Connecting to a tradition through Gaelic football

CELEBRITY FANS:Dr Martin McAleese, President's husband, 59, Gaelic football

How did you get into Gaelic football?My father and mother were country people. They came to Belfast in the late '40s. My father was one of the very few Catholics who got a job in Shorts, the aircraft factory. The only criteria they used to buy their house was that it would be close enough to his work so that he could either walk or cycle there.

What happened was that the house was right in the middle of Loyalist East Belfast. That’s where we were raised and grew up. It was a very difficult environment because it was tempered very much with fear and intimidation and sectarianism.

I would have difficulty remembering where the next Catholic family lived because there were so few us. In many ways, we were strangers or loners in our own community.

There were two yardsticks that connected us, and me particularly, to my own tradition, my Catholic, nationalist background, and those two things were the GAA and the Catholic Church.

The GAA especially became a big force in my life. Not only did it introduce me to new friends but it also reinforced the idea I had a tradition and that I wasn’t totally cut off in East Belfast because when you live like that in a minority what happens is you tend to hide the symbols that identify you with your own tradition.

When you walk out of the house to get the bus to school you could be subjected to verbal abuse because of your school uniform; if you were taking a hurl with you that drew further attention.

Of course, I became phenomenally mad about Gaelic football and played it day and night. I can’t overestimate the impact it had in keeping me sane, a place where you weren’t always a second-class citizen.

Did it ever come to a point in that environment where it was dangerous to play?Absolutely, but you got very streetwise. It would have come to fisticuffs at times.

What about Antrim's chequered Gaelic football history?There were some great days long before I was born in the late '40s.

I think the Troubles, which started around ’68, ’69, had a huge impact on Antrim football. Belfast took the brunt in many ways.

Were matches or training ever interfered with?I didn't play in any game that was interfered with, but to give you an example: I played with O'Donovan Rossa in Belfast and we won an Antrim senior championship in 1973 but that final against St John's had to be played in Randalstown. It couldn't be played in Casement Park because of army activity and the Troubles.

Going to matches and coming home from matches we were often searched and interrogated.

I remember one incident walking to a match, going up to Casement Park and gunshots being heard somewhere and you ended up lying on the floor, getting down out of the way.

That was the sort of ambience, the temperature around the place.

Who was your favourite player growing up?The great Mick O'Connell from Valentia Island. He was a real superstar. Looking across the border, he embodied everything that I couldn't have.

He represented the essence of the Republic – the equality and the freedom. I felt, God, I’d love to live there, but most of all I would love to have played either with him or against him.

If you fast forward 45 years, one Saturday morning a number of years ago our eldest daughter Emma said to me, “I’m going to bring my new boyfriend up. Is that okay?” “Of course,” I said.

She brings this fella in and he turns out to be Micheál Ó Conaill, son of Mick, from Valentia Island. They got married just before Christmas. We’ve become great friends with Mick and Rosaleen, and at last I’ve got to kick ball with Mick O’Connell on the lawns of the Áras.

What was the highlight of your career?Winning the Sigerson Cup for Queen's University in 1971. We beat UCC in Galway in Pearse Stadium in the final. It was the third time Queen's won the competition.

We’d players like Anthony McGurk, some of his brothers played on the Derry team which won the All-Ireland in ’93, Séamus Killough, who played full back on the Antrim under-21 team that won the All-Ireland in 1969.

Who were the stars on the UCC team?Brendan Lynch, Paudie Lynch, a lot of well-known Kerry players, and interestingly Moss Keane. I actually lined up against him a couple of times. He played full back that day.

What style of footballer was Moss?Ah, he was good. He was big and strong, but I was small and nippy. I'll leave the rest to your imagination!