Cormac McAnallen (; 11 February 1980 – 2 March 2004) was an Irish

Gaelic football Gaelic football (; short name '')'', commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA, or football, is an Irish team sport. A form of football, it is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score ...

er who played for the Eglish St Patrick's club and the Tyrone county team. With Tyrone, McAnallen won the

All-Ireland Senior Football Championship The All-Ireland Senior Football Championship (SFC) () is the premier inter-county competition in Gaelic football. County (Gaelic games), County teams compete against each other and the winner is declared All-Ireland Champions. Organised by the ...

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

, and twice won both the

Ulster Senior Football Championship The Ulster Senior Football Championship is an inter-county competition for Gaelic football teams in the Irish province of Ulster. It is organised by the Ulster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) and begins in April. The final is ...

and

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

titles. At underage level he won an All-Ireland Minor and two All-Ireland Under-21 Championships with Tyrone. He also won an All Stars Award for his performances in the 2003 Championship. McAnallen played for UCD while studying in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

and helped the university win the

Dublin Senior Football Championship The Dublin Senior Football Championship (currently known for sponsorship reasons as the '' Go-Ahead'' Dublin Senior Football Championship) is an annual Gaelic Athletic Association competition between the top Dublin GAA clubs. The winners of t ...

. McAnallen died suddenly on 2 March 2004, aged 24. Despite his relatively short career, he won almost every honour in the game. He was often

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

of successful teams, and was known as a particularly inspirational captain.

Early life

Cormac McAnallen was born on 11 February 1980 in

Dungannon Dungannon (, ) is a town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is the second-largest town in the county (after Omagh) and had a population of 16,282 at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2021 Census. The Dungannon and South Tyrone Borough Counci ...

. His parents were Brendan and Bridget, and he had two brothers Donal and Fergus. They lived together in the Brantry. Between 1984 and 1990 Cormac attended Derrylatinee Primary School; from 1990 to 1997 he attended St Patrick's Grammar School in

Armagh Armagh ( ; , , " Macha's height") is a city and the county town of County Armagh, in Northern Ireland, as well as a civil parish. It is the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland – the seat of the Archbishops of Armagh, the Primates of All ...

. At St Patrick's he was part of the team that won the ''Blackboard Jungle'' quiz on

RTÉ (; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Irish public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, ...

(1996/97). He was a student at

Queen's University Belfast The Queen's University of Belfast, commonly known as Queen's University Belfast (; abbreviated Queen's or QUB), is a public research university in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. The university received its charter in 1845 as part of ...

between 1997 and 2001, and in 2001/02 he studied at

University College Dublin University College Dublin (), commonly referred to as UCD, is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest ...

(UCD), while doing teaching practice at St Benildus College,

Stillorgan Stillorgan (, also and previously or ), formerly a village in its own right, is now a suburban area of Dublin in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Stillorgan is located in Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, and contains many housing estates, shops and oth ...

. He graduated from Queen's in 2000 with a B.A. in History, and in 2001 with a

postgraduate diploma fILE:Prédio Pós Graduação IMECC Unicamp.jpg, The State University of Campinas, as well as many Brazilian universities, offer Postgraduate courses in Brazil A postgraduate diploma (PgD, PgDip, PGDip, PG Dip., PGD, Dipl. PGD) is a postgraduat ...

in Computer-Based Learning. He graduated from UCD in 2002 with a

higher diploma A higher diploma is an academic award in Iraq, Libya, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Hong Kong, Ireland and Oman. In Iraq, it is awarded one year after a bachelor's degree (i.e., not equivalent to a bachelor's degree). In Ireland it is a postgradu ...

in Education. He was posthumously named Queen's University Graduate of the Year in 2004.

Personal life

From 2002 to 2004, Cormac's main subject of teaching was history and politics at St Catherine's College, Armagh, and he managed school sports teams. He also however taught other subjects such as history, politics, mathematics, computers, French and Religion. He was well liked by students and staff alike. In his after-school hours he acted as a Youth-Sport co-ordinator in the Armagh district, and he was frequently a coach at Tyrone GAA summer camps. In December 2003, McAnallen became engaged to Ashlene Moore. In his spare time, McAnallen played a wide range of sports – including

hurling Hurling (, ') is an outdoor Team sport, team game of ancient Gaelic culture, Gaelic Irish origin, played by men and women. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goa ...

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

table tennis Table tennis (also known as ping-pong) is a racket sport derived from tennis but distinguished by its playing surface being atop a stationary table, rather than the Tennis court, court on which players stand. Either individually or in teams of ...

and

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

– and loved watching every type of sport. He was also a keen participant in quizzes, and he took a great interest in history and Gaelic culture.

Playing career

Inter-county

At Minor level, McAnallen won the 1997 Ulster Minor Championship with Tyrone and they went on to reach the All-Ireland Minor final, but were defeated by

Laois County Laois ( ; ) is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and in the province of Leinster. It was known as Queen's County from 1556 to 1922. The modern county takes its name from Loígis, a medieval kingdom. Hist ...

. The following year with McAnallen as captain, Tyrone defended their Ulster crown and also went on to win the All-Ireland Minor title. He was named Personality of the Year by the Ulster GAA Writers Association in 1998. McAnallen was Tyrone Under-21 captain in 2000 and 2001. In both those years the county won both the Ulster Under-21 Championship and the All-Ireland Under-21 Championship twice. By this stage he was already playing for the Tyrone

Senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

side. In 2001 he won an Ulster Senior Championship medal and was named both All Stars Young Footballer of the Year and the Ulster GAA Writers Association's Footballer of the Year. He was a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

on the Tyrone team that won back-to-back

titles in 2002 and 2003. In 2003 he moved to the full-back position and two months later the team won the

for the first time in the county's history. Tyrone had also won the Ulster Championship earlier in the summer en route to winning the All-Ireland. McAnallen was rewarded with an All Star award for his performances in the 2003 Championship. In 2004, just over a week before his death, he captained Tyrone to success in the Dr. McKenna Cup.

Club

McAnallen won consecutive Tyrone Minor Championships with Eglish in 1996 and 1997. He won a Tyrone Intermediate Championship medal with the club in 1997. McAnallen played for UCD while studying at the university and won the

medal in 2001 and 2002 captaining the team both years.

Province

McAnallen won a Railway Cup medal with

Ulster Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...

in 2003 and also played in the competition in 2001.

International

McAnallen represented

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

in the

International Rules Series The International Rules Series is a senior men's international rules football competition between the Australia international rules football team (selected by the Australian Football League) and the Ireland international rules football team ...

against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

in 2001, 2002 and 2003.

College

McAnallen won the Ryan Cup with Queen's University Belfast in 1999, and the following year helped the university win the

Sigerson Cup The Sigerson Cup is the trophy for the premier Gaelic football championship among Higher Education institutions (Universities, Colleges and Institutes of Technology) in Ireland. It traditionally begins in mid January and ends in late February. T ...

Other sports

McAnallen played hurling for the Clan na nGael club. While at St Pat's Armagh he played

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

and won Ulster Schools 'A' basketball titles from Under-14 to Under-19 levels. He also represented

at basketball from Under-14 to Under-17 levels.

Death

McAnallen died in his sleep on 2 March 2004, aged 24, from an undetected heart condition, sudden adult death syndrome.

Legacy

In 2004, the Cormac McAnallen Cup, the cup that Ireland and Australia play for in the

, was named in his honour. In January 2005, the Cormac McAnallen's GAC, a GAA club, was founded in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

Honours

;Inter-county ;Senior *

: **Winner (1): 2003 *

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

: **Winner (2): 2002, 2003 *

: **Winner (2): 2001, 2003 *

Dr McKenna Cup The Dr McKenna Cup is an annual Gaelic football competition played between Counties of Ireland, counties and List of universities in Northern Ireland, universities in the province of Ulster GAA, Ulster. It is the secondary Gaelic football compe ...

: **Winner (1): 2004 ;Under-21 * All-Ireland Under-21 Football Championship: **Winner (2): 2000, 2001 * Ulster Under-21 Football Championship: **Winner (2): 2000, 2001 ;Minor *

All-Ireland Minor Football Championship The Electric Ireland All-Ireland Minor Football Championship is the premier under-17 "knockout" competition in Gaelic football played in Ireland. 2017 was the final year of the minor under 18 football championship as it was replaced by an under ...

: **Winner (1): 1998 **Runner up: 1997 * Ulster Minor Football Championship: **Winner (2): 1997, 1998 *Ulster Minor Football League: **Winner (1): 1998 ;Club *

: **Winner (1): 2002 * Tyrone Intermediate Football Championship: **Winner (1): 1997 *Tyrone Minor Football Championship: **Winner (2): 1996, 1997 ;Province * Railway Cup: **Winner (1): 2003 ;School/college *Nannery Cup (Ulster U-15½ football championship): **Winner: Year? *

: **Winner: 2000 *Ryan Cup: **Winner: 1999 ;Individual * All Star: **Winner (1): 2003 **Nominated (runner up): ? * All Stars Young Footballer of the Year – Winner (1): 2001 * ''Irish News'' Ulster GAA All-Star – Winner (2): 2001, 2003 *Ulster GAA Writers Association Personality of the Year: – 1998 *Ulster GAA Writers Association Footballer of the Year: – 2001 *Belfast Telegraph Personality of the Year: – 2001 ;Scór *Trath na gCeist, Scór na nÓg Thír Eoghain (3): 1992, 1993, 1994 *All-Ireland Scór na nÓg Trath na gCeist: 1995 *Trath na gCeist, Scór Sinsear Thír Eoghain (3): 1999, 2001, 2003

References

External links

The Cormac Trust

Campa Chormaic

Cormac McAnallen's GAC Australia
{{DEFAULTSORT:McAnallen, Cormac 1980 births 2004 deaths All Stars Young Footballers of the Year Alumni of University College Dublin Alumni of Queen's University Belfast Dual players Eglish St Patrick's Gaelic footballers Irish international rules football players Irish schoolteachers People educated at St Patrick's Grammar School, Armagh Sportspeople from Dungannon Tyrone inter-county Gaelic footballers UCD Gaelic footballers Winners of one All-Ireland medal (Gaelic football)