During the 2023 All-Ireland SFC quarter-finals at Croke Park, a Tyrone man and his young child sat in the middle of a sea of orange in the upper Hogan as a David Clifford-inspired Kerry made mincemeat of the Red Hands.
Such was the one-way nature of the contest [Kerry won by 11 points in a pre-orange flag world], the odd Tyrone score saw the Armagh fans nearby offer a sympathetic, and patronising, round of applause. The Tyrone man smiled and shrugged, a resigned 'what can you do' response.
He stayed for the Armagh match too as they faced Monaghan and he greeted every Oriel score by jumping from his seat and punching the air to the disgust of those same Armagh fans. He was right to do so.
Armagh fans should never be applauding Tyrone scores, nor should they be applauding Down scores.
On Sunday past though, many Orchard fans – and probably players too – would have taken satisfaction from the Mourne County’s shock triumph over Jim McGuinness’s Donegal side in their Ulster quarter-final.
At a time when the fierceness of Ulster rivalries is being questioned, Donegal and Armagh fans have developed a real distaste for each other. Think Ireland and South Africa fans arguing online only with ham sandwiches.
It’s understandable that it’s currently the most bitter rivalry in the northern province given their standing in the game, and the two sets of players aren’t exactly bosom buddies, but this is a province built on traditional hatred that should always evoke non-too-pleasant emotions regardless of where the counties sit in the game at that particular time.
Yet, yet...
Donegal and Derry’s rivalry is currently ice cold, Armagh and Tyrone played out an entertaining, yet physically placid quarter-final a few weeks ago and what’s happened to Cavan and Monaghan should be cause for a national enquiry.
In his entertaining Cavanman diary entry, Anglo Celt sports editor Paul Fitzpatrick said of their game with Monaghan a fortnight ago: "One decorated former Cavan defender, exasperated, struck a note: 'You’d think one of them would throw a f**kin’ slap!' he cried. And not that we’re condoning violence, you understand, but he had a point."
Down and Armagh needs to endure, and on Sunday at Clones it should.
Historically it has been the very opposite of a back-and-forth derby with the two counties enjoying periods of dominance.
In the early decades of the Ulster championship, Armagh – celebrating 100 years this season from moving from black and amber to orange – ruled the roost with Down’s first Ulster title not arriving until 1959.
That final victory over Cavan was important, heralding a golden era for the Mourne County. As an aside, three men were jailed in the aftermath for pick-pocketing at Clones that day.
On the field, Down did a bit of pick-pocketing of their own [enough time has passed for that comment to be considered OK in taste] as they thrashed the previous kingpins of the province 2-16 to 0-07.
Three Sam Maguires would follow in the next decade and two more would arrive in the 1990s as the aristocrats got to look down on their neighbours in orange. And they continue to do so despite their noisy neighbours finding their feet in more recent times.
"We were asked to give them a guard of honour (in 1992) but refused. They swaggered on to the pitch and beat us in third gear," current GAA President Jarlath Burns once said of Down's superiority complex over Armagh.
A popular joke for some Down fans, not suitable for reprinting, used to make light of Armagh’s sure-to-fail pursuit of a first All-Ireland.
Armagh supporters, meanwhile, like to trot out the technically correct fact that some of Páirc Esler is in the Orchard County.
In September 1994, the aforementioned Burns and Kieran McGeeney got into a physical altercation at training and had to car share home – a journey that took them through parts of Newry bedecked in red and black bunting for Down’s upcoming All-Ireland final; the pair simmering ever more as they looked out the window at such rage-baiting tribalism. Such stories can only but bring a smile to a Down fan’s face.
The pendulum – with that duo prominent – swung back from red and black to orange in 1998 and, in truth, has remained there ever since. Incidentally, that’s the same year Down legend James McCartan nearly made the switch between the rivals, which would have been the most controversial GAA transfer of all time.
"Could you imagine if Armagh won the All-Ireland and I was playing? You would have gotten no credit whatsoever. The Down people would have had it over you ‘they couldn’t win it with their own team so they needed to get a Down man in,’" McCartan once told this reporter.
‘Wee James’ is still revered despite what Down fans would feel was a temporary loss of his faculties and led them to an unexpected 2010 All-Ireland final appearance.
That one-point loss to Cork was their first All-Ireland final defeat, but they still have five to their name and need no second invitation to remind people of that, but Armagh have moved from zero to two and there’s the added motivation that they could play a part in sending Down to the Tailteann Cup, should they win and Westmeath are too good for Kildare in Leinster.
Burns said it’s a rivalry that can "raise the hackles of even the most mild-mannered person and turn them into a seething, frothing, hate-filled caricatures of themselves".
Given the rush for tickets when released on Tuesday, we could see plenty of that at St Tiernach’s Park.
For the first time in a long time too, there’s genuine reason to believe Down can win a championship match between the two.
That’s something Armagh have managed in 1998, 1999 [their third and, to date, last Ulster final meeting], 2001, 2008, 2011, 2019 [McGeeney’s first provincial win in his fifth season], 2023 and 2024.
The sole exception was 2017 when Armagh looked sharp against Down in the first half before falling apart after the break in Newry with Eamonn Burns’ side more than deserving winners.
Down were big underdogs on home soil that day, and while they carry that tag to Clones this weekend, it doesn't hang as heavily.
In 2024, they pushed McGeeney’s men all the way before Jason Duffy’s late intervention in a season that ended with orange and white ribbons around the Sam Maguire.
Down, who will have 2002 Armagh All-Ireland winner Tony McEntee on the line for this semi-final, have improved since then – most evident last weekend – while Armagh have fallen back, although by how much is very much open to debate.
Armagh have been winning nearly all the battles in recent times, but there’s no doubt that Down are winning the war of this particular confrontation.
This weekend, for the sake of the reputation of Ulster rivalries, both need to bring their fighting spirit.
Watch Clare v Limerick in the Munster Hurling Championship on Sunday from 1.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow our live blog on RTÉ.ie/sport and RTÉ News app and listen to Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1
Watch Armagh v Down in the Ulster Football Championship on Sunday from 3.45pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow our live blog on RTÉ.ie/sport and RTÉ News app and listen to Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1
Watch The Saturday Game and The Sunday Game from 9.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on all matches on the RTÉ News app and on rte.ie/sport
