DUP communities minister at first senior GAA game

Communities Minister Gordon Lyons arrived at Armagh's Athletic Grounds on Saturday afternoon

A Democratic Unionist Party minister has attended his first GAA match.

Communities Minister Gordon Lyons was at Armagh's Athletic Grounds to watch the home side, the current All-Ireland champions, beat Derry. It was his first senior football game since taking up office in February 2024.

On his arrival at the game, Lyons, who is responsible for sport in Northern Ireland, said: "I am demonstrating my commitment to all sports, in all areas, at all levels, and that's where the focus should be on today, on the sport."

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

Lyons, centre, had this view of the pitch

'A bit earlier'

Lyons said he wanted to see more people involved in sport and that he recognised the "role that the GAA has to play on achieving that ambition".

Lyons took his seat along with GAA officials a few minutes after the game had started - and was not in his seat for the playing of the Irish national anthem.

Speaking on Saturday, Ulster GAA secretary Brian McAvoy said it "would have been easier" if the minister had come to a game "a bit earlier".

"We have been working around the minister's diary and we have to respect the minister's beliefs that a lot of our games are on a Sunday and he doesn't go to any sporting event on a Sunday," he said.

"But eventually we got there and delighted that he was able to make himself available today and he'll get a warm welcome."

The minister previously attended another GAA event, a young person's football festival in County Antrim, last year.

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.

Lyons' attendance at the match comes just weeks ahead of a key decision on the redevelopment of the Casement Park GAA stadium

Timing important as clock ticks on Casement

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.

Why is this significant for unionism and the GAA?

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 Democratic Unionist Party (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 stood for the national anthem when it was played.