Our Club and Parish are now dark places following the totally traumatising death of our so dear Mattie McGuigan.
Our shining light and Captain on the field of play, and bringing distinction to us with the badge of honour that is the Tyrone jersey, Mattie maintained those unrivalled standards off it. He managed underage teams, helped with events, sat on our Committee, represented our players, sold tickets across Ulster in our record-breaking draw, and even chaired the elections at last week’s AGM.
And all with the class, style, wisdom, good-naturedness, humour and integrity that others take decades to develop – if ever. Gifted with talent that he then carried so well.
He brought our Club, and everybody in it or associated with it, joy, delight, leadership, example, fun, and hard, hard work. Just the best of us.
If you knew Matty, no profile of him is necessary. And if you didn’t know him, probably no profile is possible.
Our heartbroken sympathy goes to Mel, Grainne, Darragh, Liam and Karol, to Clodagh, to our Club President Matt Tracey, Colette and their family, to Matty’s brother-and-sister players, to all his many friends and colleagues from work and school, and to our fellow Gaels in Cookstown, Ardboe and Moortown.
