Congratulations John. Looking forward to reading.

Great achievement John, congratulations.

I am in work currently listening back to the RTE Radio commentary of the game and just quickly popped on to the site to see if there was a new pod or post and to see this is great.

Congrats John, a great achievement and I hope there is a launch night somewhere in Mayo to celebrate!

Thrilled to see this news announced, I know it's been in the works a long time, waiting for the right moment to emerge into the sun!

Many congratulations John, and I look forward to raising a glass to you and the book before too long. And settling in for the read of the year!

Great stuff and very well done John, very much looking forward to reading this!.

Just wanted to send a message to all the decent Mayo folk on here.
Hope this is the article to post under.
Had a few weeks break in West Kerry over August and my god I never realised there was so many Mayo people in Kerry.

One particular fisherman in the Maherees had his boat red and green and even bunting on it.. So as I had my quiet pint I had the pleasure of watching this boat everyday!

Look i honestly didnt see that result coming and as I said to my wife it was the best bad day weve ever had.

A good news story that lifted the country during a tough time in the world.

Ive enjoyed the videos of the celebrations but in particular as a man thats family were islanders seeing Sam cross into Achill.

The 2026 championship was arguably the best ever and I know Mayo will give every county belief that they can win it now.

2026 the year of the underdogs.

Winter will be shorter in Mayo and longer in Kerry but I've seen plenty of long winters in the past.

You certainly celebrated the right way.. Tempered by the departure of young Kobe, I know he leaves with a full heart and the support of his county.

I hate the AFL and what they are doing to us.

Anyway all the best again.. roll on 2027.

I foresee one in my Christmas stocking John...if not before.
Congrats to you and our brilliant county team on getting it done!

Just as im online pre ordering your book John Today FM is playing a song called the Dog days are over. They certainly are. Congratulations John looking forward to reading it

Many congratulations John. You've fought the fight here through all the grim days and your tale will be well worth a read. An appearance by Sam himself at the launch will be well in order, I reckon ;o)

Congrats John. Should be a great read. You deserve all the plaudits for all the work you have done over the years.

Huge congratulations John, and thank you. I've just put in my order, can't wait to read this. Up Mayo.

Hearty congratulations John. I’m delighted that you have it finished and got the perfect ending. I was one of the people nagging you to complete it and thrilled that hear that you have done it.
I would encourage everyone that’s thinking of buying the book, to pre-order it, as I was informed when ordering Liam Horan’s new book that it’s a great boost for any new one.

Can't wait to get my hands on it, John!! The best of luck with it!!

Congratulations,you deserve our gratitude for keeping us up to date with everything about Mayo,I am sure that you helped to keep us focused and keep the faith,I still feel very grateful for seeing Sam come to Mayo,can I just add that we have great contributions from Mayo,but also from outside the county,,like West Kerry,Gamechanger, Hill siixteen,and someone who I have missed for. Sometime,Martin the Dub ,And ,mlany others who were always supportive,we can look forward to a peaceful winter,thank you again

Congratulations John.

Just ordered a few stocking fillers for the family.Keep up the good work.

The wife will be getting a little hint what to get me for Christmas. We'll done Sir and I'm really looking forward to reading it

Huge congratulations john. I wish you all the luck in the world with the book. It’s definitely going to be a best seller

Great stuff, one Xmas pressie to myself sorted! Looking forward to reading (and rewatching 26.7.26) at Xmas…..

Ahhh thats great news, delighted for you John. Looking forward to reading it

Great work John. Looking forward to this - should be a cracker!

Great stuff john. Good luck with it all.

I remember feeling sad when you published those chapters i think not long after 2021.....it felt a bit like you were accepting that you might not see the day Mayo won......i think alot of people felt that....delighted it worked out the other way!!

That's so exciting, John. Congratulations. Looking forward to a great read. Thanks for all the great work you put into the blog. The week wouldn't be the same without it.

John, I have greatly enjoyed reading the blog over the years and look forward to reading your memoirs of supporting the green and red. As regards the shops, will it only be released in Mayo or nationally?

I ask as the auld international shipping is almost as expensive as the book itself, so will save the pennies and purchase when back in Ireland at Christmas, if that's an option.

@West Kerry: Very gracious, thank you. The far-flung nature of our Mayo diaspora never ceases to amaze, only the other week in Vienna I ran into someone who had grown up in the same housing estate as myself, back in Castlebar.

If I might ask, what is the mood like in the Kingdom? I would have thought Jacko would have a fair amount of credit in the bank at this point, but also that people down in Kerry crave success and don't accept final losses. Losing young starlets to the AFL hurts, as we well know, and Kerry have had this even worse than we have, and it's one of your own down there encouraging it.

Hard to know how this can be combatted without the GAA turning pro itself, which is most unlikely. Although I would say that GAA shouldn't be countenancing a return to the International Rules series without a commitment from the AFL to tone it down a bit, maybe avoid reaching out to anyone who isn't yet in a senior county panel.

@it means nothing to me......
At the moment, its roughly 1 Irish player per club on the roster and half them playing regularly.
Thats about the same no of ex GAA underage intercounty players playing professional soccer and a similar amount playing professional rugby.

No one seems to care about the loss to Soccer or Rugby as they are almost disgarded for choosing those garrison games. Soccer and rugby get them at 15/16 before we get to see too much of them.

The AFL hurts more because they get them later (18/19) when we have had a good luck at their potential as intercounty players - add that to the fact that a good few have returned for a season or two to perform very well for their counties at senior level - something that never happens in rugby and soccer due to the huge disparity in the games and skills sets at senior level.

We might as well accept that it will happen. Do a deal with the AFL where they draft 1 per county ever 2 years at most

@tirawleybaron: I don't actually disagree with most of what you have written there, IMO it's hard for the GAA to prevent the AFL poaching, given what's on offer down there. A lot of my Leaving Cert class emigrated to Oz, and it seems to me that most of them are earning very good money, are attached to local Sheilas and have families now. Few, if any, have returned; good luck to them.

The GAA probably have to make a gesture due to the optics of the situation and the media blowback about it, hence my comment about the International Rules.

With pro soccer, I think a lot of lads who show promise in it make the decision to concentrate on it early, and the GAA is often a secondary thing for them. Same with rugby, the academy system offer payment at an early age, although it seems to be a stipend until they turn pro. I'm not sure that lads think about AFL until an approach is made to them, although I could be wrong there.

We do seem to get some players back from soccer at least, if you consider that Ryan O'Donoghue played for Sligo Rovers for a time, Andy played for Longford Town, Kenneth O'Malley also played for Sligo Rovers, etc. Rugby less so (maybe due to the body type needed for that sport?), although I recall Lee Keegan was on the Connacht rugby academy before playing for us.

Relatively few of the GAA exiles seem to come back from Oz (Pearce Hanley and Tadgh Kennelly are still living there after retiring, for example) and some of those that do seem to be in bad shape, e.g. Tommy Walsh of Kerry.

Just ordered the book there. Looking forward to a great read.

It means nothing to me,

The mood is dark in all honesty.

But you know yourself what a post-mortem post All Ireland loss is like.

There is absolutely no complaints over the result.

The real issue is the performance of Kerry and the bizarre decisions on the line that day.

Leaving Paul Geaney/Killian Spillane on the bench when chasing a score for example.

Starting a unfit Tom O Sullivan and then taking him off at HT when he found his range shooting was again bizarre.

I always supported Jack but in Kerry you are only as good as your last performance and winning Sam is all that counts.

No gallant runners up in Kerry.

Paidi was right about us.

I have the book pre-ordered and hoping Left Boot sees this comment.

Sam is to be in Kilmovee on Wednesday 2nd of September (5.30pm to 8.30pm) and I am happy to bring you with me if you wanted to go. Maybe you have got your hands on Sam already but I haven't!

New column, this one from me, is up now on Patreon. The most recent one before this one, from Rob, is now available for all to read here on MFT.

Thanks all for the kind comments about the book.

It Means Nothing to Me - I've no information as yet about where the book will be available but I'd say you can take it that it won't just be in Mayo. I should be able to confirm details on this closer to the publication date.

Congrats on the book John . I am sure it will be a great read. For the guts of two decades you have provided an excellent forum for Mayo people and some from other counties who often dipped in. I am sure your book will be a brilliant success and I look forward to reading it.

Congrats John
Looking forward to getting the delivery. Have really enjoyed your articles over the years.
BTW It’s just amazing how much the happy ending, that you refer to, has changed how some of us feel about all those heartbreaking games. I might even manage to finally watch one of them over the winter; with a new perspective!

Great job, John

Book ordered. Looking forward to it. You are some man John!
I’ve spent the last few hours reading posts from the 3 days before the all Ireland up to this one!!! Has taken this long for me to get time to get on here. Have been listening to the podcasts and commenting there but just the sheer volume of media coverage, social media and life etc has guzzled my free time. Still getting emotional, heartbeat still rising with every rewatch and still at times have to pinch myself. I wish I could do the last few minutes again or see myself and my friend in those last few mins. Would love to see us when we realised it was happening for sure. She was crying and I was screaming after the hooter. Last time we were together in at a final was 1996 replay in the hill. Will never forget it she was crying (again!) and I bent down on my hunkers in despair and my bank card snapped in half in my back pocket. So a better ending for us 30 years later. Everything felt different this time. 5 years away made me appreciate the lead up and the final day better. Realised what we had missed in the past 5 years. Calmer. Felt could cope with whatever came our way. Not the same fear. Felt we were being extremely disrespected, overlooked and that nobody really analysed us properly. Just knew we were not as big underdogs as we were being perceived to be. I did things differently - went into Drumcondra a lot earlier than ever to enjoy, no drink before and I didn’t buy a programme and stopped my friend from buying one as felt a bad omen and always end up in the bin. Had to get hold of one after of course.
So happy we played the real Mayo way. So proud of our players and management. Proud of the people they are - such ambassadors. All full of humility, decency and loyalty to each other too. Speak so well. Just so proud.
It’s great that we all get the monkey off our back, openly feel we are as good as everyone else, have the right to say it and not have to hold back because we were smirked at, goaded or a bit of punchbag. It feels so good to be able to stick our chests out and be proud to be from Mayo. We always were proud but something was damaged in a GAA sense for those of us around long enough to experience those 11 defeats. 40 years of my 51 years they took up. That’s a lot. But it was 2013 did the real damage for me and then in 2017 I could see I was affected by it in how I communicated(held back) with Dublin and Kerry colleagues like I hadn’t a right to feel we had a chance. Then 2021 sealed it when we all (both players and supporters) openly showed our damage from relentless defeats in such a short space of time to the world - it was like a wave that I thought came from the pitch to us around the 53rd/57th minute but equally have been the other way round. It was awful the realisation then that it was going to happen again and at the time it was downright embarrassing. 5 years away healed many of us, made us realise how good we had it. Andy, Colm and Keith took every lesson they learned from those defeats and we got what we got nearly 6 weeks ago. It’s like all the hurt has disappeared away. This win rights so much. It’s wonderful.
The green and red lights are off at my house but the flags and bunting are staying up. We have earned celebrating this until July. I hated July all Irelands but I think we all love them now.

Sinead 37 , a wonderful piece that speaks for us all !! .. I too experienced the heartbreaks having attended all the 11 AI defeats & replays .. What a sense of sheer joy now that we have won.. This will last with us for the rest of our lives ..