PADDY IS READY FOR A STEP UP

Mcguigan says documentary covers only half of it

BRIAN MCGUIGAN points out a grim reality ahead of the airing of ‘Tir Eoghain – The Unbreakable Bond’ tomorrow evening.

There was so much tragedy attached to the generation of Tyrone footballers that he came through with, that much of it isn’t covered in the documentary given that it focuses only on the 1997-2003 time frame.

In 1997, talented forward Paul Mcgirr died following a freak collision during Tyrone minors’ Ulster Championship tie with Armagh.

They reached the All-ireland final that year only to lose to Laois, but by the time they turned the tables on them 12 months later, Kevin Hughes’s brother Paul had been killed in a car accident in between the drawn and replayed All-ireland semi-finals with Kerry.

The Omagh bomb occurred around the same time and four years later, Hughes also lost his sister Helen in a car accident.

“There was a lot good times and a lot of bad times,” says Mcguigan. “The bad times did help us gel together, but so much happened after 2003 which couldn’t even get put in the documentary.

“It doesn’t really cover the Cormac

Mcanallen (inset) or Michaela

Mcareavey tragedies. You can see in the documentary that Michaela was a massive part of us growing up too.”

Hughes had a greater burden to carry than any of them in those years and it forced him to grow up sooner than he would have imagined.

He explains: “It’s very difficult because you are that age and you are thinking why does that happen to us? We are only 17, 18, we should be living our life, looking forward to college, whatever else.

“Football at that time was all we ever wanted to do. Even I would say myself, education and everything else come second, work come second.

“And at that stage you start thinking, ‘F**k, is this part of growing up? This shouldn’t be happening at this age’.

“Luckily for me, the football was there. It was another focus for me to generate my thoughts on. From the family point of view, my brother was in New York, my sister was in England studying.

“They came home and it got the family together and that Kerry replay was the week after. Our club had run a couple of buses down to it and they all went on it.

“It was a bit of a distraction if you like, through the grief, that we could focus on and put our attention to.”

Mcguigan continues: “He had went through a lot. The one thing that stood out for me, my whole time with Tyrone, was when Cormac died, complete shock.

“We met up one day and he just stood up and he says that, ‘Look, we have lost Cormac, but life goes on’, because he had been through it before.

“I thought that was big of him to come out and say to everybody, ‘Look, you have to get on with life’, and so you do.

“You can’t stand still like. We will grieve for Cormac and try to do whatever we can, but you must live your life, and that’s something.

“We probably grew up before other people of our same age very quickly.”

Tir Eoghain – The Unbreakable Bond, TG4, 8.30pm tomorrow.

Paddy Tally is in the hot seat in Down now KEVIN HUGHES says the time is right for Paddy Tally to step into intercounty management as he takes up the Down job.The Tyrone native, most recently part of Galway’s backroom team this season, will take charge of an inter-county side for the first time having picked up considerable experience in various backroom teams.Hughes worked under Tally when Tyrone made their All-ireland breakthrough in 2003 and said: “I think in the last 15 years Paddy has shown his credibility with his CV with ourselves in Tyrone and with Galway this year and with St Mary’s with the Sigerson Cup and he’s been with Down before and also with Derry.“So he’s had really good success, he’s got plenty of experience now so we wish him all the best. Paddy wouldn’t go for it unless he knew he was ready.“I think the time is right for him. With him working with Down before he would know the Down footballers so I think he’ll do well.”Hughes’s former county teammate Brian Mcguigan feels that Tally may be a replacement for Mickey Harte in Tyrone in time.Mcguigan said: “I think the key for Down is probably to get the best players in the county playing with them because, by all accounts, Kilcoo are champions and I think they only have one player on the squad.“So if he gets everybody on board they probably have the potential to move up to Division One but over the next couple of years I don’t think they’ll be competing for All-ireland honours.“Who knows how long Mickey’s going to be there but if Mickey does, in four or five years, go then you have an able replacement in Paddy to come in if he wants it.” TOGETHERNESS Mark Harte, Brian Mcguigan and Kevin Hughes announce the documentary TÍR EOGHAIN: THE UNBREAKABLE BOND which will air this tomorrow at 8.30pm on TG4. The EMM Production tells the story of how Mickey Harte’s minor teams of 1997 and 1998, went on to drive their county to three All Ireland senior titles against the odds.

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