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The star Cat who nearly played in Mayo's curse-breaking triumph
Jaiden Sciberras • July 28th, 2026 7:00 pm
Gaelic Football’s All-Ireland final has caught the eyes of the globe after County Mayo broke their 75-year curse.
Geelong’s Oisin Mullin was very nearly a part of that match.
Coming through the ranks in Ireland, Mullin – formally GAA’s Young Footballer of the Year in 2020 and 2021 – was a star in the making, often referred to as the ‘Nick Daicos of Gaelic Football’ before leaving to join the Cats ahead of the 2023 season.
Representing County Mayo during his GAA days, Mullin watched his former side and hometown defeat County Kerry to win their first All-Ireland since 1951.
However as revealed by Geelong coach Chris Scott, County Mayo had reached out to Mullin, offering him a spot in the All-Ireland final side ahead of their drought-breaking victory.
As Garry Lyon recounts, the revelation came as an innocuous conversation over an ad-break.
“The All-Ireland final was on over the weekend, Mayo versus Kerry,” Lyon told SEN Breakfast.
“County Mayo hadn’t won for 75 years, and I did a bit of reading on it. They won their last title way, way back, and they were doing a parade down the main street and there was a funeral on at the same time.
“Instead of the parade pulling over, the parade kept going. The priest of the funeral put a curse on them. That’s the background.
“They’d lost in the most extraordinary circumstances – they’d played in 11 finals and lost (all of them).
“They play on the weekend and they win emotionally, great result. This is where Oisin Mullin comes from.
“I’m talking to (St Kilda coach) Ross Lyon in the ad break because they’ve got a young player coming up – Kobe McDonald – who played for Mayo and is now going to be much more inclined to want to come now that he’s won the title.
“They had to work hard to get him and apparently, he said if we win, I’ll be 100 per cent coming (to Australia), and they’ve won.
“Then Chris Scott said, funny about this; I got a knock on the door a couple of weeks ago and Oisin comes in…”
Chris Scott told the Mullin story on AFL 360:
“It was actually in person with Oisin Mullin, who had taken a phone call from the Mayo coach,” Scott said on Monday night.
“(He was) just planting the seed that possibly, after our game against Melbourne on Friday night, that he might be able to pop over to Ireland to play in the final and then come back!
“We had three weeks where Oisin was going to play on Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera, then the next week he had Kozzie Pickett and next week – I don’t think I’m telling anyone anything they don’t know – Nick Daicos after that!
“Plus, an All-Ireland final… We were kind of open to the conversation!”
Mayo’s victory drew further attention to 18-year-old GAA star Kobe McDonald, who signed on with St Kilda to join the AFL program from 2027.
McDonald scored three points for Mayo in their All-Ireland triumph, and is set to move to Melbourne in the coming weeks ahead of his debut AFL season.
