DUP minister to attend first senior GAA match

A Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) minister is due to attend his first GAA match on Saturday evening.

Communities Minister Gordon Lyons is set to be in the crowd at Armagh’s Box-It Athletic Ground when the home side, the current All-Ireland champions, take on Derry.

It will be his first senior football game since taking up office in February 2024.

Lyons, who is responsible for sport in Northern Ireland, previously attended another GAA event, a young person’s football festival in County Antrim, last year.

However GAA president Jarlath Burns has been critical of Lyons for not attending a senior game.

The GAA invited the minister to at least two games, including last year’s All Ireland football final and Ulster final, but he declined both citing diary commitments.

In March, during a trip to Washington DC for St Patrick’s Day festivities, Lyons indicated he planned to attend a match before the end of the season.

A Department of Communities spokesperson confirmed the minister will be attending a GAA game on Saturday following an invitation from the GAA’s Ulster Council last week.

“The minister is committed to supporting all sporting communities across Northern Ireland,” they said.

The throw in for the GAA All-Ireland Senior Football Championship is on Saturday at 17:00 BST.

Analysis: Enda McClafferty, BBC News NI political editor

Relations between Lyons and the GAA have been heating up over the stalled redevelopment of Casement Park in west Belfast.

The timing of the minister attending a match is significant, because a key decision on the redevelopment of Casement Park is just weeks away.

The UK government is going to be making a call at the end of the spending review in June to decide whether or not it is going to fund the project.

Despite cash commitments from the Stormont Executive, Irish government and GAA, there is still a £150m funding shortfall for the project, which is estimated to cost about £270m.

Secretary of State Hilary Benn has said if the government decides to provide funding it will not plug the current gap.

Unionism has long had a complicated and often distrustful relationship with the GAA.

That’s due in large part to the GAA’s own stated goals – the organisation’s official guide says its basic aim is “the strengthening of national identity in a 32-county Ireland through the preservation and promotion of Gaelic games and pastimes”.

The 134-year-old organisation also, for decades, had rules that underlined its nationalist ethos – such as Rule 21, which banned members of the security forces from being members of the GAA, and Rule 42, which prevented field games like football and rugby from being played at GAA grounds.

The Irish national anthem is also customarily played before major games.

However Rule 21 was abolished in 2001 and Rule 42 modified in 2005, allowing rugby and football to be played at GAA stadiums.

And, in turn, unionist politicians in the last two decades began to appear at matches.

In 2008, Edwin Poots became the first DUP politician to attend a Gaelic football match when he watched a McKenna Cup game between Down and Donegal in Newry.

Four years later, his party leader, and then first minister, Peter Robinson attended the final of the McKenna Cup between Derry and Tyrone, taking his seat after the anthem, while James Brokenshire did likewise when he became the first UK minister to attend a GAA game in 2017.

In 2018, DUP leader Arlene Foster attended one of the sport’s biggest games when she watched the Ulster Final between Donegal and Fermanagh. She also stood for the national anthem when it was played.