Mayo's emotional All-Ireland triumph on Sunday brought a collective release to everyone associated with the county, but victory on Gaelic football's biggest day also gave Ryan O'Donoghue a measure of redemption. In the 2021 final, O'Donoghue missed a penalty that would have put Mayo ahead of Tyrone in the second half, and the memory of that moment stayed with him for five years until he had another chance on the final stage.
While O'Donoghue top-scored on the day with 0-8, Tyrone won the game, leaving the spot-kick failure — which came 12 months after the 2020 final loss to Dublin — to eat away at him for five years before he got another crack at the final. Against Kerry on Sunday, the 27-year-old set the tone for a furious Mayo performance as he pressed and hassled the Kingdom defence from the first minute in a man of the match display.
"The two main emotions are pride and relief," he told The GAA Social.
"The two main emotions are pride and relief,"
He said he had not been over the 2021 defeat until full-time on Sunday, adding that the latest win ended that burden for good.
"After 2020 and 2021, if I'm being honest, I was never over 2021 until about a half-hour ago [at full-time on Sunday].
"Now I'm an All-Ireland champion, we're All-Ireland champions and I'm over it. I'm a firm believer that everything happens for a reason.
"There are a lot of things that have happened in the past couple of years on the pitch - 2020, 2021 and the Roscommon game [a 10-point loss in this year's Connacht semi-final]. I don't think today would have happened if we didn't go through those things."
O'Donoghue, who made his senior inter-county debut in 2020, had enjoyed a superb season for Andy Moran's side before Sunday's final. His indefatigable display, in which he scored 0-5 and launched the move that ended with Darragh Beirne's 40th-minute goal, has installed him as the frontrunner for the Footballer of the Year award. If he wins it, he would be the first Mayo player to do so since Andy Moran in 2017.
It would be a remarkable achievement for a multi-talented sportsman who fought in two All-Ireland boxing finals in his youth and played for the Republic of Ireland soccer team at underage level. And like so many of his team-mates, Belmullet club-man O'Donoghue was able to savour the epic celebrations at Croke Park with his family, including his father Michael and County Down-born mother Brenda.
He said the sacrifices made by his parents since he was 11 years of age had shaped his journey through boxing, soccer and Gaelic football.
"What my mother and father have done for me since I was 11 years of age. Boxing, my dad used to leave at 4 o'clock in the morning to take me to Dublin to the National Stadium for Ireland training,"
"Up and down the road to Castlebar when I was playing Kennedy Cup with Mayo, up and down the road, under-14, Minor. It's a long journey from Castlebar to Belmullet.
"My father worked two jobs. I was playing with Sligo Rovers 2014 to 2016. I didn't get paid, we had to pay our own diesel. There were bills to be paid and my father worked to get me up and down the road to Sligo.
"They've given me every opportunity, whether it's boxing, soccer or Gaelic. This is for them. That's the pride and the emotions in mum and dad. I'm so happy to have repaid them. There's been so many sacrifices. I'm so glad we've done it."
O'Donoghue's performances this season also came alongside important contributions from Kobe McDonald and Darragh Beirne, with the three forming a potent threat up top for Mayo all year.
The GAA Social described the occasion as perhaps its greatest ever Sunday podcast as Mayo won the All-Ireland title.
After the final whistle, O'Donoghue celebrated Mayo's win with his mother Brenda, a moment that underlined how much the result meant to his family as well as the county.
