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On Thursday night, Geelong’s Oisin Mullin will take on the biggest job in football when he tags Collingwood’s Nick Daicos.
But the man from Mayo will be less anxious when he arrives at the MCG than he was in the early hours of Monday morning (AEST) when he sat up to watch his county contest the All-Ireland final against Kerry.
Mayo captain Jack Coyne and his teammates celebrate with the Sam Maguire Cup following All-Ireland championship final.Sportsfile via Getty Images
Not only were Mayo underdogs in the final, but they were trying to break a 75-year drought that started in 1951 when, according to the game’s folklore, a curse was placed on the county’s championship chances by a priest at Foxford.
While AFL fans are well aware of the Kennett curse and the curse of Norm Smith, neither have a patch on “the Curse of Mayo”.
Oisin Mullin has established himself as one of Geelong’s most important players.AFL Photos
The story is as follows: After winning the 1951 final against County Meath, the victorious Mayo team travelled back from Dublin’s Croke Park on a truck. They stopped at Foxford when a funeral was taking place.
The local priest didn’t think they showed enough respect for the funeral. He was so upset he uttered the words, “While any member of that team lives, Mayo won’t win another All-Ireland”.
That became a curse and, although the last surviving member of that team – Paddy Prendergast – didn’t know whether such words were uttered or not, he remembered funeral being on when he explained the curse in 2017.
By then the curse was a fabled part of Irish sport.
Mayo kept making All-Ireland finals and losing, with the lost finals count reaching 11 in 2021.
Mullin played in the losing 2020 and 2021 matches, as his county went down by five points in both games.
Just weeks after the 2021 final was lost, Prendergast died.
Did the curse die with him? That theory could not be truly tested until Sunday when Mayo made their first All-Ireland final since 2021.
They had a young team, including Kobe McDonald, an 18-year-old set to be on St Kilda’s list next season.
The question was, could they strengthen their line-up?
County Mayo’s coach Andy Moran thought he would try a Hail Mary phone call to Mullin, the best run-with player at the Cats who, according to his coach, could become a similar type of asset to the Cats as Josh Dunkley is for the Lions, to see if he might be available to play.
Mullin kicks the ball out of mid-air while being tackled by Nick Daicos (right).AFL Photos
Fit, and a star, Mullin had trained in Portugal with the team in the off-season, and he knew the lads well. Moran was a former teammate of Mullin’s and they spoke regularly.
After all, Mark O’Connor, a Kerry man, had been allowed to play for Dingle in the All-Ireland club final in January. This once-in-a-lifetime opportunity might reach a sympathetic ear at the Cats.
On July 15 Mullin caught up with Cats footy manager Andrew Mackie and coach Chris Scott.
He told them he knew it was impractical for him to play, and he had no expectation it could happen, but he would kick himself if he didn’t at least raise the idea with the footy bosses.
The Cats, starting from the viewpoint of, ‘Can we make this happen?’ rather than ‘There is no way that is happening’, tossed around a few scenarios before Mackie said he’d sleep on it.
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It became clear, however, to the Cats it was mission impossible. Mullin, too valuable to lose in these weeks, would have to play on Kysaiah Pickett on Friday night, somehow reach Dublin by Sunday to play in front of 82,000 screaming fans at Croke Park, then be back on a plane to take on Daicos on Thursday night. The exploration of whether it was possible had ended.
“There is clearly a part of him who would have loved to have been a part of it, and we were really open to [him being part of it] … even for us was just a bridge too far, but he was in good enough shape to stay up and watch it with his Irish mates,” Scott said.
Perhaps if the break between games had been longer or his role was not as important, he would have got the green light. He was able to head back for his sister’s wedding mid-season in 2024.
Mullin was not stressed. He told the Irish media in the lead-up to the final he knew when he decided to join Geelong that missing out on an All-Ireland final might happen one day.
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So Mullin and Cats AFLW player Rachel Kearns barracked for Mayo while O’Connor and Cillian Burke barracked for Kerry as the final was decided in Mayo’s favour during a dramatic last quarter.
The curse had been lifted.
“I guess it is bittersweet for him because he is so happy for his really close mates. It has been such a long road for them,” Scott said.
Mullin’s big week will only get bigger on Thursday night as he fronts up as the likeable villain in front of 80,000 footy fans to stop Daicos.
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