Hi °C | Lo °C No fewer than nine former Tyrone chairmen were among the attendance when the formal launch of the county’s Centre of Excellence project at Garvaghey, Ballygawley took place yesterday.
They mingled with members of the successful Tyrone side of 1947 — Barney Eastwood was among their number - and some of the famous players from the great 1956 side including Jody O’Neill, Eddie Devlin and Thady Turbett.
Current Tyrone chairman Pat Darcy hailed the occasion as “truly historic.”
He added: “It’s great to see so many people who have contributed so much to Tyrone in the past now present to help point the way ahead.
“These players and officials laid the basis for the success our county has achieved at all levels over the past two decades.”
The new complex will be one of the most modern in Europe and will encompass six pitches, a state of the art office and administrative suite and extensive ancillary facilities.
Ulster Council chairman Tom Daly and secretary Danny Murphy were also there to see the wheels set in motion on the ambitions project.
Tyrone manager Mickey Harte, who has obviously done so much to give the county its current status in GAA terms, was also there.
Meanwhile, Derry manager Damian Cassidy claimed the dismissal of Eoin Bradley on a yellow card was a big turning point in his side's first NFL defeat at the hands of Kerry.
The Oak Leaf attack clearly lacked punch after Bradley's sending off, and Cassidy lamented: "His ball-winning capacity and showing ability was a loss and we certainly missed out on that.
"We were a very different team as a result, unfortunately. It's a good learning curve for us, though.
"We're working on playing in a particular way and, at the start of the game, it worked quite well for us.
"But when the pressure came on - and I was acutely aware that that was going to be a test — it was disappointing that we didn't manage to get back into that method of play that we're trying to develop, we starting going a wee bit 'solo-running' and we lost our way."
