One of Mayo football\u2019s most famous fans believes this could finally be Mayo\u2019s year.<\/p>\n
Castlebar publican Mick Byrne has become synonymous without the county\u2019s GAA side and their fortunes.<\/p>\n
Mick and his Byrnes\u2019 Babes have followed the side around the country, overseas, and along that well-trodden path to Croke Park for decades. Mick\u2019s legendary band of Mayo supporters have been a fixture at Mayo matches since 1981, even releasing their own anthem in 1996.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are really looking forward to the final,\u201d Mick told the Western People.<\/p>\n
He said this young and exciting Mayo team have set pulses racing in the county again.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we have a serious, serious chance. We are playing a brand of football we have never played before. Granted, you have to look at the teams we have been up against, we haven\u2019t played a Division One team. We played Tyrone, we played Cork, we played Meath, and we played Louth. We haven\u2019t met any of the big ones but you can only play what\u2019s in front of you. We were very impressive against Cork and against Louth.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have such an exciting team now. Of course, everyone talks about the full-forward line but there are a few fellas in other areas of the pitch that are coming to the fore as well. The backline seems to be gelling well together, Jack Livingstone in goal, young McGreal, Donnacha McHugh, Callinan. Without a shadow of a doubt I think we have a serious, serious chance,\u201d said the Castlebar man.<\/p>\n
The Byrnes Babes travelled in large numbers to London for Mayo\u2019s Connacht SFC opener in April while Mick\u2019s first All-Ireland final was all the way back in 1974 \u2013 and he hasn\u2019t missed one since. He has witnessed some of Mayo\u2019s finest attackers in action over the years and feels the current inside-forward unit ranks among the very best.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would put them up there with any Mayo team and I\u2019m watching them for the past 60 years. You look at Kobe\u2019s pass for O\u2019Donoghue\u2019s goal against Louth, it was absolutely superb. When Beirne got his goal, he took a shot and the defender parried it and Beirne ran 30 yards to make sure he got the ball and score the goal. Ryan O\u2019Donoghue is playing the football of his life. I saw Ryan O\u2019Donogue last year when Belmullet came to Castlebar and it was the best individual display I have ever seen by a Mayo man.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fortune has rarely favoured Mayo on All-Ireland final day but Mick believes the pendulum has to eventually swing our way.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was three decisions in the semi-final against Dublin that went Kerry\u2019s way, and there were three decisions against Tyrone that went their way. You can\u2019t be getting these decisions the whole time,\u201d said Mick.<\/p>\n
He is delighted to see the Castlebar contingent playing a major role.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am delighted for Donnacha. He was out a bit with injury, but he is back. He has a role to play, and he is doing it exceptionally well. Bob Tuohy has been quietly efficient; he did a great job against Louth. What do you say about Paddy Durcan? He is one of the finest that ever wore the Green and Red for Mayo.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Byrne’s pub is a perpetual hotbed of GAA discussion, and the temperature is rising in line with the recent sweltering temperatures.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe place has been given a great lift. The support is back again,\u201d said Mick.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think there is a sense of expectation. There is something about this team. They are beginning to click. I would be very optimistic that we will win. You can\u2019t be going to the well the whole time. This will be our 14th [final] in Croke Park since 1989. We have to get a bit of luck, we can\u2019t always have everything going against us,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll the talk is Mayo football at the moment. There is nobody talking about the World Cup anymore!\u201d Mick laughed.<\/p>\n
Mick has grown to appreciate the \u2018armchair experts\u2019 that inevitably voice their two cents.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe great thing about the pub game is that everyone has an opinion, and everyone is entitled to their opinion. You give everyone a chance to express themselves. The buzz is brilliant at the moment. What makes it special in a county like Mayo is that nearly everyone knows somebody on the team. You have young Beirne who recently started in the bank in Castlebar. They must have his heart broken up there already. There is people going into the bank now that never had an AIB account in their lives!\u201d he laughed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of Mayo football\u2019s most famous fans believes this could finally be Mayo\u2019s year. Castlebar publican Mick Byrne…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":568377,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-568376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=568376"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568376\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/568377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=568376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=568376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=568376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}