It's more than just a game in Tyrone's heartland

They rhyme off the names like saints in Ballygawley, the sons from the local club selected for the county panel, writes Dan Keenan…

They rhyme off the names like saints in Ballygawley, the sons from the local club selected for the county panel, writes Dan Keenan.

Of Tyrone's 48 GAA clubs, Errigal Ciaran alone has provided seven players - plus the manager and the physio of the team to do battle against neighbours, Armagh, in tomorrow's All-Ireland football final at Croke Park.

To just about anyone from the North, Ballygawley is a roundabout on the main Belfast-Enniskillen road. But in Tyrone, this village bedecked in red and white to the point of environmental damage, represents hallowed ground. The lavish use of bunting would shame the Orange Order.

The display of flags is of an extent which has prompted legislation elsewhere. The seven sons are listed reverentially rather than alphabetically, and Canavan comes top.

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Saint Peter almost gets a bow of the head from publican Chris Quinn. He's a brother of Paudge, the last Tyrone man to score a goal in a senior final. However, that was in 1986 against Kerry and it's the only reference to that defeat - or any other - you'll hear in his pub.

Saint Peter, accredited with various miraculous works, is perhaps the one spiritual figure adored everywhere in his own land. Well nearly everywhere.

Granville, the next village, has a different flag on display and protestations of loyalty - but to the House of Windsor. Just as elsewhere is festooned, Granville is bare - an eloquent statement of loyalist isolationism. This is Ulster and there are no neutrals. The rivals in orange across the Blackwater barely merit a mention in this Tyrone heartland. But elsewhere they whisper to you this is no ordinary All-Ireland. The others have been inter-provincial affairs. This one is internecine, and don't forget it.