The other memory Carney hopes proves ineradicable is the powerful feeling that accompanied carrying Sam onto Achill Island alongside team-mates Donnacha McHugh and Diarmuid O’Connor.
Carney has deep family roots on the island. His father and grandfather hail from there and both were present as Carney, McHugh and O’Connor – soundtracked by more than 100 bagpipers, including his father – carried the famous trophy across the Michael Davitt Bridge and onto the island.
Given his connection to Achill, the power and significance of the moment was not lost on Carney.
“According to my father and grandfather, that’s never happened before [bringing Sam Maguire on to the island], so I recognised the cultural importance of it – and you could feel it,” says Carney.
“That originally wasn’t on the calendar as a club until further down the line. The island empties when summer is over. People return to where they’re from originally, Dublin or Galway or wherever, and I really wanted to get the trophy down there while the island was vibrant and alive.
“My grandfather was the sergeant on Achill Island. My father grew up in the barracks and the GAA pitch was the back garden. They kind of claim me as half one of their own.”
Carney, whose two-point score launched Mayo’s All-Ireland final comeback against Kerry, added: “With no Achill player on the team, it was really important that both myself and Donnacha – both our fathers are from there – to get down there and show our appreciation for what they’ve done for us and our families.
“And Diarmuid O’Connor just has a sense of knowing when something will be good and when to be there.
“He came down with us and I’m delighted he was there because someone who didn’t really understand the weight of it all – when we were crossing the bridge, he could say he could just feel it, he said, ‘this is something different here’.”
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