A DONEGAL WOMAN who confesses to be a ‘die-hard’ supporter showed a novel way of backing Tyrone in yesterday’s All-Ireland quarter-final.
Aimee Martin from Lifford also occasionally attends Tyrone games with her boyfriend Aodhan Devine from Strabane and was planning to make the trip to Croke Park for Tyrone’s clash against Armagh.
However, in the lead-up to the match, her friends from Tyrone suggested it was about time she nailed her colours to the mast and invested in a shirt to show her support of the Red Hands.
And so she did!
“They were laughing and joking and although they didn’t say I wouldn’t be welcome to travel with them, they’d prefer that I wear a Tyrone top,” Aimee told Donegal Sport Hub.
“I’m a die-hard Donegal fan and I’ve told them before that I would never wear a Tyrone jersey. So when I said I would wear one on Saturday, in reality that meant that I would have to think of something quick!
“That’s when I thought of Tyrone [Dobbs] from Coronation Street so I went to a shop in Stranbane called ‘What’s on Your Wall’ who can print t-shirts and told them I had a random request – I’m a Donegal woman who needs to wear a Tyrone top to Croke Park but I want a t-shirt of Tyrone Dobbs from Coronation Street printed!”
The printing shop duly obliged and Aimee decided to keep things to herself. Yesterday morning, the secret still wasn’t out.
“I hadn’t told anyone,” she added. “I made sure to have my back turned when I was getting ready and zipped up my jacket as to hide the t-shirt from Aodhan. We were getting breakfast in Strabane then before we were about to go to Dublin and whilst Aodhan was getting food, I showed my ‘Tyrone’ shirt to his cousin Aaron [Boggs]. Well that was the start of it … They were all laughing.”
Walking around Dublin, a photograph taken by Adrian Tourish was picked up by popular GAA website Hogan Stand.
“People were coming up to me laughing and saying they’d seen the photograph online on the Hogan Stand Facebook page,” Aimee added.
Tyrone had little bother in disposing of Armagh when the action got underway and ended up sauntering to a 3-17 to 0-8 win to set up a meeting with Dublin in the All-Ireland semi-final in three weeks’ time. Aimee will be back at Croke Park before August is out.
“I’ll have to come up with another plan before then!” she added.
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