They love their football and their hurling in Derry.
Mary K Burke, a prominent GAA photographer in Ulster, is a treasure in the Oak Leaf county not just because of her skill with the camera or knowledge of the game, but more so because of her commitment to the cause.
Local journalism, when done right, is timeless.
In all the uncertainty over the future of newspapers or the changing landscape of the media, there will forever be a place for local reporting, for grassroots stories, for the quintessential human story that you simply couldn't get anywhere else.
And the GAA photographer is a pillar of that.
In the last couple of years alone,
Mary K Burke, one photographer based in county Derry has captured the essence of the GAA and made those local stories national.
From the Slaughtneil physio who sums up everything that's best about our games.
To Patsy Bradley, a man with a heart so big you'd think one photo could never do him justice. Until...
https://twitter.com/MKBurke1/status/968548509992542211
To the very fundamental act of sportsmanship that shows the real roots of the GAA is so much more than winning and losing.
Well, you don't stop those moments in time by chance or by coincidence. You get them by graft, with an eye, for experience and for sheer persistence. You get them after all the days you're soaked in the rain and all the prizegivings and whatnot you have to do to feed the beast.
Mary K Burke? She gets them on her way to a wedding.
https://twitter.com/MKBurke1/status/1002923016827875329
She could yet be the first person to include the words 'Christy Ring game' under dietary requirements in the RSVP.
She still made it on time to Caoimhe Hegarty's wedding where they were entertained by former Derry goalkeeper John Sommers and his jazz band.
