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05th May 2020

“Men in lab coats” – Normal People star confused by GAA umpires while filming

James Fenton

For Irish audiences, the GAA scenes in Normal People were far from extraordinary but for one of the show’s stars, they took some getting used to.

Daisy Edgar-Jones, who plays Marriane in RTE drama Normal People, has been speaking about filming the scenes which involve the playing of Gaelic football. Given that she’s a Londoner, it’s no surprise that the world of GAA is a built alien to the 21-year-old, as she told the Irish Independent in a recent interview.

Speaking about observing Normal People scenes in which her character’s love interest Connell (Paul Mescal) plays GAA, she says: “God, I remember this thing happened on the day when we were filming the big football match scene.

“I was watching the guys take to the field and I noticed that there were these two men in lab coats by the goalposts and I couldn’t figure out what they were doing there.

“I thought that these two guys had wandered on to the set and were just watching the game or something.

“I was getting a bit worried and then someone told me that they were referees in the game and I was careful enough not to say that to anyone else.”

She added that she is now a “GAA convert”, explaining that “I loved the game. I have been made to watch soccer from an early age but I never really enjoyed it.

“But I really thought it was brilliant and it is such an amazing game and Paul was actually really good so they portrayed it properly.

“They played a full match to give people a true sense of the sport and, yeah, I just loved it.”

Here’s hoping Daisy gets to enjoy a real GAA game at the height of the Championship sooner rather than later. You can catch Daisy and Paul in a double-bill of Normal People tonight on RTE One from 10.15pm.

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