Mayo out to banish All-Ireland 'curse' in bid for holy grail

In an unprecedented year, the biggest shock may yet be unravelled.

That's because Mayo are in another All-Ireland Senior Football final and are aiming to lift their first Sam Maguire Cup since 1951. The Westerners have lost nine finals - eleven if you include replays - in their 69-year wait.

It's their fifth final in eight years and their fourth against all-conquering Dublin, who have pipped them to glory on each occasion.

Whilst no fan will make the journey to Croke Park to roar their side over the line, they will be in unison in hoping they somehow overcome the longest running hoodoo in Irish sporting history; coined as the 'Curse'.

Mayo supporters have endured nearly seven decades of torture and if you're into your superstitions they don't come any better - or worse - than Mayo's tale.

The curse

When Mayo won the All-Ireland Football Championship for the second time in three years against Meath in 1951, they headed through a small town called Foxford. It is alleged the jubilant squad failed to pay respects to a passing funeral which infuriated the priest conducting the service.

So much so he condemned, "For as long as you all live, Mayo won't win another All-Ireland". The legendary Paddy Prendergast is the sole survivor of that squad and has denied the funeral even happened. Current Mayo manager James Horan dismissed the folklore as "a good story but not one I believe in".

However, there is no denying that Mayo have suffered an unfathomable amount of misfortune. Thirty-eight years passed to reach their next final but they came unstuck against a Cork side who had lost back-to-back finals. In 1996, a 'ghost' point leveller from Meath's Colm Coyle bounced over the bar to tie the game, and the replay began with a 27-man brawl where Mayo's star man Liam McHale was sent off.

Meath won by a point after Mayo squandered sizeable leads. Kerry heaped more misery with final triumphs in 1997, 2004 and 2006. The last 10 years have seen Mayo hone a side that has battled in a series of sustainable challenges, reaching nine semi-finals and losing to the eventual winners in all but one campaign. They've provided the happiest of days and moments for their legion of followers - yet they have always remained within a whisker of glory.

Decade of devastation

2012 Final - Donegal 2-11 Mayo 0-13

After overcoming favourites Dublin in an epic semi-final, Mayo blew their chance within 10 minutes as they conceded two goals and a point without reply. They did win the next 60 minutes of football, but Horan's debut final as manager was a disaster where Donegal bridged a 20-gap of their own.

2013 Final - Dublin 2-12 Mayo 1-14

Mayo put Donegal to a 16-point sword in the quarter-finals before brushing past Tyrone. Trailing the Dubs by two points with 30 seconds remaining, Mayo needed a goal. After the referee said there'd be one more chance, Cillian O'Connor scored a routine point from a free. But when Stephen Cluxton restarted play, the final whistle blew. Cue an aftermath of outrage, fury and finally an admittance of misunderstanding from the Mayo talisman.

2014 Semi-Final - Kerry 1-16 Mayo 1-16 (Replay: Kerry 3-16 Mayo 3-13 AET)

Four points and Lee Keegan down by half-time, Horan's men produced miracles and led by four points with five minutes left when O'Connor scored a penalty. Kerry's James O'Donoghue's goal set up an injury-time equaliser to send the semi-final into a replay, controversially played in Limerick a week later.

Two first-half goals from O'Connor had Mayo in the driving seat until he and teammate Aidan O'Shea clashed heads. They both started the second half from the bench, paving the way for a Kerry comeback through O'Donoghue penalties. Mayo levelled and with the final kick keeper Rob Hennelly dropped a '45 short, forcing extra-time.

Kerry surged ahead as Mayo ran on empty tanks, and needing a goal to tie, emotions soared as O'Connor was sent off. Once an enraged Mayo fan was dragged off the pitch by five members of security, Kerry held on and beat Donegal in the final.

2015 Semi-final - Dublin 2-12 Mayo 1-15 (Replay: Dublin 3:15 Mayo 1-14)

Pat Holmes and Noel Connelly took over to steady a chaotic Mayo ship, and following a fifth consecutive Connacht title, set up another Dublin encounter. Dublin had a seven-point lead with eight minutes left. Remarkably, Mayo grabbed two quickfire points before O'Connor scored a penalty, and Andy Moran equalised just before injury time to force another semi-final replay.

Mayo had opened a four-point lead when O'Connor grabbed a goal and with 15 minutes left Dublin had only scored a point since the break. But in an incredible display of football mixed with Mayo's inevitability to press the self-destruct button, Dublin scored three goals without reply and progressed to win the All-Ireland.

2016 Final Dublin 2-9 Mayo 0-15 (Replay: Dublin 1-15 Mayo 1-14)

In Stephen Rochford's first season in charge, Mayo slipped out of the Connacht Championship and endured a bumpy back-door fixture list on-route to the final, but that's where normality resumed.

Mayo scored two own goals - the first and second ever in All-Ireland finals - in 12 first-half minutes and despite dominating Dublin, who scored their first point just five minutes before the break, faced a huge mountain to climb. An O'Connor beauty with seven seconds left levelled proceedings to force a replay.

If dropping keeper David Clarke, later to be awarded an All-Star, raised eyebrows, the mistakes his replacement Rob Hennelly, who was bought in for his longer kicking range, had Mayo fans tear their hair out in disbelief. One of Hennelly's misplaced kicks resulted in Player of the Year Keegan's black card after he scored a spectacular goal to put Mayo ahead.

With the scores level, Hennelly dropped an uncontested ball in his area and was black carded when he dragged down the pouncing Paddy Andrews. Clarke came on but couldn't save the penalty and Dublin's Cormac Costello burst off the bench to score three points after Mayo drew level again. Captain O'Connor replied with two points of his own and was awarded a last throw of the dice free in. Having scored nine frees in the game, he dragged this effort wide and Dublin picked up another All-Ireland medal.

2017 Final Dublin 1-17 Mayo 1-16

Taking another prolonged route to the final, Rochford's men racked up 10 games in their mileage due to dramatic extra-time wins against Cork and Derry, then a quarter-final replay victory over Roscommon.

They overcame Kerry for the first time since 1996 in another theatrical semi-final replay and if omens were to go by, this was the first time Croagh Patrick (a pilgrimage mountain in the county) couldn't be climbed due to bad weather on Reek Sunday for the first time since….1951.

Dublin opened the game with a goal, leaving Mayo fans giving themselves that familiar feeling. But Mayo produced an incredible performance, their best to date, and despite Donal Vaughan receiving a red-card (in retaliation to the dismissal of Dublin's John Small), Keegan struck the net to put the Green and Red in pole position.

With scores level in injury time, O'Connor's free struck the post and after a hectic few minutes, Dublin were awarded a free of their own. Dean Rock hit it, despite Keegan throwing his GPS tracker at the ball as he lined up to kick, and the three-In-a-row was sealed for the greatest team of all time. It left fans and pundits alike questioning just what do Mayo have to do to have their day.

In normal times, the scramble for the 82,000 All-Ireland final tickets would be merciless madness. Green and Red, the colours synonymous with Christmas, will still be decorated on people head to toe, house fronts, back gardens and on cattle across farms on the scenic West coast of Ireland.

Though for now they'd take any personal hindrance if it meant a Celtic cross would be coming back across the Shannon to Mayo. It wouldn't be the first time this year sport fans would be unable to witness their team or nation create history.

Favourites Dublin, aiming to win an unprecedented sixth championship in a row, have barely had a glove laid on them in the delayed 2020 series, battering Laois by 22 points in the Leinster semi-final, cruising past Meath by a 21 points margin on their way to a 10th straight provincial title before dismantling Cavan in the All-Ireland semi-final by 15 points.

With Tipperary taking their first Munster crown since 1935 and Cavan producing an Ulster upset, the semi-finals line-up mirrored that of the infamous 1920 campaign. A repeat Dublin v Tipperary final looked on the cards when the Dubs booked their place.

But Mayo, with Horan back at the helm, sunk any Tipperary hopes with a victory of 5-20 (35) - the highest score a team has notched up in a semi-final - to 3-13 (22) - the joint highest score to end up on a losing side.

To add a final twist, the GAA board announced that the Sam Maguire trophy will not leave Dublin due to Covid restrictions.

Good luck stopping them should Mayo finally reach the summit.