Kerry v Mayo - triumph, pain and 'the curse'
· Yahoo Sports
In the build-up to last year's All-Ireland final, former Kerry captain Dara Ó Cinnéide pointed out "nobody has lost more finals than Kerry".
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It's true, as while the Kingdom lead the way on the roll of honour with 39 Sam Maguire triumphs, their 24 defeats on Gaelic football's biggest day is greater than any other county.
Cork are next in that unwanted bracket with 16, but just one behind - level with Galway - sits Mayo.
The Yew County must go back 75 years for the last of their three All-Ireland titles, defending the crown they had won the previous season, but while All-Ireland success has eluded them since, a return to the final was 44 years in the making.
In 1989, led by the late John O'Mahony, Mayo rolled into Croke Park to face a Cork side that had fallen short in the previous two finals against Meath - the second of those after a replay.
Perhaps there was a sense that it was the Rebels' time, but Mayo had their chances, only to fall to a three-point defeat. It would prove to be the first of 11 disappointments on final day.
They were back seven years later, thanks to a semi-final win over Kerry who were ready to challenge again after a number of years in the wilderness, but after Colm Coyle's late punt hopped off the ground and over the bar to force a draw, Meath won a replay that was marred by an early brawl.
Certainly, there was an element of fortune in Meath's equaliser in the drawn game, but could it be something a lot deeper for Mayo? A curse, perhaps?
As the story - or myth - goes, following their 1951 win and on their way home on to Castlebar on an open-back lorry, the team's boisterous celebrations interrupted a funeral taking place in Foxford, just outside Ballina with the presiding priest laying a curse that Mayo would not win an All-Ireland title any member of the team was alive.
Whether that is fact or folklore remains unclear, but Mayo's fortunes on All-Ireland final day have not improved since.
The following year, they returned to the decider against Kerry who would make up for the previous year's semi-final reverse with a three-point win.
It would not be misfortune for Mayo, but the brilliance of Maurice Fitzgerald that was the difference, with the Cahersiveen man kicking nine points on the day.
Those two meetings between the counties would prove to be the beginning of a new-found rivalry.
Mayo come up short in Kerry's decade of dominance
Kerry would return to the top in 2000, marking the start of a successful decade as Sam Maguire would return to the Kingdom on five occasions, with three further final defeats in this time.
In 2004, Mayo were back in the final to meet them and while Alan Dillon netted an early goal, the game would quickly get away from them as Colm Cooper goaled at the other end on a day in which he and Ó Cinnéide starred in an emphatic win as Jack O'Connor led Kerry to his first title as manager.
Two years later, Mayo stunned Dublin the last four with Ciaran McDonald landing a sublime winner, but it was the same old story in the final as an early goal blitz paved the way for another handsome win for Kerry.
While O'Connor stood down at the end of 2006, Pat O'Shea would guide them to another title title the following season - the last time Kerry achieved back to back All-Irelands, only for Tyrone to deny them three-in-a-row the following year - a repeat of the 2005 decider.
Semi-final thrillers
As that great Kerry team's powers began to fade by the end of the decade, Mayo would find a new nemesis as after defeat by Donegal in 2012, Dublin would account for them in the 2013 decider, again in 2016 after a replay that was largely down to two first-half own goals in the drawn game, while Dean Rock would break their hearts with a winning free at the death in the 2017 final.
However, Kerry and Mayo would serve up some incredible semi-final drama in the 2010s as after Kieran O'Leary salvaged a draw for Kerry at Croke Park, the Kingdom would win after extra-time in a thriller at Limerick's Gaelic Grounds.
Three years later at the same stage, it was roles reversed as Paddy Durcan rescued a draw for Mayo who finished the job in the replay thanks to goals from current manager Andy Moran and Diarmuid O'Connor.
While the counties lost two All-Ireland finals apiece since that game, Kerry have added two more titles in the third coming of O'Connor.
They sides swapped wins in 2022 and 2023, Kerry now an established force led by the talents of the Cliffords, the Geaneys, Gavin White and Sean O'Shea.
Mayo contain many survivors of their most recent final defeat by Tyrone in 2021, but a fresh crop have also emerged in Kobe McDonald, Darragh Beirne, Eoin McGreal and Cian McHale.
Will the ghosts of All-Ireland finals past continue to haunt Mayo and Kerry cement their place at the top, or will the 75 years of hurt finally come to an end against a county that has handed them three of those 11 defeats since 1951?
Sunday will be a day to remember for one set of supporters, while the other will revisit that sense of devastation both know only too well on All-Ireland final day.
As for the 'curse'? Well, the last member of the Mayo 1951 panel, Dr Mick Loftus, passed away in 2023.