UNBEKNOWNST to Dubliner Paul McCormack, a chance find in an attic would lead to an iconic piece of Mayo All Ireland history being uncovered.
Mr McCormack was clearing out a family attic when he found a priceless item - a menu card signed by the 1951 All Ireland winning Mayo team.
The team were in the International Hotel in Bray, Co. Wicklow, celebrating their win over Meath on September 23, 1951, when Mr McCormack's father, Frank McCormack, a proud Mayo man a lifelong fan of his county team, had the winners sign the card at the celebratory dinner.
"My dad first saw Mayo play in the semi-final in 1935 at Croke Park," he says.
Mr McCormack recalls how his father got a lift to the game by car, a journey taking six hours from Castlebar to Dublin.
A year later Mr McCormack Snr. attended the 1936 All Ireland Final between Mayo and Laois, which Mayo won.
Frank McCormack (middle, wearing a leather coat) with the 1936 All Ireland winning Mayo team (Picture: Paul McCormack)Over time, he became friends with many on the Mayo team and he was in attendance for both the 1950 and 1951 All Ireland games, which Mayo won.
It was after the 1951 game, the last time Mayo won an All Ireland, that Mr McCormack Snr. had the team sign the menu.
"I remember dad telling me that although Fr Peter Quinn signed his name as Peter Quinn on the menu, he used the pseudonym Peter Quinlan at the time because the Catholic Church didn't approve of the clergy playing physical sports," Mr McCormack Jnr explained.
On the menu for the evening was a grapefruit cocktail, a cream soup starter, and a fillet of plaice as a first course.
Naturally, a main course consisted of chicken and Castlebar ham, with cauliflower and peas.
Later in 1951, Frank McCormack moved to Pearse Street in Dublin to manage the Castlebar Bacon Company's Dublin office.
He would often joke that, from his accommodation, which was less than a mile from Croke Park, he wouldn't have far to travel to see Mayo win the All-Ireland Final again.
"Alas," Paul McCormack says, "it wasn't to be as he died in 2007."
Fans were left disappointed after Mayo and Dublin drew at this year's All Ireland Final, held last Sunday (September 18).
However, a replay is set for Saturday, October 1st and if Mayo win, it'll be for the first time in 65 years.
