Kerry leads all‑time with 39 Sam Maguire titles butlated 24 final defeats, the most of any county. Mayo last won in 1949 and has struggled to return to the All‑Ireland decider for 75 years, with only three titles in 75 years of competition.

The 1989 final saw a Cork side beat Mayo by three points, the first of 11 successive final disappointments. A famed curse was said to have been pronounced in 1951 when a Mayo parade interrupted a funeral in Foxford, a curse that claimed no living player would ever lift a title again.

The rivalry deepened after 1999 when Maurice Fitzgerald’s nine‑point haul helped Kerry defeat Mayo. Since then the two sides have traded dramatic semi‑finals and finals, with Kerry adding titles in 2022 and 2023 and Mayo fielding a new crop of talents such as Kobe McDonald and Eoin Mc Greal.

Will the 75‑year pain finally end? The upcoming final will decide whether the ghosts of past defeats continue to haunt Mayo or whether Kerry cements its place at the top of Gaelic football.