Charlestown basks in Mayo's All-Ireland success
Mayo footballer Paul Towey with officials from his club Charlestown Sarsfields GAA Club at the team's reception in the town. Picture: John O'Grady
The week after the All-Ireland was like no other in the storied history of the town.
Charlestown, like every other town, played host to large crowds from early afternoon to well past normal closing hours as the businesses enjoyed a real bounce and more than embraced the extra spending that people embarked on as Mayo mania truly gripped people like never before. The town was heaving for several nights after the All-Ireland as people forgot about the day-to-day struggles and toil and just lapped up the success and felt a real connection with their identity and culture.
The scenes on the night of the All-Ireland and the Monday and Tuesday were special as people paraded around in their jerseys and colours and never took them off, truth to tell, until well into the weekend and after. This contagion spread to all ages and cohorts as our Mayoness came to the fore like no other.
We felt a deep connection to the team as they were ordinary mortals like the rest of us doing an extraordinary thing as they flipped the script, upset all pre-match predictions, and took out the reigning champions with a display of high-octane football laced with emotion and passion.
The team displayed qualities we all have reason to display in the day to day grind namely tenacity, resilience, resolve, grit, doggedness, all of which were called upon after their horror start when they shipped 1-5 in the first ten minutes. The above traits seemed stitched into their jerseys however, as slowly but surely, they clawed their way back into the game and offered hope to those of us in the stands and terraces that this was going to be somehow different.
The team played like men in the true sense of the word hence why the connection with them touches a chord in every single one of us. They are our representatives on the county stage, good enough to be there in the first place and smart enough to realise that to make it at that elite level takes an awful lot of hard work, dedication, sacrifice and determination to stay the course and survive and prosper in the white heat of battle on the biggest stage of the lot that Croke Park is.
We’ve all dreamed of marching behind the Artane Boys Band on All-Ireland final day, scoring the winning point, executing a match-saving block but that remains the preserve of the very best and most talented hence we’re honest enough to admit our shortcomings and inadequacies and throw our lot in behind them and support them to high heaven.
Intercounty football is a most unforgiving, demanding place and environment that places huge strains and demands on the players personal, professional and social lives yet it remains an environment that’s attainable for the ordinary five eighth as talent combined with hard work and commitment can take you a long way in sport which mirrors life as we know it.
You can’t put a price on what winning Sam has done for the youngsters in Charlestown, and indeed every town for that matter. It has provided them with role models they can readily identify with, with Paul Towey living proof of what can be achieved through hard work, perseverance, sacrifice and talent. He’s someone they meet in the streets, see in the shops and is always honing his skills in the park on his down days looking for that all important edge to make himself better. He’s a real hero as he’s visible and on the ground with himself and his fellow Mayo teammates providing the template on what one can achieve by dreaming big and shooting for the stars.
Mayo has the chance to build on the platform of what this success can bring. It provides a building block to create an acumen and plan with any amount of people, I’m sure, willing to row in behind Andy and his vision as this is but the start of what we hope will be a dynasty as we strive to bring Sam back to our county on a more regular basis.
It won’t be easy as history dictates other counties will be gunning for us in 2027 and football by its very nature can be unpredictable with a modicum of good luck needed to mount a serious defence of the title. What happened on Sunday, July 26, however, was liberation day as we finally put the ghosts to bed and set in chains a celebration that reached into every house, village and townland in Mayo as a county celebrated as one. It makes us proud to be from Mayo and gives us a status and sense of importance that can only empower us going forward. It was the week that was and one that will, to quote two fellow townies, ‘Live Forever’.
