Mayo Football Talk

The launch of John Gunnigan's book 'Keeping the Faith' took place in front of a large attendance in the festival dome at the Wild Atlantic Words literary festival in Castlebar yesterday evening. Mike Finnerty was MC for the event and the book was launched by former Mayo great and renowned broadcaster Martin Carney. 

In this show we provide a flavour of the last night's event, including parts of Martin's address in launching the book, as well as some of the discussion that took place between Mike and John. 

Rob catches up with MFT columnist Anne-Marie Flynn and Mayo fan Ann-Marie Kenny, as well as with Martin Carney and Edwin McGreal. The show finishes with some post-event chat between Rob and John. 

'Keeping the Faith' by MFT's John Gunnigan is now available in all good bookshops, as well as online from Mayo Books. It's a personal account of his years following Mayo, the development of the Mayo GAA Blog, the transition to MFT and Mayo's march to the All-Ireland in July this year.

The Mayo launch of the book takes place at the Wild Atlantic Words literary festival in Castlebar on Tuesday 6th October from 8-9pm and the Dublin launch is on Monday 12th October at Books Upstairs on D'Olier Street from 6.30-8pm, with a post-launch gathering afterwards in Bowe's pub around the corner on Fleet Street.  

In this pod John chats with Rob about the book and the plans for the forthcoming launch events. They also provide a heads-up about a competition for a signed copy of the book, which club members will be notified about shortly in the usual way.  

As the county prepares for a winter in the company of Sam Maguire, Rob and John are joined on the pod by Edwin McGreal and historian Liam Heffron to assess how Mayo's All-Ireland win has the potential to be a game-changer for the county more widely.

The lads discuss how the exploits of the Mayo team that came so close to glory a decade ago helped to alter the perception Mayo people had about themselves and the place they come from and how that impact is so much greater now that the promised land has been reached. 

They chat about how Mayo's story, economically as well as on the football field, has been about battling against the odds and demonstrating resilience in the face of repeated setbacks. Using the analogy of the building of Knock airport, the lads consider how Mayo's All-Ireland victory sets a template for the county to consider what it could do itself to facilitate greater economic progress locally in the years ahead. 

With the Sam Maguire set to winter in the county this year for the first time since 1951, Rob is joined by good friends of the podcast Mick Foley and Ciarán O'Hara from the Gaelic games history podcast Over The Bar to chat about where Mayo's All-Ireland victory this year fits in relation to some of the great wins of the past and to consider what made 2026 so significant.

The lads chat about the impact of social media and how it made the story about Mayo's All-Ireland success go right around the world, contrasting this with the more limited impact of Offaly's hugely historic 1982 title win. They also discuss how, to those outside of Ireland, Mayo ended up representing every corner of the island in the wake of the win over Kerry.

Mick and Ciarán lean into their deep knowledge of Gaelic games history to talk about alternative jerseys worn by Mayo down the years and they also have a look at the history of the Sam Maguire trophy. 

The month that has now passed since Mayo's historic All-Ireland title success has been a whirlwind of activity.  In this show, which is a free episode available on all podcast platforms, Rob, Mike and John reflect on what's been a hectic few weeks for everyone. 

The lads chat about all of podcast content on MFT over the past month, which has included interviews with the likes of Andy Moran, Colm Boyle, James Carr, Tommy Conroy, Darren McHale and Jack Carney, as well chats with US sports journalist Dave McKenna and Cahair O'Kane of the Irish News, while our club championship coverage has got back up and running too.

John talks about his forthcoming book, Keeping the Faith, which is being published by Mayo Books Press and is available to pre-order now. The book is an account of John's many years as a Mayo supporter, interweaved with the story of the development of the Mayo GAA Blog and, more recently, MFT, while, on the field, Andy Moran's Mayo were on the march to capturing Sam. 

The lads also reflect on what has changed for Mayo people everywhere in the wake of the All-Ireland win and how we'll all think about football and the place we come from in a different way from here on. 

As the dust settles on the first round of the Mayo club championships, we hear from some of the people who were involved across last weekend’s matches and spoke to us after their games had ended.
Mike, John and our roving reporter, Paddy Finnegan were all out and about and spoke to Crossmolina manager, Brian Benson; Paddy Durcan of Castlebar Mitchels; Fintan Forde, one of the Garrymore management team; Westport's Rory Brickenden; Liam Lavin of Aghamore; Claremorris manager Kevin Beirne; and Breaffy manager Seán Deane. 

There are so many different perspectives to Mayo's All-Ireland victory and so many fascinating stories to be told.

James Carr from Ardagh is one of the members of the Mayo squad who ticks both of those boxes, being the first man from his club to wear the Green and Red at senior level and the only player from a Junior club to win a Celtic Cross last Sunday week. 

Mike caught up with James to hear about Mayo's season from his perspective, as he reflected on the joy and emotion of bringing the Sam Maguire Cup back to Ardagh, the frustration of being injured for much of the season, the satisfaction of playing his part in Mayo's training sessions during the summer, and the rollercoaster of emotions he experienced on the All-Ireland Final weekend. 

Press play, close your eyes and enjoy. There's a host of voices, emotions and stories. Mayo are All-Ireland Champions for 2026. To quote Con Houlihan "all heaven has broken loose."

A huge crowd of Mayo supporters gathered at The Oxford Arms in Camden Town in London on Thursday evening for an All-Ireland Final fundraiser organised by Cairde Mhaigheo London.
Mike was there for MFT to sample the atmosphere and to talk some of the assembled audience, which ranged from seasoned Mayo supporters to young fans who are looking forward to the novelty of an All-Ireland Final after a five-year break.
It was a wonderful evening of chat, craic and camaraderie and a lovely way to start the build-up to the biggest football weekend of the year.

As the countdown continues Billy Joe Padden and Edwin McGreal join Rob Murphy to take a detailed look at what to expect from the game on Sunday week.

The numbers behind Mayo’s forward play, the challenge of the aerial battle with Kerry’s midfield and the monumental task of curtailing their attack.

There are loads of reasons for hope but there is no hiding from the talking about challenges either, as we preview of the 2026 all Ireland final.