By Michael Devlin

The length of the Lifford-Strabane bridge that arches over the River Foyle is just 115 metres long.

Every day, thousands of drivers pass back and forth across the river, in one direction Northern motorists over to Lifford to avail of cheaper fuel, and the other east Donegal shoppers seeking value out of the Sterling currency in Strabane’s retail outlets.

The bridge is in itself very much a manifestation of the symbolic connection between Tyrone and Donegal, two counties with many intertwining links, plenty of which occur on the football pitch.

Strabane and Lifford historically were once the one parish, and only up until the early 1970’s it was called Camus and Clonlee. In fact, when Strabane Sigersons won the Tyrone Football Championship in 1945, many players from Lifford would have lined out with the Tyrone club.

Another classic example is the village of Clady, several miles out of Strabane, and home to the Urney St Columba’s club. Its parish, Donnyloop, stretches to Castlefin in Donegal. To get to the club’s former pitch, one would have had to come down through an army checkpoint at the bottom of Clady street and head out towards Donnyloop Chapel. You were basically playing in ‘the south’, so to speak.

A number of clubs hug the county border line on both sides. In Tyrone, there is the aforementioned Strabane and Urney, as well as Castlederg St Eugene’s, Aghyaran St Davog’s, Owen Roes O’Neill’s and Clann Na nGael, itself amalgamated from former clubs in Dunnamana and Aughabrack.

Situated on the Donegal side is Lifford Naomh Padraig, Castlefin Robert Emmets, Killygordon Red Hugh's, and the Sean MacCumhaill’s in Ballybofey, where Sunday’s all-or-nothing All-Ireland Quarter-Final Group Stage clash will take place.

On 25th May 1919, Tyrone and Donegal played for the first time ever in the Ulster Championship, and the game was played in Strabane in front of 1,200 spectators, many of whom would have travelled to the game on the now long defunct railway lines that once networked the region. Donegal won 4-3 to 1-0 that day, and it was the first episode of a long and celebrated football rivalry.

Journalist Connie Duffy worked the GAA beat in Donegal between 1979 and 1990. “I always found the rivalry intense to say the least. Living in Stranorlar not far from the border you knew rival supporters and teams, they were in your town every weekend but when it came to football, battle lines were drawn.

“You wanted to see Tyrone do well but not against us! There's no love lost between the counties when it comes to football, but there's a healthy respect too - as long as we win!”

Some have a greater insight into the rivalry than others. Fergal McNulty for example, featured on John Joe Doherty's Donegal squad in 2010, but he plays his football with Urney. His club team-mate Johnny Lafferty was involved in Mickey Harte’s Tyrone panel around the same time.

Then there is John Lynch, the fleet-footed, beach blond-haired defender from Castlederg who won an All-Star in 1986 as part of the first ever Tyrone side to reach an All-Ireland Senior Football final.

A stalwart for the St Eugene’s club, Lynch transferred to Red Hugh’s towards the end of his playing career after married a girl from Killygordon. He contested the Donegal senior final with the club against Killybegs in 1991.

On the current Tyrone team, there are several family ties. Aghyaran’s Ronan McNamee’s mother is from Fintown, while Cathal McShane’s late grandmother, who sadly passed away just before the Roscommon game three weeks ago, was originally from Tory Island.

Strabane GAA journalist and historian Aodhan Harkin knows the lie of the land better than most, so much so that he’s almost more familiar with the Tir Chonaill County than the far eastern extremities of his own.

“I could be in Malin Head or Bundoran before I’d be in Moortown, that’s the geography of where Strabane is situated.

“There is a rivalry between Strabane and Lifford, between Urney and Castlefin, between Castlederg and Castlefin.

“The atmosphere this week has been building. Talking to a few Lifford ones the other night, there was a bit of banter - ‘stock up the petrol in Daly’s at Lifford in case you get beat because you don’t want to have to go out for another few weeks’ – things like that.”

Sunday’s game in Mac Cumhaill Park will be many things – tense, tempestuous, tactically captivating – and with a place in the All-Ireland semi-final on the line, there will be only one set of fans will be cheering come 5pm. Whether it’s the passionate Gaels of Strabane or their Lifford neighbours from across the bridge, we wait with bated breath.