PAUL BRANNIGAN,
Sir,- May I have an opportunity to praise the Dublin supporters who attended Croke Park last Sunday?
As an Armagh man who was there in 1977, I approached the match last Sunday with a mixture of excitement and trepidation - excitement and belief that Armagh would defeat this Dublin side, but with the trepidation of entering the Lyons den with almost 50,000 Dublin supporters fed on a diet of hyperbole by almost every media outlet and pundit in the country.
However, my worries were ill-founded. The spectators in Croke Park revelled in the atmosphere of a game where passion and conviction were more important than the quality of football demanded by the purists.
The Dublin supporters played a major part in the whole spectacle, encouraging their team with singing and chanting. The roar from the Hill drove the Armagh supporters to emulate this enthusiasm and passion for their team.
At the end, as we spilled out onto the streets of Dublin, not a cross word was heard as beaming Armagh faces mixed with the crestfallen Dubs. The Dubs cursed poor Ray Cosgrove's ill luck and the Armagh people sympathised with them, having been there too many times over the past four years!
While I am ecstatic that Armagh will be in the All-Ireland final, Croke Park will not be the same without the "boys in blue" on the Hill. - Is mise,
PAUL BRANNIGAN, Omagh, Co Tyrone.