The Fermanagh team bus is the place to be.
Every so often, the Erne county come along and remind the rest of the island that it’s possible to take scalps and it’s possible to rise above yourself.
When they do that, they celebrate and those celebrations on the team bus make their way to the public eye and, every time Fermanagh cause another upset, Ireland falls in love with them a little more.
Declan McCusker falls asleep on the team bus
Celebrating promotion a few years ago, McCusker was scared into believing the bus was involved in a crash and the poor fella woke up terrified.
2018 promotion
This year, when they won promotion out of a tough Division Three, the team bus was rocking.
Via Custard … 😂👏 pic.twitter.com/ime95vsYPn
— Ryan Mc Cluskey (@clucker60) March 25, 2018
And the party didn’t stop there for Rory Gallagher and Ryan McMenamin.
They beat Armagh, unfancied. They beat Monaghan, unfancied. Now, Fermanagh are in their first Ulster final in 10 years and, unbelievably, they are 70 minutes away from clinching the county’s first ever provincial senior football championship.
Only Fermanagh and Wicklow remain in terms of counties who haven’t won a provincial title and the win against Monaghan meant so much to the entire place that it even moved Northern Ireland’s First Minister and DUP leader Arlene Foster to tweet her congratulations.
Congratulations to my fellow county men who have just surprised those in the know. https://t.co/Rxs2SGS4J1
— Arlene Foster DBE PC #ProudofNI. (@ArleneFosterUK) June 3, 2018
That went down well. A little touch of class and another bridge across communities and the Fermanagh squad returned the favour, offering Foster a ticket to the final.
Cheers mate, we have a ticket saved for you for the final 💚💚💚 @FermanaghGAA pic.twitter.com/FqI3mlfyaY
— Ciaran McBrien (@C_Mac888) June 3, 2018
Now, it remains to be seen if she will accept the invitation.
Peter Robinson set a good precedent in 2012 when he travelled with Martin McGuinness to the McKenna Cup final between Derry and Tyrone and sat with the GAA hierarchy and enjoyed the match.
Then, in November, he was also there for the Match for Michaela.
Huge strides have been made since 1998 up north but now Fermanagh are moving mountains on the pitch and off the field. Who wouldn’t fall in love with this story?
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