ABSTRACT
Introduction This article aims to enhance understanding of the complex position of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) in the northern province of Ulster during the Irish revolutionary period from 1912 to the early 1920s. It proposes to examine whether the reputation of the association as a protagonist in this transformative decade is fully merited in respect of Ulster. The radicalisation of the GAA in this period has been discussed in several scholarly articles, but no published study has focused at length on the subject at a provincial level. As Ulster was the province most profoundly affected by the national reconfiguration, due to the division of its territory into two new adversarial states, it warrants a special academic appraisal. The process is analysed through the prism of the early career of Owen O’Duffy,2 one of the foremost sporting revolutionaries in Irish history, whose term as Ulster GAA secretary corresponds exactly with the revolutionary era, 1912-1923. Although Fearghal McGarry’s acclaimed biography of O’Duffy (2005) details some of his ascent through the Monaghan and Ulster ranks of the GAA and republicanism, some aspects such as the ramifications of his ongoing role as an Ulster GAA official after 1920 (until 1934) are underexplored.
