The GAA and the All Ireland Championship

There is a GAA (Gaelic Athletic Association) club in almost every parish in Ireland, and in each county teams are drawn from these clubs to contest the annual All Ireland Championships in Football and Hurling, the biggest competitions of the GAA year.

Some counties are traditionally stronger in hurling, others in football.

The map on the left shows counties where hurling predominates in blue, where football is strongest in yellow and where both games are strong in green.

County teams are avidly supported, players are heros and tens of thousands regularly attend games.

By the time the competitions reach the semi-final and final stages tickets for matches are like gold dust and every one of the 82,000 tickets for the national stadium at Croke Park will be sold out weeks in advance.

Flying the GAA County Flag

Each county has its colours, which will be used in players’ jerseys and seen in flags flying all over the county – especially in years where the county is doing well and has reached the latter stages of the Championships.

You are bound to see some of these flags flying from flagpoles, trees, windows and on cars as you travel around Ireland, particularly in late summer as the finals, which are held in September each year, draw closer.

Most counties also have nicknames,  by which the county, the inhabitants of the county and the team are known. They also often have a song, which fans sing loudly to urge their side on, and even more loudly if they win!!

GAA Colours, Nicknames and Songs

This is a list of the various colours, county names or nicknames and the songs for each county of Ireland.

County	Colours	Nicknames	Songs
Antrim		Saffron County The Glens	The Green Glens of Antrim
Armagh		Orchard County Cathedral County	The Boys from the County Armagh
Carlow		Dolman County The Barrowsiders The Scallion Eaters
Cavan		Breffni County	Come Back Paddy Reilly
Clare		Banner County	Oh My Lovely Rose of Clare
Cork		Rebel County The Rebels	The Banks of my Own Lovely Lee
Derry		Oak Leaf County	The Town I Loved So Well
Donegal		The Tír Conaill Men	Mary from Dungloe
Down		Mourne County The Mournemen The Ardsmen	The Star of the County Down
Dublin		The Dubs	Rare Auld Times or Molly Malone
Fermanagh		Erne County The Ernesiders
Galway		The Tribesmen	Galway Bay The West’s Awake Fields of Athenry
Kerry		The Kingdom	Rose of Tralee
Kildare		Short Grass County The Lilywhites	The Curragh of Kildare
Kilkenny		Marble County The Cats	Rose of Mooncoin
Laois		O’Moore County	My Lovely Laois
Leitrim		Wild Rose County	Lovely Leitrim
Limerick		Treaty County Shannonsiders	Limerick You’re a Lady
Longford		O’Farrell County Slashers
Louth		The Wee County
Mayo		The Westerners	Moonlight on Mayo
Meath		Royal County The Royals	Beautiful Meath
Monaghan		Farney County
Offaly		Faithful County	The Offaly Rover
Roscommon		The Sheepstealers	Man of Roscommon
Sligo		Yeats County Yeat’s men	The Isle of Innisfree Down By The Sally Gardens
Tipperary		Premier County	Slievenamon
Tyrone		The Red Hand
Waterford		Decies County The Deise	Old Dungarvan Oak
Westmeath		The Lake County Lake men
Wexford		Model County The Yella’ Bellies	The Boys of Wexford Boulavogue
Wicklow		Garden County	The Meeting of the Waters
London		The Exiles
New York		The Exiles