There was something desperately poignant about the sight of the Sam Maguire Cup standing at the foot of Séamus Tuohy’s coffin in MacHale Park on Friday afternoon.

The Breaffy and Mayo flags were draped over the coffin of the late Mayo GAA chairman, while the famous trophy that was only won by Mayo eight weeks ago sat nearby. 

All around the walls of the Dr Mickey Loftus Room were photographs of Mayo teams who had won All-Ireland titles and National Leagues.

It is a room steeped in Mayo GAA history and there are reminders of the past everywhere. Over the last five years, it had become a room where Séamus had helped to shape its future. Now, heartbreakingly, it was the place where his family, friends and the wider GAA community had come to say goodbye.

Among the first to pay their respects were the Mayo senior football squad who had stood in the dressing-room with Séamus two months ago in the aftermath of the All-Ireland final. 

For those of us who had sat through countless County Board meetings in that very room, the contrast was almost impossible to comprehend. This was where Séamus had presided over meetings in his calm and dignified way, fielded questions, delivered updates and made some of the biggest announcements of his chairmanship.

It was here that we heard about the appointment of Mayo GAA’s CEO, the ambitious Centre of Excellence project, and a plethora of other projects that went on under his watch. 

There were countless other evenings too, when the business of Mayo GAA was discussed and debated under Séamus’s watchful eye. 

On Friday afternoon, though, the sound of silence echoed around the Dr Mickey Loftus Room. That and a profound sense of loss.

Séamus’s heartbroken family were there, receiving the condolences of a seemingly endless procession of mourners. No words could possibly ease the pain of such an unexpected loss, but the sheer number of people who came to pay their respects spoke volumes about the place Séamus occupied in the lives of so many.

Outside the room, the queue stretched all the way along the concourse of MacHale Park. There were familiar faces everywhere. Men and women from clubs in every corner of Mayo, many wearing their club jackets, had made the journey to Castlebar.

The different colours and crests told their own story.

Whatever club people belonged to, whatever differences of opinion they might have had around a County Board table or on the sidelines of a football pitch, they were all there for the same reason.

To pay their respects to Séamus and stand with his family.

The wider GAA family was represented too.

The association’s Ard Stiúrthóir, Tom Ryan, was there, as was GPA CEO and former Mayo footballer Tom Parsons. Galway GAA chairperson Paul Bellew, Munster GAA chairman Tim Murphy and Roscommon GAA chairman Brian Carroll were among the many visitors who came to offer their condolences.

Their presence reflected the reach of Séamus’s work and the relationships he had built during his time as chairman.

But it was the smaller details that made the biggest impression. The club jackets. The familiar faces in the queue. The photographs on the walls. The Mayo and Breaffy flags. And that famous silver cup, standing silently at the foot of the coffin.

For generations of Mayo people, Sam Maguire has represented a dream that has shaped our footballing lives. Séamus was one of those who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to help Mayo pursue that dream.

On Friday, the cup was part of a very different occasion.

As we left the Dr Mickey Loftus Room, we thought about all the long evenings Séamus had spent there, all the decisions taken and all the plans made. 

It seemed terribly sad that a man who had devoted so much of his life to Mayo GAA should be taken so unexpectedly. And yet, looking at that long queue of mourners, there was also something deeply moving about the response.

Mayo had come together for one of its own.

And in the room where Séamus Tuohy had helped shape so much of Mayo GAA’s recent history, the county had gathered to give him one final, heartfelt farewell.

Séamus will be laid to rest on Saturday in Breaffy Cemetery after Requiem Mass at 3pm in St. Aloysius Church, Breaffy. 

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.