Croke Park on All-Ireland Final Day

Out they stamp from the dressing room tunnel and into the sunshine where the whiff of freshly clipped grass and the roars of multitudes assault the senses. Around them, the stands and terraces explode in a cacophony of sound and bright colour as tribal banners swirl in the breeze, each one a statement of belonging, an expression of identity with home, family and friends.

      For seventy minutes the teams unleash the results of months of excruciating preparation, of long runs up the steepest of hills, of practising to perfection as the chill of a winter's evening bites.

The Gaelic games of hurling, football, camogie and handball are far removed from the glittering ranks of global sport: seven figure sponsorship deals and international stardom do not beckon Gaelic players. But to win brings a sense of immortality that materialism can never provide. Amateur in their ethos, Gaelic games exist through the bonds of identity they forge among their participants and devotees. From the youngster who runs out in the colours of his native parish to the county player who stars in front of 70,000 people on All-lreland final day in Croke Park, the reason for playing is the same. It is roughly coined as pride in the jersey, the oldest of mantras within Ireland's biggest sporting organisation.

The man who scores the winning goal may well be your neighbour, or live in the town five miles down the road. He is playing for the same reason that you are watching. Be it the parish, the school, or the county, the game is where you are and where your roots find their deepest grip.

Founded out of national pride, sustained through lean times with that same emotion, few things run so deeply through the core of Irish society than the connection with place and home which the games provide. In a sporting world where players change allegiances for the price of a hospital wing and satellite television holds fans to ransom, there remains in Gaelic games vital proof of a purer ideal.

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This extract taken from 'The History of Gaelic Games' by Ian Prior, published by Appletree Press. Further information and order details.