Sir, – In the wake of yet another Mayo defeat in an All-Ireland final, the story of “the curse” is being trotted out again.
It is high time an enterprising journalist stopped taking the lazy approach of copying what others have written and did some original research.
When was “the curse” first mentioned in print, and by whom? Where did they get the story? I have no recollection of it being mentioned after Mayo’s losses in 1989, 1996 and 1997. The first reference was sometime after that. Why the delay? Was there even a funeral in Foxford on the day the winning 1951 team passed through the town with the Sam Maguire Cup? The answers would be of genuine interest and would require only a small amount of original research. – Yours, etc,
COLM FAGAN,
Bray,
Co Wicklow.
Sir, – As a lifelong Mayo fan I was delighted to read the five-page gentlemen’s All-Ireland final football preview in The Irish Times. As a lifelong female, sometimes sportswoman and mother of a daughter, I was disgusted your paper only managed to dedicate half a page towards the ladies All-Ireland camogie final preview.
– Yours, etc,
GRÁINNE O’MALLEY
Clonmel,
Co Tipperary.