Cut me and I bleed white and red, but I think I’m softening for Armagh - Lynette Fay navigates inter-country rivalries

When she was born, one of our friends bought our baby girl a half and half jersey: half Tyrone, half Armagh. This was a symbol of four generations of Tyrone-Armagh marriages. My mummy is from Armagh, so was my granda and great grandparents bar one, yet I have always rebelled against, perhaps denied, my Armagh lineage. I am Tyrone through and through, cut me and I bleed white and red, yet over the last few weeks, I find myself softening.

When the full time whistle was blown at the All-Ireland semi-final I was in Croke Park surrounded by Armagh people – mostly from my husband’s native Crossmaglen. They were dancing, cheering, crying, laughing.

Sheer joy – and why not? Their senior men’s footballers had just reached an All-Ireland football final for the first time in 21 years... when we beat them to claim our first.

As I stood back and watched the stadium explode to the sound of ‘Freed From Desire’, I was feeling all shades of guilty for being happy for them. Does this mean that I am a turncoat? Have I jumped on the bandwagon?

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I was like a fish out of water in the Croke Park Hotel afterwards when the Boys of the County Armagh was ringing in my ears. It is not and never will be my song, but as I watched two young women who I have known for most of their lives sing at the tops of their voices, I thought you would have to have a heart of stone not to be happy for Armagh fans in that moment.

Inter-county rivalry varies, depending on where you are from in Armagh. The rivalry with Down is deep set, for some it’s Monaghan they most dislike, and then to the north of the Orchard County, the rivalry with Tyrone is in the DNA, particularly for those from places like An Port Mór, Collegeland and Tullysaran.

At school, I remember locker room banter on a Monday morning when Jenny Taggart from Portadown would be waiting on the Tyrone ones – most of the school – to tease us if Armagh had won a big match, or more significantly, if they had beaten us.

I remember not understanding how Tyrone boys could go to St Pat’s Armagh, never mind tog out and play football for them. Then there were the good footballers who played for the Academy who were from… Maghery. The heart sank. It has always been there.

One thing is for sure, come 3.30pm on Sunday, if GAA is your thing, and even if it is not, we will all be watching on from somewhere – in Ireland and around the world, just like we did last week, for that epic hurling final. As Uachtarán CLG Jarlath Burns said in his post-match speech last Sunday, it’s who we are

I really, really want to support Armagh this Sunday, but the struggle is real. I caved last week, went to O’Neills and bought Armagh LFGA shorts and T-shirt for our wee girl as she had been telling me all week that she was, “Up Armagh now Mummy, because Up Tyrone are out.”

I had to buy Tyrone shorts and T-shirt as well, or else I would find it hard to live with myself, if I am being honest. I posted a video of the gear on Instagram with the comment “pass the soup please”...

I felt like I was choking on the soup as I texted and emailed around trying to secure tickets for Sunday’s match. None yet, so if you hear of any going… desperate times.

One of my best friends is from Down, married to a Mayo man, and they live in Galway. He doesn’t want Galway to win, she doesn’t want Armagh to lift Sam, for similar reasons outlined already. Their son supports Galway, daughter was born in Craigavon, and supports Armagh because of that. A skilled diplomat would struggle managing that situation.

One thing is for sure, come 3.30pm on Sunday, if GAA is your thing, and even if it is not, we will all be watching on from somewhere – in Ireland and around the world, just like we did last week, for that epic hurling final. As Uachtarán CLG Jarlath Burns said in his post-match speech last Sunday, it’s who we are.

There has been a little bit of rivalry between Armagh and Galway in recent years. You would think that Armagh are due a win at this point.

Will I be wishing it was Tyrone? Of course, because there is no feeling like it. I will be jealous of the build up, the chat, banter, the sing songs, the colour, glances from car to car in the match traffic.

Three days to go, and Jarlath might be daring to dream about his county winning the Sam Maguire during his first few months in office. The scene is set for another blockbuster day.