Well, All-Ireland champions, how are we all feeling this morning?
It’s obviously going to take a good while for what happened yesterday to sink in in any proper way, such was the tidal wave of emotion that hit shortly after 5pm. As it does, the wild abandon we all felt in the immediate aftermath will, I’m guessing, be replaced with quiet and profoundly deep satisfaction.
We’re all a bit like Colin Firth (not in looks, but stick with me) at the end of the film Fever Pitch where, after that glorious day has finally arrived, he muses that things won’t ever really be the same in his life again. That’s us today, folks – our lives as Mayo supporters changed forever yesterday, which makes today the first day of a very different existence for us following the county and the team we all love so dearly.
We’re not done with the wild emotion yet, of course, and I’m chomping at the bit in expectation of the drive west today, trying to imagine what the madness of Castlebar will be like later on. This is our day, this is the moment we all hoped one day to see but often feared we never would. Like yesterday, this is a day we’ll surely all recall for the rest of our lives.
There’s a tsunami of coverage, of course, about yesterday’s All-Ireland win for Mayo (I had to write it that way just to see it in print – yes, it did really happen). I’m not going to provide all the links to the online coverage – I have a homecoming to get to on the other side of the country, after all – but here’s a quick selection of what’s available.
Locals: Western People (match report, reflection by James Laffey), Mayo News, Connaught Telegraph (match report, Andy Moran post-game).
Nationals: Irish Times (match report, player ratings, Aidan O’Shea post-game, Denis Walsh, Malachy Clerkin, Gordon Manning, Philip Reid), Irish Examiner (match report, live blog, quotes from Andy Moran, more from Andy Moran, Aidan O’Shea, Kobe McDonald, Ryan O’Donoghue, Jack O’Connor, pieces from Tony Leen, Maurice Brosnan, Enda McEvoy, Eamon Fitzmaurice), Irish Independent (match report, Andy Moran quotes, player ratings), GAA, RTÉ, BBC, Breaking News).
Photos: Sportsfile, Inpho.
Video: RTÉ (highlights, post-match).
Stats: Gaelic Statsman.
Our Final Whistle podcast show captures what it felt like to see Mayo finally reach the Promised Land. It’s up now on Patreon and we will, when we get around to it, release it as well for free on all podcast platforms. Maybe not today, though, there are other issues on the agenda right now.
Many of you, no doubt, recorded the scenes after the hooter went yesterday. So did I, blubbering like a baby as I attempted to hold the ‘phone steady. Here’s some of what I captured then. Enjoy!
Right, all roads lead west today – Sam is coming home. Up Mayo!
Dooniver Swifts says:
July 27, 2026 at 11:29 am
Woke up this morning fearing it was all a,dream. But no, we ARE the,2026 All Ireland Champions, Ryan OD is Footballer of the Year, and 7 of our wonderful warriors are on the Sunday Game team of the Year. Should have been more but we'll take 7. So much emotion yesterday. Andy Moran , what a man. Congratulations to all the management and the whole panel. Legends now.
And a special thanks to John/WJ for the best GAA blog and now website of all time. Maybe now you will get the chance to finish the final chapter of your long awaited and much anticipated book.
Limerick 73 to 18 says:
July 27, 2026 at 12:00 pm
Congratulations from a Limerick fan we had our own 45 year famine ended in 2018 and we have gone on to win a lot since there is no doubt now that Mayo have won they can go on to win more like Limerick. We in Limerick are delighted for ye was in a pub yesterday everybody was shouting for Mayo and quite a few shed tears of joy for ye when ye lifted Sam
Richard says:
July 27, 2026 at 12:39 pm
Does anybody know what time the team will be on the road west? I live in Meath and won't be able to head west tonight but would like to be able to wave to them as they pass by in Kinnegad?
Daithi says:
July 27, 2026 at 12:41 pm
Think they are taking train and arriving at 530 to Cbar.
Liberal role in the tie says:
July 27, 2026 at 12:42 pm
I'm sure many have seen O'Sullivan not shaking our Captains hand before the match, and eyeballing our players. That behaviour only happens when the fundamentals are missing. Fair play Diarmuid, returned his stare in Mayo defiance. "Not today"!! The perfect precursor of what came on the field of play.
tirawleybaron says:
July 27, 2026 at 12:58 pm
You could feel the emotion in the crowd at the start, sensing something special could happen.
The match worked out perfectly for us. The bad start meant we had to rise to our absolute best, both the supporters and the team.
If felt like an inevitable wave after Biernes goal.
We wavered, but the guts and hard work of every player, mean there was only going to be one winner. Had we scored a goal and not hit the cross bar, we would have won pulling up.
Mayo were an unstoppable force yesterday.
All the sweeter to beat a great Kerry team, with the finest Gaelic footballer we have seen, playing for them.
No one can say it was a soft All Ireland. Event the biggest critics of Mayo football can't take anything away from that.
A phenomenal day for us all.
Never again will people laugh when you say your a Mayo football fan.
Hope no funeral crosses the railway tracks today.
Waiting For Sam says:
July 27, 2026 at 1:53 pm
Often think about the amount of times you've thrown the match reports up here the day after a soul crushing defeat, John.
Today must have been the most satisfying it's ever been. I still can't believe it. It's surreal and wonderful and magical. I love this bloody county.
Windy City says:
July 27, 2026 at 4:14 pm
The low amount of comments on the blog since yesterday is hilarious. Have we broken the internet?!
Eejitonabike says:
July 27, 2026 at 8:01 pm
I'm in Spain with 840km left of my 7,380km bike ridr for charity. Today I was powered on with the quiet satisfaction brought by the words "Mayo are All Ireland champions 2026".
I haven't stopped smiling all day, even when I cycled 19km in the wrong direction!
2 hops says:
July 28, 2026 at 8:43 am
Windy city... it's just that it will take a week or two to unscramble our brain... nothing even slightly coherent to say yet. It will take some time to process this monumental few days. Oh Mayo! ''they'll sneer at is no more ''
Skorzy says:
July 28, 2026 at 3:02 pm
Fantastic game. Fantastic team effort. I doubled Morans appointment, thought he was too inexperienced for the task. Wrong and glad he proved me right. 7 down with 15 played. Balls of steel.