Win or lose, I will raise a glass to Dad
TODAY I’ll be meeting aunties, uncles, cousins and friends in Dublin before we have a couple of drinks to settle the nerves and then head over to Croke Park.
All being well, I’ll wake up tomorrow in Mayo with a sore head from celebrating.
Over the last five or six years I have been able to take in more Mayo games and watch the team properly and more often than not it is an uncomfortable experience. It’s always great to watch, but it’s never easy.
Today, as was the case for the All-Ireland final last year, my thoughts will be with my late Dad Farrell.
Sadly, he passed nearly two years ago and of course the one thing he was desperate to see in his life, but which never came to pass, was to see Mayo lift the Sam Maguire.
Win, lose or draw again, I’ll be thinking of him and if we can win it I’ll definitely be raising a glass or two in his memory.
Because it has been so long since the county lifted the trophy, it’s never been much fun being a Mayo man. But the last seven years or so have been particularly agonising.
I was there for the first drawn final against Dublin a year ago and surely we couldn’t go through that again – not least two own goals in one game. Having been over to Mayo to meet Stephen Rochford and a few of the lads, they are quietly confident we can end the 66-year wait.
Over the last few weeks plenty of people in Dublin have been telling me that Dublin will be far too strong today. I’m not saying there is an air of arrogance about the Dublin fans I bump into, but there is definitely a certainty about them that their team is going to win...I’d love us to win it.
And it we can win, can someone please give me a lift to the Castle Bar in Achill because they are hosting the mother of all parties. I just sincerely wish, if it all comes good, my old man was there too.