If this isn’t a sign that Mayo are finally, finally going to win an All-Ireland this year then we don’t know what is.
Arguably no bandwagon in Ireland gains more momentum on an annual basis than the bandwagon following Mayo’s path to All-Ireland glory, which has failed to reach its final destination for the last 63 years and has endured a series of agonising near-misses in more recent years.
Normally, you can expect Mayo for Sam references to pop up in all sorts of far flung destinations from June or July onwards in the height of Championship season, but it’s started even earlier this year with perhaps the most profound ‘Mayo for Sam’ message yet.
A €2 coin with the three most famous words known to Mayo people worldwide turned up in the cash register of The Blue Café in Arklow last week and not only were the words written on the coin in question but they were engraved. That’s right, engraved!
Found in my mum’s cash register all the way down in County Wicklow. It’s actually engraved. #mayo pic.twitter.com/VXaXh3IKdU
— Rebecca Meehan (@rebeccameehan) March 22, 2014
As was suggested in The Mayo News this week, the coin may well have been discarded by a disconsolate Mayo fan on their way back west following the latest All-Ireland heartbreak last September but the fact that it has resurfaced again will no doubt bring hope to the superstitious element of a fan base whose optimism knows no bounds when it comes to the pursuit of the most famous trophy in the GAA.
Speaking of The Mayo News, although your humble author also hails from the land that Sam Maguire appears to have forgotten about, I heartily recommend that you read Áine Ryan’s report of the discovery of the coin in that newspaper as it does justice to its significance to Mayo people in a far more eloquent manner than I have done here.
Mayo for Sam 2014? It’s not just written, it’s practically engraved in the stars at this stage.
Hat-tip to Rebecca Meehan for letting us use the picture
