Mayo fans celebrated into the early hours after their team ended a 75-year wait to win the All-Ireland senior football final.In Westport, Co Mayo, where the crowds were swelled by pilgrims who had made the “Reek Sunday” climb of Croagh Patrick, hundreds of mostly youthful supporters gathered in Bridge Street outside Matt Molloy’s and other pubs.As a cavalcade of horn-beeping cars also poured into the town in the hours after Sunday’s victory over favourites Kerry, traffic became backed up for a time and gardaí had to block the entrance to the one-way street until the problem was resolved.Some fans who did not live in or close to Westport found themselves seeking emergency accommodation for the night. But at 9pm on Sunday, one popular accommodation booking website had only one room left locally, for €320, and many local hotels and guesthouses confirmed they were full.[ Decades of hurt, hope and loss melt away as Mayo win sweetest All-Ireland title imaginable ]The situation is likely to be repeated in Castlebar. As of Monday lunchtime, the nearest available room still being advertised for the town was the last one in a bed and breakfast in Swinford, 29km away.The Mayo team is to travel from Dublin to Castlebar by train on Monday afternoon, arriving for the official homecoming in MacHale Park at 6pm.Organisers of the homecoming celebrations had provisionally planned for an attendance of 40,000. But after Sunday evening’s outpouring of relief and joy among supporters following Mayo’s 1-20 to 1-17 victory in Croke Park, they were said to be “revisiting” the estimate.The new must-have accessory for Mayo supporters, a car-registration plate reading 26 MO SAM, will be on sale at the homecoming for €6, with proceeds going to the players’ training fund.Events from MacHale Park, where the gates open at 3pm, are being streamed live via the official Mayo GAA Facebook page. The team is also expected to visit Westport on Monday.
Mayo’s All-Ireland victory: Celebrations stop traffic as Castlebar homecoming awaits
Tens of thousands of supporters expected at MacHale Park to cheer Andy Moran’s victorious team this evening












