At Ma Kearney’s pub in Crossmaglen, Sunday’s All-Ireland GAA final is being played on repeat.
It’s 24 hours since Armagh won the Sam Maguire at Croke Park for the second time in 22 years – and every minute is being relived in a stifling front lounge heaving with fans.
A woman wearing an orange Stetson hat hugs a friend and clinks a glass in celebration following her team’s defeat of Galway by one point in the nail-biting thriller.
“It’s the Holy Grail,” says pub owner Benny Cassidy. “We’ve probably shown the game about seven or eight times since yesterday ... it was absolutely electric in here last night.
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“What’s brilliant is that the young ones get to celebrate what we had. I gave my tickets to my kids as I was there in 2002.”
Outside, most of the south Armagh town’s shops are shut and a convoy of cars snakes its way along the main road to Armagh city for the team’s homecoming celebrations.
Orange and white flags fly from cars and a vintage Morris Minor has a replica Sam Maguire cup attached to its roof.
“Galway for the races, Armagh for Sam” is written on an enormous banner outside the gates of one house close to Newtownhamilton village.
Horns are tooted and cars parked up on grass verges just outside the city as thousands of fans walk towards Dalton Road for the ticketed event at the Athletic Grounds.
At a housing estate a large orange banner heralds Punky Toner – Armagh’s kit man – as the “best kit man in the country”.
Generations of families flood the pitch inside the grounds and television cameras are set up in front of an arch of orange and white balloons as the 16,000-strong crowd begin the countdown to the team’s arrival under a warm July sun.
The Boys From the County Armagh is belted out by the band, More Power to Your Elbow.
“It’s just unreal,” says Stephen McKevitt from Mullaghbawn as he wheels his toddler’s buggy into the stands.
“I was at the game yesterday – it was my three-year-old daughter’s first All-Ireland – and when the final whistle blew, it was pure release. We went through a lot of heartache in the past, all those hard games when the children were coming out crying after penalties.”
There is a small police presence at the event and McKevitt criticises concerns raised by unionist politicians earlier in the day about PSNI officers celebrating the win.
DUP members met police on Monday after video footage emerged on social media apparently showing officers in police vehicles waving flags and sounding their sirens in Camlough village on the outskirts of Newry. TUV MP Jim Allister also made a compliant to the NI Police Ombudsman.
“This should be applauded, it’s community policing. But it’s also a non-event. The only people who seem to be raising their head about it is unionists,” says McKevitt.
His mother, Kathleen McKevitt, says the GAA has been so important for her community throughout the Troubles.
“It has brought so many people together, my brother Paddy came home from Yonkers in New York yesterday for the game – he got his ticket over there,” she says.
At 5.40pm, word comes through that the team are close, and 10 minutes later the crowd erupts as Armagh captain Aidan Forker and manager Kieran McGeeney walk through the arch with the Sam Maguire.
Orange flares are lit and the 44-strong Armagh team dressed in identical chinos and polo shirts dance on stage to the chants of “Geezer, Geezer” (McGeeney’s nickname) from the ballooning crowd.
Florence & The Machine’s Dog Days are Over – the team’s unofficial new anthem – rings around the grounds and everyone is on their feet.
“It has to be said, when Armagh does something, Armagh does it in style,” a hoarse McGeeney tells them.
“It was after the Kerry game a lot of players I played with said the atmosphere in the stadium was unbelievable, that they’d never experienced anything like it.
“You surpassed it again in the final, on the way home last night, this morning and this afternoon, you have taken things to a new level for this team and for that we’re entirely grateful.”
As the last of the crowd slips away after countless selfies with the team, three young boys play football on the Gaelic pitch.
“GAA is so important to us, south Armagh was a place was known for the Troubles and we played throughout it,” Aíne Muckian tells The Irish Times.
“We lived for the GAA. Regardless of where the games were, we went to them. Be it Cork or wherever, we would say we were ‘reared on the road’.
“The GAA kept kids right back then, when I tell my kids what it was like, they look at me. This win is for the next generation.”
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