Cormac - 5 years on

THE LAST OF THE THE HIGH KINGS

It’s five years since the tragic passing of Cormac McAnallen. Five years since Fr Gerard McAleer announced it at morning Mass to an astonished and disbelieving congregation. Five years from the morning Sean Cavanagh thought he had been dreaming that his mother told him his friend was dead. Declan Bogue takes a journey through the memories.

MONDAY nights are one of the many things that brings back memories for Bridget McAnallen. While her son Cormac was about, he would sit down with the whole family and they would compete with each other in the University Challenge programme. The competitive edge that won many accolades in Scor quizzes up and down the country had to be fed and nurtured and this was one way of doing it.

When Cormac was in Queen’s University, Bridget had taken on a course herself and they entered a preliminary test to get on the series. They came in the top five of all entrants in the famous seat of learning. He had sat his eleven plus exam at the age of nine, simply because his parents had seen ‘no point’ in holding him back academically. He ended up enrolling in Queen’s a year early.

“Cormac was studying capital cities of the world before he started school,” reflects Bridget, “he truly fell under the category of a gifted child. I wouldn’t say Cormac always won, but he was capable of guessing things that he shouldn’t have been able to. For example, classical music and I would have known a lot more about that than he would, but he could jump in and make a guess. He had a fantastic capacity to understand and take in knowledge and remember and have an inspired guess.”

Five years from his death, it continues to affect the family deeply. The McAnallens have been zealous promoters of the cause of heart screening and the name of Cormac lives on with ‘The Cormac Trust’. “I didn’t choose this life,” says Bridget, “It became inevitable for me. I didn’t know anything about these heart conditions, I would not have chosen this subject to be campaigning about, but I am very, very keen on justice. Truth and justice and have been all my life. I think justice is not happening when there is nothing being spent on the cardiac health of young people. “When I started to hear what was the cause of Cormac’s death and finding out about these conditions, I feel what every parent feels when this happens to them. Outrage.”

When sudden deaths occur in the sporting realm, it brings back the pain. On a national level, the fate of Motherwell and former Glasgow Celtic midfielder Phil O’Donnell was a stark reminder. More locally, the tragic case of young Packie Breen, an underage player with the Drumquin club in Tyrone, is also mentioned. “Every death, whenever I hear about it, I’m not surprised,” says Brendan M McAnallen, Cormac’s father. “I keep asking myself, ‘why Cormac?’ and that’s a natural reaction. I am only urprised there are not more and unfortunately you come to almost accept it.”

“We had to come to terms wth it in the week that he died,” elaborates Bridget. “Come to terms wth it logically, but emotionally, it never really goes away. You feel very sorry for the family of a person who has passed away and we try and sympathise with them by going to the wakes or the funerals. I must say I was very grateful for the help that people gave us, both at the time and since. We had so much help with minibuses, food, lighting and there was never a bill came.” Brendan adds, “There’s not a week goes by that someone does not contact us. There are functions run and school teachers using Cormac as a role model, in Dublin and different places.”Mickey Harte and his wife Marion still remain good friends with the McAnallens. They are aware that he often talks about the example of their son within the Tyrone setup.

They are grateful that the first place Sam Maguire was taken to when they won it back in 2005, was secretively across the border in the company of Harte and Dooher, to Cormac’s graveside in Eglish. Back to the man who should have been hoisting it over his head in the Hogan Stand that day. One of the most touching expressions of sympathy that they mention, came from Kieran McGeeney. In the 2003 All-Ireland final, an off-the-ball collision between the two shook Croke Park and perfectly summed up the attritional nature of the game. Shortly after, the two combatants were side by side in the trenches, fighting Australian brutality in the International Rules Series. “He wrote a four-page letter”, recalls Brendan, “Very, very emotional. He put in it that Cormac was a Cúchulainn-type character, how he promoted Tyrone and the game and everything he stood for. People say he’s a shy, perhaps unapproachable individual, but there’s not that many would sit down to write a four-page letter, hand-written.”

Before Cormac the role model, there was Cormac, the enthusiastic child. Brendan played a bit around the local clubs of Benburb Eoghan Rua, was a founder member of Aghaloo and had goal posts up for the kids before they were three. Bridget’s brother Peter O’Neill was on the bench for Tyrone in the All-Ireland of 1986. They were brought up with an appreciation of the Irish language. A lot of the children who now attend Campa Chormaic pick Irish as a subject at school because of the grounding they get in the Summer camps. As a founder of a local historical society, Brendan would spend the weekends visiting the plentiful archaeological sites in the heartlands of the O’Neill kingdom. He never wanted for company, as Fergus, Donal and Cormac would clamber into the car and head off to discover some “treasure”. Cormac toyed with the idea of studying psychology, but decided history was his first love. “There was always an overspill of history at home,” says Brendan with a chuckle.

When he was making his own history, as the inspirational Tyrone full back that took them to their first Sam Maguire, it passed the family by. “There was ferocious problems with tickets and trying to get everyone sorted out,” says Bridget, before Brendan takes up the story. “It was hyped to such an extent, that the game was over before we knew it.” Coming from the Moy, hard on the Armagh border, it held special significance for Bridget. “It was so enjoyable, great spirit, it was different and remarkable. Cormac would have been very aware of it, with TV cameras everywhere.” Special times for all.

After the game, everyone’s lives changed utterly. The social whirl of the maiden All-Ireland triumph took top billing. There was the International Rules tour in Australia, dinner dances, visits to schools, workplaces and hospitals. For someone who had taken on such a workload as a teacher and with such an obliging nature, it became exhausting. In club matches, he took savage punishment from some opponents, shipping wild tackles and ending up in hospital on three occasions

Soon though, it was back on the inter-county tread mill. Again, there was no doubt who would be Mickey Harte’s captain and it came to pass that Cormac lifted the Dr McKenna Cup in January 2004. He stood outside in the freezing cold, in just his Tyrone kit, while obliging other people. His knee needed icing, but again he put himself bottom of the priority list. He had been complaining of feeling run down and having a cold immediately before his death and the statistics of people who suffer Sudden Adult Death Syndrome will show a high level of people with cold infections at the time. With the body busy putting out fires, the immune system can get overloaded. “It was something that Brendan mentioned the other day, while watching the rugby,” comments Bridget. “As soon as a player leaves the field, he is given a cloak or a coat to keep him warm. It’s the same principle in horse racing, where a horse is always given a blanket after a race, it’s somethingthe GAA are only now catching onto.

Player’s welfare is slowly coming along.” For Brendan and Bridget, the simple pleasure of going to watch football now, is not what it once was. And really, how could it be anything other than a series of painful reminders of what could have been? “I do often think what Cormac would be like now, in his prime, providing he stayed clear of injuries,” wonders Brendan. Instead, what they feel sometimes, is let-down by certain areas of GAA officialdom. When they speak about the Ulster Council they are fulsome in their praise. In other matters, they feel Cormac’s name has been exploited by certain members for political means.

The naming of the International Rules trophy has been a contentious issue. “I thought it pretty disgusting that they wouldn’t even ask us to present a cup named after our son,” comments Bridget. In the past they had, but Sean Kelly had given the cup to Brendan to hold, before snatching it off him and handing it to the winning captain. Brendan continues, “There was a meal afterwards, with both teams there and I went up to Sean Kelly and told him I would like to say a few words on behalf of the McAnallen family. I was told it would be dealt with, but it wasn’t. I was never keen on it, for the reason being it isn’t a GAA sport.” “We were always kept in the dark about things and you never knew what to expect,” says Bridget. “I would be a lot more frustrated with the GAA now,” says Brendan. “There is a ‘Parish Priest’ attitude of talking down to you, of people protecting their own wee patch. I asked to see the Thomas Markham Cup along with the Sam Maguire Cup and was told they would not be available until the end of June. I’ll never ask for them again and I felt they forgot who they weretalking to.”

If the politics of the GAA causes annoyance for the McAnallens, then they are not alone. What they have seen in the past five long years is the generosity of people, how they rally around others in times of grief. “There has been some really rewarding experiences,” says Bridget, “People writing to us, calling to us and the Book of Condolences. I know a lot of people do not get that.” Back home in The Brantry, life moves along in its own slow pace. Some days are better than others, but still the parents of Cormac have their targets. While researching this piece people talked of Cormac’s quiet ambitions and you see it in his parents, when they say, “Our main objective is to see a heart screening centre here in mid-Ulster. For everyone. The GAA in Tyrone should be taking a lead in this, promoting screening. Croke Park should also have been taking it more seriously, to cater for the young people playing the sports.”

They will continue in their work. If they should ever need inspiration, they need only look to their late son’s views on luck, as Bridget recalls them, “I used to say to him, ‘you’re lucky to be on such a team and you’re able to achieve all these things.’ And he used to say, ‘You make your own luck.’” Hard work and discipline. You make your own luck.

From Gaelic Life

It was like walking in the cortege of the funeral of one of the great Irish chieftains of the past

IT WAS as a first year in St Patrick’s, Armagh, when Cormac came into the orbit of Fr Gerard McAleer. Being a coach of the school’s football teams and an Irish teacher meant they would be drawn close and they scaled the pinnacle of sport together on that September afternoon in 2003, with Fr Gerard an integral part of Mickey Harte’s management team.

The Friday before Cormac’s death, the Priest and his former student, along with his fiancée Ashlene had spent much of Gavin Devlin’s wedding reception together. They talked over a range of subjects, but as ever, the chat gravitated back to football and the future of Tyrone, Eglish and himself. “Cormac never said much. He just put his head down and got on with it. He was very ambitious, not in a way that he would walk all over you, but he was a man with a mission. It was unspoken, but it was in our dreams that he would be the first man to lift the minor, under-21 and senior All-Irelands as captain of Tyrone”, says the former assistant manager. They first came into close contact when he entered the Irish classroom as an eleven year old. “I don’t recall where everybody sat, but I clearly remember as you stood at the top of the class he would be in the bottom left hand corner. He was quite small, but his eyes followed you around the room and he hung on your every word. He just had an insatiable appetite for knowledge and self-improvement. If he had a small problem, with something like grammatical construction for example, he would indicate that, ask for an explanation and a light would go on while he grasped it.

“I would always have been talking to Mickey [Harte] about him while he was at school, as someone for the future. I had him on the second year team when he was in first year. Even though he was a very average player at that time, I had him on the team because of his determination, desire to learn, his commitment.

He had that something that was very hard to define; it’s easier to define by his absence.” While the Golden Generation of minors from ‘97 and ‘98 displayed all the promise of future senior champions, Fr McAleer was there all the way alongside Harte. There for the death of Paul Mc Girr. There to comfort the boys after the Omagh bombing. The day Omagh town centre was ripped asunder is still vivid in the mind. “We had a team building day on the 15 August in Benburb and went on to Ballygawley. We were just leaving there as the bomb went off. A public representative came out shortly afterwards with the suggestion that Tyrone should withdraw from the championship, but it never entered into the head of either Mickey or myself.

“The experience of Paul’s death and the events in Omagh, added to our determination and players, brought everything together. Tragedy may have been what bonded the team and made them what they became. “We looked ahead to the u-21s and it was never discussed who would be captain. It would have to be Cormac. I do remember during that day in Benburb, the players were given different exercises and challenges to do, they were to be broken up into teams and all the boys said, ‘right, I’m on Cormac’s team.’ He said very little, looked on, thought and when he spoke people listened.” That story encapsulates the older brother quality that Cormac had. It has also been said in the past that during team meetings after Paul Mc Girr’s death, that the squad were broken into groups and asked to articulate their feelings. Most of the boys again gravitated to their captain. “There was another time at a training session,” continues Fr McAleer, “It wasn’t going so well. The boys were called to order, a couple of players kept muttering to themselves and then Cormac began to speak. He stood in the middle, with those eyes again looking around everybody. One player, who I don’t want to name, said ‘right boys, silence, Cormac’s speaking.’ It illustrates and demonstrates the presence that he had.”

With all the past tragedies associated with the bunch that grew up together and won the major honours, there is no hierarchy of suffering. No one misfortune ranks above another. “I never take it for granted, I often ask myself what my role is, obviously I have been chosen by God and the challenge for me is to respond to God’s call as best I can in the given circumstances. Paul’s death shattered me, even now I can feel myself filling up with tears. “Then, when Cormac died, you never get used to it, but I had to stay calm and I’m probably calm by nature. The day Cormac came home, to see him lying in his coffin... I remember stroking his hair. It was overwhelming and I can feel tears now. But that’s a good thing. I was writing an article at the time and included a quotation from the American writer William Faulkner, ‘Between grief and nothing, I choose grief.’ “His life, for me, is just one long wonderful memory. His life and death will be forever entwined in the public memory. I got the feeling, walking from the graveyard on the day of his funeral, it was like walking in the cortege of the funeral of one of the great Irish chieftains of the past, with all the Armagh players lined up on either side. I knew Paul McGrane from he was a youngster, his uncle Father John McGrane was my closest friend and mentor as a priest. Our eyes caught and it was one of those moments that is very hard to capture in words.

“There is one picture that is often used in newspapers and magazines, of Cormac standing with his feet a metre apart and a hand out like one of the Roman Generals, with that imperious stance, not even aware of the power that he had, or the impact he had of the young people of the country. He was the essence of humility, decency and determination. Cormac personified everything that was good about humanity.”

From Gaelic Life

REAL ‘boys own’ stuff.
Two lads who grew up in neighbouring parishes, who did battle with each other on the football pitches, who soldiered together on their hurling team, who went on to conquer Ireland at minor, u-21 and senior and who both represented their country in International Rules.

Throughout all of Cormac’s life, there were many constants, but one of the most familiar to him must have been the sight of the big fella, Kevin ‘Hub’ Hughes, lining up alongside him in midfield, before he made that seismic shift to full back. His first memories would have been in direct opposition and funnily, Cormac would have been in full-back, while Hughes would have the task of facing him as a full-forward for Kileeshill. “I got an early taste of his tenacity back then and being neighbouring teams, we would have played them regularly and been beaten by them too!”

They togged out for Clan na nGael hurling club, started by Hughes’ brother, taking in players from as far away as Aughnacloy and Ballygawley. Hurling was something they were all feeling their way in at the time, but even back then, the boy from the Brantry was eager to learn. “When he set his mind to something, it didn’t matter if he wasn’t the best at it, he would just keep going until he became good at it. He ended up a good hurler and he wasn’t ever goingto be beat at it.”

If one thing stands out for him, besides the friendship and guidance Cormac gave everyone around him, it was his drive to achieve the highest targets. “To win Ulster or a league or something like that was never going to be enough. He would be talking in terms of an All-Ireland and would stay focussed until an All-Ireland was won. He would enjoy it after that.” In the aftermath of his death, Kevin was able to call on some unwelcome experience. He had a brother and a sister killed on the same stretch of road on the Ballygawley line. He spoke to the players, outlining the process of grief, telling them that they may think he was mad, but that they would all get over it in time. “Deaths hit hard and the same thing had already happened to us with Paul McGirr. With myself and my brother and sister, unfortunately it wasn’t nice being in that situation, but I felt I had a wee bit of experience in it. When Paul died, he would have wanted us to keep on and play on and the same thing would have happened with Cormac. He wouldn’t have wanted us to sit around moping, so we had to play in his memory, to play with the spirit he had.”

The following year, he travelled with Brian McGuigan to Australia. Eamonn Eastwood of Cookstown was one of the prime organisers in forming the Cormac McAnallens club and both Hughes and McGuigan played in the first team to compete in the Coast Tournament. “I had wanted to get away before, but with the football going well I stayed about in 2003. Then it was about retaining the title and my sister got married. It was always in my mind that I wanted to go travelling, so I was glad to get away when I did. “When you hear of clubs in America and Australia, they are named after players from years ago, who were great footballers who died at an older age. It was very surreal playing for Cormac McAnallens, who was a fella the same age as me. You’re thinking maybe he should be there, playing alongside us. But it was a great honour to be part of it, for me and Brian.” Nowadays, if Hughes finds himself in Eglish, he will drop into the graveyard and pay a visit to his former captain’s grave. “It’s a bit like visiting my brother and sister’s grave, it brings it all back and it’s hard. I often think what we could have achieved with him still there. Mickey made him captain for the minors and the u-21s and it was because of his drive and maturity that he was held in such high regard by everybody.”

Some of the happiest occasions of his life was when they found themselves together in extraordinary places, having achieved extraordinary things. The first International Rules test in Perth was a definite highlight. “We were travelling about together and although he was very serious in his preparations for training and that, afterwards he enjoyed the craic as well. One night after the first game in Perth, with the whole team out, the other side of Cormac came out and everyone really enjoyed him.

“People had the idea that he was motivated and took everything so serious, but when he had a chance to let his hair down he was the life and soul of the party. We ended up in an Irish Bar called ‘The Bog’ and there are some really fondmemories from those times.”

From Gaelic Life

A great man who is never forgotten and never will be. Reading that brings back a lot of memories to me and not all good.

I can't get the Gaelic Life over here, cheers for posting that RMD, great read

A true gentleman, talked to him in the gym in Armagh about 3 or 4 days before he died, played football with him for the first few years i was in St Pats Armagh. Very nice fella

Gone but never forgotten.
He achieved so much in such a short time and he was an inspiration to all Gaels.
Ar Dheis Dé go raibh a ainm dílis