Mayo: Former US president congratulates All-Ireland winners

The words of an American president on Irish soil three years ago may have proved prophetic.

"Mayo for Sam," cheered Joe Biden as his visited his ancestral home in Ballina, County Mayo.

The Sam to which he was referring was the Sam Maguire Cup - the prize for winning the All-Ireland Football final.

Victory in the championship had eluded Mayo for years - 75 to be precise - until Sunday when Mayo clinched the coveted trophy with a 1-20 to 1-17 win over Kerry.

For some, Mayo's failure to win an All-Ireland Senior Football title for decades was proof of a curse dating all the way back to 1951.

However, the phrase "Mayo for Sam" garnered its most famous endorsement yet - the president of the United States.

Biden, who left office in January 2025 when Donald Trump became president, has never been shy about his Irish roots.

Throughout his career, the politician frequently quoted Irish poets.

With two great-grandparents coming from Ireland, he is one of the most Irish presidents in history.

It was in Ballina where, almost 100 years after Biden's ancestors had fled the devastating Irish potato famine, a supposed curse was placed on the Mayo Gaelic football team.

As the story - or myth - goes, following their 1951 win and on their way home on to Castlebar on an open-back lorry, the Mayo team's boisterous celebrations interrupted a funeral taking place in Foxford, just outside Ballina.

The presiding priest is said to have laid a curse that Mayo would not win an All-Ireland title while any member of that team was alive.

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