Joe Brolly explains the ‘disease’ that Mayo GAA fans suffer from

Another year, another excruciating Mayo loss.

The Connacht men were knocked out of the All-Ireland SFC by Donegal on the weekend, when Ciarán Moore hit a superb point after the buzzer had gone at Dr Hyde Park.

Mayo have famously endured many near misses since winning their last All-Ireland back in 1951, and remain competitive most years, with strong panels filling their supporters with hope going into the season.

Outspoken Derry man, Joe Brolly, has now cheekily given a name to this ‘hope’.

On the Free State podcast, Brolly said: “People from Mayo suffer from an incurable genetic condition, MHOS, Mayo Hopeless Optimists Syndrome.

“The thing about them is that they can beat anybody, unless it’s a final, and they have beaten everybody. So when a wee farmer from Bohola is painting his sheep red and green on the eve of an All-Ireland final, filled with euphoria, certain in the knowledge that on Monday Mayo will be champions, and his sheep will bleat triumphantly as the Mayo bus and cavalcade pass by on the way to the victory celebration.

“On the Monday he has already forgotten because of MHOS and he’s already looking forward, filled with the thrill of being All-Ireland champions in 2026, Mayo for Sam 2026.

“It’s a great way to be I suppose, but they’re not serious, you know what I mean, they’re not serious.”

He then went on to compare the county to Scotland’s football team, and their record at World Cups.

He added: “The difference is that Scotland are a plucky underdog, Mayo is a superpower of Gaelic football, and the problem is that the culture’s wrong.

“It was exemplified by Donegal’s winning score. Ten seconds to go, Mayo get the equaliser, they work really hard, just frantic all-out effort to turn Donegal over.

“Donegal were really just trying to hold possession for the last two-and-a-half minutes, Mayo turned them over and they come forward, and with ten seconds to go they kick the equaliser… so they knew that – they had to know – that ‘as long as we don’t concede a score we’re through to the knockout phase.’

“A kickout comes, Donegal win it, Mayo don’t foul, it’s passed on to Ciarán Moore, who’s sort of a human horse who must’ve stampeded up the pitch 120 metres at least 20 times… and so Moore takes off up the side line, and they let him go, and he gets in and kicks the winning score and Mayo are gone.

“And had that been Mayo taking that kickout, a Donegal man would most certainly have stopped him in his tracks as soon as the ball was won… Donegal work on these things whereas Mayo are just hopeful.

“It was all to no avail as we knew it would be, because they’re fundamentally not serious, they’re not there to win, that’s ultimately not why they’re there.”