Gifted performer for club, county and country

Cormac McAnallen Factfile: Any player with the obvious talent of Cormac McAnallen was bound to make an impact on his chosen sport at an early age.

As in all walks of life talent can be easily wasted, but McAnallen cemented it with the sort of dedication and resolve that eventually made winning more a formality than an aspiration. In his 24 years he achieved as much success as most GAA footballers only dream about.

That talent was first displayed at the age of nine with his local club, Eglish St Patrick's, where he was quick to pick up all the necessary skills of the game. From the under-10 grade he was committed to his club, and, quite fittingly, played his last game of football with Eglish last Sunday in a friendly match against local side Cullaville.

By the age of 17 he had also been called into the Tyrone county minor team, while still a student at St Patrick's College, Armagh. Managing the minor team then was Mickey Harte, and that was the start of a special bond between the player and Harte that was to strengthen immeasurably over the next seven years.

During the 1997 season he captained the team to Ulster success, then led them past Kerry in the semi-final, only to fall to Laois in the All-Ireland minor final. But McAnallen was back on the team the following year and, once again acting as captain, led them to All-Ireland success, reversing the result of the previous year and beating Laois. It was Tyrone's first honour in the grade since 1973, and McAnallen's performance in that final was regarded as one of the finest in many years.

His height, strength and natural athleticism had made him perfectly suited to midfield duties, and it was there he also played with the county under-21 team in the next stage of his remarkably consistent progression. Again acting as captain, and again proving a huge influence on his team at midfield, he led Tyrone to successive All-Ireland titles in the grade in 2000-01.

A year before, in 1999, he had been called into the senior panel and collected his first honour in that grade with the Ulster championship medal in 2001. He was named the young player of the year for that season.

In the meantime, he had also claimed Sigerson Cup honours with Queen's University, Belfast, in 2000, and later played Sigerson with UCD for a year while studying for the Higher Diploma in Education. In tandem with his football, he gave his teaching career equal commitment, and had become an established teacher of history and politics at St Catherine's College, Armagh. Needless to say, he also contributed to coaching the school's GAA teams.

But the Benburb-born player also prided himself on consistency and gave every league match the same sort of commitment he would the championship, and shone on many occasion as Tyrone collected the league title in 2002, a title they were to defend with considerable resolve last year.

Throughout that time he also earned the total respect and affection of the media, not least of all because of his intelligent and insightful comments before and after Tyrone took to the field.

When Harte took over the management of that team for the 2003 season it was only natural McAnallen would continue to fill his midfield duties. Although they collected the Ulster title, all was not well in defence, and it was at that point McAnallen was switched from his customary midfield position to a new role at full back. And against many predictions he once again prospered.

It was in that position he won his first All Star award last November, as without that new-found security in defence few people feel Tyrone would have gone on to collect their first All-Ireland senior title, beating a fancied Kerry side in the semi-final, and then reigning champions Armagh in the final.

After that success, McAnallen was once again one of the first picks for the International Rules team that annually play Australia. He had first been drafted into that squad in 2001 under then manager Brian McEniff, and served the next two years under manager John O'Keeffe.

Although Ireland again lost out to Australia last October, the Tyrone man had further enforced his reputation as a team player of real strength, creativity and composed aggression.

Due to be married sometime in the near future, McAnallen's finest hour might just have been around the corner. In January, Harte had chosen him to succeed Peter Canavan as the Tyrone captain, and with the team still hungry for further success he could well have achieved the extraordinary feat of captaining teams to All-Ireland success in the three major grades of football - minor, under-21 and senior.

Only last Sunday week he had enjoyed probably one of his most cherished moments, when, acting as captain, he lifted the McKenna Cup following a comprehensive win over Ulster rivals Donegal.

That was the one senior title Tyrone had failed to secure last year and Harte had made a point of correcting that shortcoming. No one would have felt more pride in delivering it than McAnallen.

1997: All-Ireland Minor runner-up captain.

1998: All-Ireland Minor winning captain.

2000: Sigerson Cup winner with Queen's.

2000/1: All-Ireland U-21 winning captain.

2001: Young Footballer of the Year.

2002/3: National League winner.

2003: All-Ireland winner and All Star