'Mayo for Sam!' Biden delights Irish ancestors with sporting shoutout

U.S. President Joe Biden walks to speak at St. Muredach's Cathedral in Ballina, County Mayo, Ireland, April 14, 2023. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne

BALLINA, Ireland (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden delighted thousands of locals from his Irish ancestral home of Ballina on Friday when he saved the final words of his Ireland tour to back their Gaelic football team to break a famous decades-long curse.

The proud Irish-American, wrapping up a nostalgic three-day visit to Ireland with a rally in the County Mayo town that his great-great-great-grandfather left for the United States in 1851, got the biggest cheer of the night with three parting words: "Mayo for Sam."