Listening to a story about Gaelic football on the radio, my ears perked up when a journalist referred to the “Mayo Curse” in Foxford.

On Sunday, County Mayo ended a supposed 75-year curse by defeating Kerry to win the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship and the Sam Maguire cup (shown at right).

My husband’s Rowan family line originated in County Mayo, near Foxford. We visited there on one of our trips to Ireland.

Not particularly interested in sports, I was curious nonetheless. Here's Mike Henson's dramatic description of how the curse started in a 6 Dec 2023 article at bbc.com:

The mourners, dressed in black, cloaked in silence, hear it before they see it.

At first, the noise is far off. But that distant commotion is getting closer, clearer and louder.

It is the rumble of a heavy diesel engine, mixed with the lighter sound of happy shouts and laughter.

From the cemetery, they watch as an open-backed lorry rolls round the corner, loaded with fresh-faced young men and festooned with red and green ribbons.

On board are County Mayo's all-conquering Gaelic football team. They are on their way back from another epic victory, having clinched the 1951 All-Ireland title in front of 78,000 people in Dublin's cavernous Croke Park.

It is their second consecutive win in the season's biggest game and a successful defence of the revered Sam Maguire Cup.

But, some things are even more important.

Especially in 1950s Ireland, a place of deep belief and strong tradition.

A funeral demands the team fall silent, stop and pay their respects. But, too caught up in their celebrations, Mayo don't. The lorry motors on, the party continues and a sacrilege is committed.

The priest at the head of the funeral procession fixes the players with a stare and narrows his eyes.

"Damnation be upon every one of you," he says.

"As long as you all shall live, County Mayo will never win another All-Ireland."

You can read more of the story--and the skepticism about the curse--by clicking here.