Oisín Mullin's Attempted Return to Mayo for All-Ireland Final

Oisín Mullin has confirmed what many in Mayo had already suspected: the county did try to pull off the ultimate late-season heist.

In the days before Mayo finally ended their 75-year wait for Sam Maguire, Andy Moran picked up the phone in the west of Ireland and dialled Geelong. On the other end of the line, in the thick of an AFL campaign, was a player who had already lived the heartbreak of two All-Ireland final defeats and then left for a different code and a different life.

Mullin, speaking to Australia’s Channel 7 ahead of Geelong’s clash with Collingwood, admitted the conversation took place.

"I did have a chat with the coach back home and obviously Chris (Scott) here," he said, confirming that Mayo’s manager had explored the possibility of a sensational recall for the decider.

The seed had already been planted publicly. Geelong coach Chris Scott revealed on Fox Sports that Moran had sounded Mullin out last week, floating the idea that, after Geelong’s game against Melbourne on the Friday night, the 26-year-old might be able to slip back to Ireland, play in an All-Ireland final, then return to Australia.

It was audacious. It was also, in the end, impossible.

Mullin explained how the idea grew out of an existing link. During the AFL off-season, Geelong had allowed him an extended spell at home, and Mayo took the opportunity to bring him into training. The bridge between codes stayed intact.

"In the off-season, Geelong gave me an extended period at home and I was fortunate that Mayo let me join them to train in the off-season as well, so there was that connection there," he said.

That connection prompted Moran’s call. Reality closed the door.

"The coach just touched base with me from home and had a chat with Scotty, but the circumstances around where we are in the ladder here and the time of season, it just didn't work out.

"I was just excited watching on from here and see the boys get the result and get it done."

Geelong are in the sharp end of their own season, and the notion of one of their players flying halfway across the world for a single game, even one of this magnitude, was always going to collide with professional demands. The romance of a Mayo return could not outrun the hard lines of an AFL campaign.

So Mullin watched from afar as the county he once drove from half-back finally climbed the mountain without him.

"It was massive. It's been 75 years since they've won it. There's been so many finals that Mayo have played in and not managed to get over the line," he said.

"To finally get it done, the whole county has gone into lockdown. The celebrations are off the charts, it looks unbelievable."

Few understand that emotional release better than Mullin. He was one of the brightest lights in Mayo’s runs to the 2020 and 2021 All-Ireland finals, picking up an All-Star and the Young Footballer of the Year award in 2020 as he burst onto the inter-county scene. Those campaigns ended in familiar Mayo anguish. His career then took a sharp turn, trading Croke Park for the MCG and the AFL grind.

He has now settled into his fourth season with Geelong and has already sampled the biggest stage there too, lining out in last year’s AFL Grand Final, where Geelong fell to back-to-back champions Brisbane Lions.

From promising Gaelic football prodigy to AFL regular, Mullin’s path has been anything but straightforward. The latest twist — a covert call from Mayo, a fleeting chance of a dramatic return, and then the cold logic of professional sport shutting it down — only underlines how highly he is still valued back home.

The county has finally broken the curse without him. The question now is whether that phone call was a one-off shot in the dark, or the first sign that, one day, Oisín Mullin might wear green and red again.