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| Sport: | Football | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Irish: | Maigh Eo | ||
| Nickname(s): | The Westerners The Yew County The Heather County | ||
| County board: | Mayo GAA | ||
| Manager: | Kevin McStay | ||
| Captain: | Paddy Durcan[1] | ||
| Top scorer: | Cillian O'Connor (30–337) | ||
| Home venue(s): | MacHale Park, Castlebar | ||
| Recent competitive record | |||
| Current All-Ireland status: | QF in 2023 | ||
| Last championship title: | 1951 against Meath | ||
| Current NFL Division: | 1 (2nd in 2022) | ||
| Last league title: | 2023 | ||
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The Mayo county football team (/ˈmeɪoʊ/;[2]) represents Mayo in men's Gaelic football and is governed by Mayo GAA, the county board of the Gaelic Athletic Association. The team competes in the three major annual inter-county competitions; the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, the Connacht Senior Football Championship and the National Football League.
Mayo's home ground is MacHale Park, Castlebar. The team's manager is Kevin McStay.
Mayo was the second Connacht county to win an All-Ireland Senior Football Championship (SFC), following Galway, but the first to appear in the final. The team last won the Connacht Senior Championship in 2021, the All-Ireland Senior Championship in 1951 and the National League in 2023.
Mayo has acquired a long-term record for reaching All-Ireland SFC finals only to fall at the ultimate hurdle. In 1989, the county reached a first All-Ireland SFC final since its last previous appearance in 1951 only to lose to Cork. In 1996, a freak point by Meath at the end of the final forced a replay, which saw Mayo concede another late score that would deny the county victory. Kerry bridged an 11-year title gap against Mayo in the 1997 final with a three-point win, before torturing them by eight points in the 2004 final and thirteen points in the 2006 final.[3] In the 2012 final, Donegal bridged a 20-year gap between titles, helped in no small part by a nightmare opening quarter for Mayo as Michael Murphy launched a rocket of a shot into the goal after three minutes. Then, in the eleventh minute, Colm McFadden seized the ball from the grasp of Kevin Keane and slid it into the net for a second Donegal goal. Mayo managed thirteen points to Donegal's two goals and eleven, only got on the scoresheet after sixteen minutes when already two goals behind and never led during the match.[3][4][5] Mayo qualified for the 2013 final, and once more came up short, this time being seen off by a Dublin team which won by a single point. The 2016 final likewise, a single point against Dublin, though this time after a replay; the drawn game featuring two own goals by Mayo players, a previously unknown occurrence in the sport, which left Mayo behind by five points at half-time despite holding Dublin scoreless for the first 30 minutes of the game. The 2017 final, and another one-point loss to Dublin. The 2020 final and Mayo conceded the fastest goal scored in the history of All-Ireland SFC finals on the way to another loss to Dublin, this one by five points. Another five-point loss followed in the 2021 final, with Ryan O'Donoghue hitting a penalty against the goalpost and numerous other goal chances being squandered. Since 1989, Mayo has played in 13 finals (including replays), losing 11 of them, with the others finishing level.
- ^ "Paddy Durcan to captain Mayo for 2023 as McStay names team for league opener". IrishExaminer. 27 January 2023.
- ^ "Mayo". Lexico.com. Archived from the original on 6 December 2021. Retrieved 6 December 2021.
- ^ a b Sweeney, Eamonn (23 September 2012). "Despair cannot last forever". Sunday Independent.
- ^ Jackson, Lyle (23 September 2012). "Donegal 2-11 0-13 Mayo". BBC Sport.
- ^ O'Keeffe, John (24 September 2012). "Donegal's bite was early, deep and fatal". The Irish Times.
…But it was, yet again, a nightmare start comparable to 2004 and 2006… You also must commiserate with Mayo. Yet another All-Ireland final defeat… My only concern for them [Mayo], going into next season, would be that they have a lot of similar forwards and none of them are in the mould of Murphy or McFadden.