Ciara Mc Gill and children Erin (6) and Ceola (4) are hoping an original Irish News poster from the All-Ireland final in 2002 will bring the team luck on Sunday.
The family from Hillcrest Village in Newry said “people have been stopping outside their house to get pictures” of their Armagh display, which includes the original poster.
“The kids are really enjoying the hype and running in to tell us when a car has stopped saying, ‘They most be Up Armagh too’, said Ciara.
The original Irish News poster, which dates back to the paper’s coverage of the 2002 All-Ireland final, was safely stored by Ciara’s uncle Séamus Mac Dhaibhéid who runs the Irish Museum in Newry and is part of the Newry Gaelic League.
“He was at the final in 2002 and he kept lots of souvenirs from the time. He kept the poster safely in the roof space of his house, just waiting for the next final and it’s finally seen the light of day. It’s a special one for him.” she said.
The display which Ciara and her family put up also features a poster depicting Armagh manager Kieran McGeeney as “king in the north”, a reference to popular TV series Game of Thrones.
“He’s got an awful lot of stick you know, I just felt that we needed to do something to show him a bit of support from the community. Myself and my husband are big fans of the show so I thought this would be good,” she said.
Beside the McGeeney poster is a “wee footballer” figure which bears the number 3 in honour of Armagh player Aaron Mackey.
Ciara who remembers the 2002 final is one of the lucky people with a ticket for Sunday’s game.
She said: “I was at all the games in 2002 but never managed to get a ticket to the final, but I’m delighted that I’m one of the lucky people that will be able to go to this match. It’s so hard to get tickets for everyone, Armagh just has such support.”
