teenage attacking tyros Beirne and McDonald nabbed two quick scores in the first two minutes of the second half.

Kobe put Mayo in front for the first time from a ‘45’ he forced himself, Shane Murphy rushing out to deny him a goal.

Astonishingly, that was a lead Mayo would never lose, for all the drama that followed.

Their goal helped immensely, of course, and also Carney’s second two-pointer, which made it 1-14 to 1-9.

They missed more than a few from range too, dropping seven shots short, but did not fall short overall.

This triumph is nothing less than Mayo deserve.

They merited at least one All-Ireland in the previous decade but had the misfortune to come up against one of the all-time great teams in Dublin – arguably the greatest ever.

Mayo were never ‘Spursy’, but now the 20 players who featured on the Croke Park pitch in this unforgettable victory will be listed the same way the ‘Double’ team of 1960/61 is still rhymed off by older Tottenham supporters.

Afterwards the Mayo support – and the players – roared out the words of ‘To Win Just Once’ by The Saw Doctors.

The memorable moments just kept coming: Ryan O’Donoghue looking simultaneously angry and overjoyed, kissing the cup

Kobe and Jordan Flynn lifting ‘Sam’ together.

The acclaim for Aidan O’Shea as he got his hands on the cup at last.

Almost two hours after the long whistle, the sounds of Mayo celebrations could still be heard reverberating through the stadium.

New songs will be written and sung, but on this occasion Mayo more than kept the customer satisfied.

Mayo: J Livingstone; J Coyne, D McHugh, E McGreal; S Callinan 0-1, D McBrien 0-1, E Hession; B Tuohy, J Carney 0-4 (2x2p); D O’Connor, P Towey, J Flynn 0-1; D Beirne 1-3 (0-2f), R O’Donoghue 0-5 (2x2p, 0-1f), K McDonald 0-3 (0-1 ‘45’).

Substitutes: T Conroy 0-2 for Towey (24); R Brickenden for McGreal (53); M Ruane for Tuohy (53); C Loftus for O’Connor (58); P Durcan for Callinan (63).

Kerry: S Murphy; P Murphy, J Foley, D Casey 0-1; G O’Sullivan 0-1, M Breen, G White; M O’Shea, S O’Brien; J O’Connor 0-1, S O’Shea 0-3, T O’Sullivan 0-1; P Clifford 0-3 (0-1 ‘45’), D Clifford 1-6 (2p), D Geaney.

Substitutes: K Evans 0-1 for T O’Sullivan (h-t); T Kennedy for Geaney (51); B O Beaglaoich for White (59); E Looney for Murphy (61); M Burns for O’Brien (63).

Referee: Martin McNally (Monaghan).