First the Tour de France, now the PDC Darts, is any sporting event safe from the seemingly ubiquitous ‘Mayo for Sam’ banners doing the rounds these days?
Mayo’s ongoing quest for a first All-Ireland title in decades is a story that is returned to almost every summer without fail, a quest that has ended in heartbreak in Croke Park on six occasions since their last success in 1951.
But with James Horan now in charge of a team that have perhaps the best chance of ending the famine in a long, long time, there seems to be a concerted effort on behalf of Mayo people to let the world know that in 2013, they mean business.
You probably spotted the words ‘Mayo for Sam’ scrawled on a road being passed by cyclists in the Tour de France last week and on Tuesday night, a member of the crowd at the PDC Darts contest between Raymond van Barneveld and Justin Pipe in Blackpool held aloft a banner inscribed with the same message, along with the obviously not as important address to PJ which you can spot in the bottom corner.
With the All-Ireland quarter-finals taking place next weekend and Mayo’s All-Ireland campaign running until the middle of September at the very latest, Mayo followers are running out of major sporting events to invade, but don’t rule out seeing something similar at, for example, the US PGA Golf or the US Open Tennis over the next month or so.
Hat-tip to Máirtín O Flannabhra for sending this one into us
