A comedy of mishaps: Mayo's first trip to Ruislip
SAM Maguire was a Corkman, a member of the Church of Ireland and an ardent republican. On emigrating to Britain he joined the civil service, became chairman of the London county board and a trustee of Croke Park, writes Martin Carney.
The holy grail in Gaelic football – the Sam Maguire Cup – is named in his honour.
It was apt then that in 1975 London was allowed to participate in the Connaught championship and join the race for the cup named after its best known servant. London county board, in recognition of the growing influx of emigrants, was keen to establish a county team so as to broaden the appeal of the game and provide an inter-county outlet for its playing members.
For the first six years London travelled over and played a different Connaught county each year.
With the exception of 1977, when they defeated Leitrim, all of their other attempts ended in failure. With interest flagging, both councils recognised the need for change and agreed that from 1981 the annual preliminary round should be hosted by London in their newly acquired Ruislip grounds.
Mayo’s trip there in 1981 represented the first time that a Connaught championship game was staged outside the country.
This was the only occasion, apart from the 1947 All-Ireland final in New York, where a team travelled beyond our own shores for championship football. Context is important in explaining the backdrop to the trip.
Since their last All-Ireland win in 1951 Mayo had laid claim to a measly three provincial titles and a full 12 years had elapsed since their last win in 1969.
More than any decade, the 1970s puzzled and frustrated fans in equal measure.
The achievement at that time in winning minor and Under 21 All-Ireland titles never brought the much sought-for and anticipated dividend at senior level.
A sense of apathy prevailed and little was expected as a litany of lost opportunities had dampened hope. Pressure to succeed from within the squad was the main driving force. Public expectation was limited at best.
I don’t recall much of the game itself, though I was captain for the occasion (May 31, 1981). Before a healthy attendance of mainly Mayo exiles, the team cleared the first hurdle on their way to, what was then, a rare Connaught title. At the time a provincial title was warmly welcomed and was regarded as a notable achievement in the county.
Whether or not John B. Keane’s writing and descriptive skills could have crafted and done justice to the London trip in 1986 is a moot point.
To say it was action packed, comical and farcical is leaving one open to accusations of understatement.
After the heroics against Dublin in the previous year’s championship, Mayo’s support base had mushroomed beyond anything seen in ages.
The razzmatazz surrounding our scheduled 1 p.m. flight from Knock airport for London was huge. This was to be the first official flight from the airport since its opening.
Dignitaries, politicians, the great and the good all assembled to see the team depart. Now that Friday was your typical west of Ireland day. Foggy, foggy and wet. Zero visibility! We waited patiently for take off. 1 p.m., 2 p.m. all slipped by. Finally, at 6 p.m., we were told that the flight was grounded but we would fly from Shannon at 9 p.m.!
The travelling party set off on a southbound bus for Shannon airport. By the time the plane took off at 11 p.m. everyone was semi-comatose, the team from exhaustion and quite a sizeable core of the support base from the effects of one mighty drinking session.
On landing in Southend on the south coast every passenger was obliged to sign a form denouncing terrorism. (This applied at the time to everyone entering Britain from Ireland). As some of the party took grave exception to this directive more delays ensued. Morning had broken when we eventually got to bed.
By comparison the game itself was uneventful. The starting 15 was Michael Webb, Michael Gavin, Anthony Egan, Sean Luskin, Henry Gavin, Tom Kearney, Michael O’Toole, Jimmy Lyons, Willie Joe Padden, J.P. Kean, Pat Dixon, myself, Eugene McHale, Jimmy Burke and Joe McGrath. We won easily and the group departed for Southend on Monday evening.
On reaching the airport for the return flight more chaos awaited. A handbag left behind on the incoming flight from Knock provoked a full scale bomb alert that meant a delayed take-off.
Once airborne everything seemed fine but as the plane approached Knock airport we noticed the aircraft endlessly circling the airport awaiting clearance to land. In the gathering gloom we could just about see the runway. We sensed the worst! Then over the tannoy came the dreaded announcement that due to an absence of night landing equipment at the airport the plane would have to divert to Dublin airport.
By the time we landed there, hired a bus and got back to Knock it was early Tuesday morning. The locked gates here added a further complication. We had to get the night watchman to unlock them in order to collect our cars. But thankfully this proved to be the final episode on our magical mystery tour.
Nowadays teams know deep down that barring a total disaster beating London is practically assured. With today’s professional levels of preparation the chances of an upset are slim. Mayo’s hiccup in 2011 was exceptional, yet they still survived after extra time.
The London team isn’t particularly strong this year. A win over Waterford was their sole success in the league so, form-wise, there is little to recommend them. In their defence, they have to annually deal with the uncertain and transient nature of player movement between home and their adopted city.
This high player turnover compromises team development. Furthermore issues like distance and work complications impact on training sessions at which full attendances are a rarity.
Mayo’s trip to London next weekend sees the start of the quest for a sixth provincial crown in a row; a prelude, hopefully, to a September meeting between Cillian O’Connor and Sam Maguire.