Plain sailing for Mayo but plane failing for fans
The ties that bind... London footballer Shay Rafter, second from left, whose parental roots are firmly in Erris, with, from left, his cousin Aisling Rafter from Glenamoy, Michael Barrett, Niall Duffy and Mayo footballer Ryan O'Donoghue, a first cousin of Niall. Picture: Sheila Fernandes
Waking up to the sound of hailstones. The temperature barely above freezing. Double checking the passport was packed. Guys and girls drinking pints in an airport bar at 7:30am. This was no ordinary Championship Saturday.
Knock Airport and Ryanair have oft times been described as a match made in heaven but try telling that to the plane full of Mayo fans – and some current and former players – who were stuck on its apron last Saturday morning, sat inside an airplane that was unable to fly.
Not even two weeks after the Mayo jersey wearing Michael O’Leary had jibed on his visit to Horan International ‘Who needs Sam Maguire when you’ve got Ryanair’, Mayo supporters were left cursing Ryanair for being unable to get them to the match on time.
The Stansted and Luton bound fans had mingled and chatted jovially in the departure lounge about the day and the match and the night to come, sharing and making plans about a weekend they’d looked forward to for months. 10 years even.
The Stansted passengers were called to board first, their flight due to depart at 8:20am, and we on the Luton-bound plane loaded up shortly after for an 8:55am take-off.
There was a sense that something was not right though when our plane taxied away from the terminal while the steps of the Stansted service beside us remained lowered. How painful it must have been for those Mayo fans on board to look out their window and see ourselves float off into the clouds 35 minutes after they had been due to. Some days the luck’s with you. Some days it’s not.
The reason for their delay wasn’t clear at this point. Then I wondered with everything that was going on might Michael O’Leary be rationing fuel – which wasn’t a nice thought to have when we were in one of his planes 33,000 feet above the Irish Sea.
By the time we landed in Luton however, the bush telegraph had done its job and we learned that a cracked windscreen is what had grounded our comrades in Knock.
We instead jumped aboard the train into London St Pancras and were immediately reminded there was more than one big game of Irish interest taking place in West London today, as an army (or should that be bouquet?) of Red Roses supporters were also in transit, headed for the Six Nations opener against the Girls in Green.
With tickets so scarce for the game in Ruislip, I wondered had Connacht GAA not missed a trick by suggesting a double header with the rugby girls in Twickenham. Then again, that ground is now known as Allianz Stadium. It’s from one protest to another these days.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, or atop a boggy hillside outside Charlestown to be precise, a replacement plane had been sent for from Dublin and eventually the stranded Stansted-bound Mayo supporters took off for London almost three and half hours later than scheduled. By now, I was already in McGovern Park.
The home of London GAA is situated only a stone’s throw from RAF Northolt and with Stansted Airport the other side of town altogether, I wondered might O’Leary order his crew to take a hard right and land the harp – and Mayo’s supporters – on the crown’s front lawn?
Alas, there was no such luck and with the Ryanair wheels not touching tarmac until 12:53pm, it left those fans with a race against time and traffic if they were going to see any of the game, which was due to throw-in at 2.30pm. Among them was Lee Keegan.
This, of course, wasn’t Keegan’s first time to suffer with travel arrangements to Ruislip; when he and his Mayo teammates nearly came a cropper against London on their last visit to Ruislip in 2011, their journey by plane from Galway to Southend via Waterford and a subsequent three-hour bus journey was blamed as a contributory factor. But at least they had arrived on time. Last Saturday, only two minutes of the first-half remained when Lee Keegan arrived into the stand to provide co-commentary with Michael D. McAndrew on Midwest Radio.
And as Mayo manager Andy Moran remarked after the game, thankfully he hadn’t included a certain pair of current senior panellists in his matchday squad who were also aboard the delayed flight and due to hook up with the team beforehand. Mayo fans won’t worry if it’s not the last flight that doesn’t take off for Kobe McDonald this year.
As for the game? They didn’t miss much – no more than the hundreds who never left the beer tents while the match was on. This, after all, was no ordinary Championship Saturday.
