A unique chapter in GAA history was written when two trophies were paraded through a jubilant crowd at the Clann Éireann club in Lurgan last week.
Conor McConville and Niamh Henderson, captains of the men's and ladies’ senior football teams, each carried a cup as they walked along Lake Street and then into the clubhouse.
Each had led their teams to the senior Armagh Football Championship title.
The fact that the same club won both of their senior county titles in the same season is quite an achievement but may not be a unique one.
So what then makes this achievement historic? It’s all about the actual trophies.
The winners of the Armagh senior men’s championship were presented with the Gerry Fagan Cup, named after a former Clann Éireann hero who captained the club to county title success in 1954 and 1963.
The winners of the senior ladies’ championship were presented with the Marie Hoye Cup, also named after a former Clann Éireann stalwart who was a driving force behind the creation of what is one of the most successful ladies football clubs in the country.
Two county championship trophies both named after members of the club that this year won them both.
Labelling something historic is risky as there is the possibility that someone somewhere will disprove the claim, but a number of GAA sources I spoke to during the past week said they believe this a unique and historic achievement.
"This year has been groundbreaking for Armagh GAA," said Paul McArdle, chairperson of the Armagh County Board.
"With our county lifting the Sam Maguire it only seems right that history would be made on the Armagh club scene too. Clann Éireann can be proud, having claimed both the men’s and women’s senior football championships with trophies named in honour of their own Gerry Fagan and Marie Hoye.
"The return of these cups to Clann Éireann is more than a victory; it’s a legacy and unity that define our clubs and county."
Until last Saturday evening only one living former Clann Éireann man had won two senior Armagh football championship medals - Francie McNeice. Now there's a squad of them.
That victory three years ago came after 58 barren years for the senior men’s team.
The ladies’ team has been virtually unstoppable over the past two decades.
Since the senior county championship trophy was renamed the Marie Hoye in 2006, the year she died, Clann Éireann has won it 13 times.
The Lurgan club has become a dominant and thriving force during that time with around 700 playing members in 20 teams from under 8s to senior, plus Gaelic for Mothers, Gaelic for All, and Dads and Lads.
In addition to the senior men’s and ladies’ titles, it also won the minor boys’ and girls’ championships.
The ladies are also All-Ireland Sevens and Armagh Senior Division 1 champions, while Clann’s ladies’ and girls’ teams have won the Minor Division 1 championship, the Under 17 Division league and championship, the Under 15 Division 1 championship and the Under 13 Division 2 championship.
The men also won this year’s Senior Division 1A league title, and the minor boys won the Division 1 championship.
It is the culmination of a strategy introduced in 2002, the year Armagh first lifted Sam Maguire, when committee members and coaches introduced a range of measures aimed at encouraging more young people to join the club and to improve the facilities and training available.
"We always said Clann Éireann was a sleeping giant given the population of Lurgan and the size of the club," a committee member told me amid the celebrations last week.
"It had all the ingredients. It took us a few years to do it, but a lot of hard work by a lot of people across all age groups has paid off and we have strong teams coming though across the board. The giant is awake."
As they did when they won the senior championship in 2021, the men’s team gathered outside Gerry Fagan’s home last Saturday and walked the short distance to the clubhouse as supporters lined the street.
The senior county men’s trophy was renamed in his honour shortly after his death in 1995 in recognition of a long playing career for club and county that was then followed by a refereeing career and periods as Armagh county secretary and assistant secretary.
Just before the victory parade got under way Roisín Bell, the club chairperson, went home to get the Marie Hoye Cup, which the ladies won in September.
The committee had dreamed of a day when the club would win both titles in the same year, but the ladies missed out when the men won in 2021.
This year the stars aligned.
"To have our senior men’s and ladies’ captains Conor and Niamh meet with the Gerry Fagan and Marie Hoye cups in Lake Street is the stuff of dreams," said Roisin.
"If you don’t celebrate such occasions, what’s the point? It’s a watershed moment for Clann Éireann and the result of so much hard work from so many people. We will enjoy these times but look to keep pushing for more."
The two trophies were on display in the clubhouse last week, alongside Sam Maguire which five of the Clann Éireann senior men’s team, Barry McCambridge, Conor Turbitt, Tiernan Kelly, Seán McCarthy and Daniel Magee, helped bring back to the Orchard County in July.
As far as those in Clann Éireann are concerned, Gerry and Marie have come home.
