The rain drizzled softly on the rugby pitch in south Belfast last night where about a dozen of the Police Service of Northern Ireland's Gaelic football squad went through their paces under Insp Damian Tucker in preparation for a showdown with the Garda team.
A few of them looked useful enough but a couple more shaped up like front-row rugby players. Which is probably what they were. A number of officers from the unionist tradition, who normally operate with the oval ball, decided to join their colleagues of nationalist background and try their hand at this unfamiliar code, a police spokesman explained.
"And don't be fooled by appearances, that's just to lull the Garda into a false sense of confidence," he added. "Wait'll you see the full squad." One fellow was kitted out in a Kerry jersey, another in the colours of their conquerors Armagh. Then for the cameras they changed into the PSNI's jerseys: O'Neills strip of green, white and blue complete with the force's crest.
Chief Supt Brian McCargo, chairman of the PSNI team, explained the green and blue were intended to reflect the two traditions. "And I want the two communities to be involved in this club." For "obvious reasons", he added, he couldn't pick green, white and orange.
Mr McCargo turned out for Ardoyne Kickhams in north Belfast in his younger days and also played for Antrim at minor, senior and junior level. When he joined the RUC the GAA's Rule 21 ban on officers playing GAA games, rescinded last year, put paid to that career. "This is a great day for many guys," Mr McCargo said.
