Gaelic football, on the other hand, is the religion that upholds county boundaries. Households with the colours of their allegiance flapping in the front garden, as everyday as installing garden gnomes and as frequent as hanging laundry.
Gaelic football, I should explain, is a cross between rugby and soccer with few rules. And judging by the radio commentator’s laissez faire attitude to torn shirts and oozing injuries, a blood sport.
This time round we arrivefd righf in the middle of the Gaelic football national finals. County Mayo (the favoured underdogs) were playing Dublin (Ireland’s equivalent of Manchester United) for the first time since beyond the living memory of many supporters.
Mayo county flag