'Ingenious' Sam Maguire road sign on Mayo roundabout is 'sin-binned'

Mayo County Council has ‘sin-binned” an imaginative road sign indicating the route to the Sam Maguire Cup for the success starved Mayo senior football team.

The authority removed the sign from existing official road signage at the N5 roundabout in Castlebar today on the grounds that road safety was being compromised.

Those responsible for erecting the additional signage overnight remain unknown.

One local county councillor, Michael Kilcoyne said whoever thought of the sign was ‘ingenious.'

“It looked just like the real thing," he commented.

However, Mayo County Council, who ordered the removal of the sign, was less impressed.

In a statement, a spokesperson said that the sign has been removed in the interests of road safety.

The statement continued: “In general, signs are not permitted to be erected without permits/ planning permission.

“However, for special events like the All Ireland Final, the local authority will not remove signs, provided they are not erected on the roundabout centre, or islands, and do not interfere with vision, are secured properly, and are removed promptly afterwards.

“Any signs attached to road signage will be removed as this may cause confusion to drivers, and interfere with road safety."

Mayo are due to contest the All-Ireland football final against either Tyrone or Kerry in Croke Park on September 11.

Tyrone and Kerry will battle it out to decide Mayo’s rivals in the semi-final tomorrow.