A CELTIC supporters' group have said that they have been left "humbled and honoured" after their banner in honour of Brendan 'Bik' McFarlane was displayed during a hunger strike commemoration on Sunday.

The ultra group the North Curve, aka The Green Brigade, displayed the banner during Celtic's home fixture earlier this year, in the wake of Mr McFarlane's death on February 21.

The banner displayed an image of Brendan 'Bik' McFarlane accompanied with the phrase "They said he was a rebel then. He's a hero now. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam".

The Ardoyne native was born in 1951 and was Officer Commanding IRA prisoners in Long Kesh during 1981 hunger-strike which resulted in the deaths of ten men between May and August of the year. 

McFarlane was a legendary figure within republican circles, and famously led the mass break-out from Long Kesh in September 1983 when 38 IRA prisoners escaped in what was described at the time as the biggest escape in British penal history.

In 1986 he was recaptured in Holland alongside fellow escapee Gerry Kelly. The pair were extradited back to the North before being released in 1997.

The Green Brigade displayed the banner during Celtic's 5-1 victory over Aberdeen in March
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The Green Brigade displayed the banner during Celtic's 5-1 victory over Aberdeen in March

The display in February resulted in a banning order for the fans' group from Celtic Park but they donated their work to the McFarlane family allowing for its reuse during Sunday's National Hunger Strike Commemoration in Belfast.

In a statement from The North Curve said: "The Green Brigade's Bik McFarlane banner was given to his family after it was displayed at Celtic Park.

"Today, we were all humbled to see it on display on the streets of West Belfast at the National Hunger Strike Commemoration and saluted by Bik's former comrades and others."