FORMER Tyrone boss Mickey Harte has paid a heartfelt tribute to trainer Fergal McCann who passed away on Monday night after a long illness.
Harte says he will remember McCann’s human kindness as much as his coaching expertise that helped Tyrone land All-Ireland titles in 2005 and 2008.
Although he’d battled cancer for around a year, few of his former Tyrone colleagues knew until last week that he was gravely ill.
McCann (47) succeeded Paddy Tally as team trainer in 2005 after being recommended for the role by his Augher St Macartan’s club-mate and long-time friend of Harte’s, Tony Donnelly.
“He’d worked with Tony at the club and Tony knew him very well, he knew the quality of Fergal’s work,” Harte said. “So we went over to Tony’s house one night and met him and Fergal produced a file of training sessions he’d done with Augher. He was so meticulous. He planned everything so well – he was very, very efficient.
“When we wanted to look at certain aspects of our game he’d be working out drills immediately, drawing diagrams and pulling things together. He brought great energy to it. When Tony was happy with him at club level I didn’t have too much thinking to do about it because Tony knew his quality and what he was capable of.”
Before McCann passed away, he received 35 video messages of support and thanks from former Tyrone players he’d trained and delivered more success to.
“It was a daunting task for him coming in but Fergal believed in his own ability and he was confident in the work he was doing that it was quality work,” Harte explained.
“Of course he was nervous at first and a bit concerned about coming in to coach people with that level of achievement but after a few nights that all evaporated.”
McCann spent 10 years under Harte before moving into the club scene in Tyrone, as well as continuing to coach the juvenile teams in Augher.
“Fergal was there for 10 years and when you look around the country I don’t think there are many trainers with a team for that length of time.
“It was some achievement in itself. As time goes on things have to be tweaked here and there and the landscape changes a little bit.
“That was a pity because I know how much it meant to Fergal…. But he never missed a match whether he was on the sidelines or not. He was a true white and red Tyrone supporter.”
While Harte loved McCann’s energy and inventiveness, he will never forget the kindness he and his wife Roisin showed the Harte family upon the death of their daughter Michaela in 2011.
“Himself and Roisin were just wonderful hosts, magnificent people. Myself, Marian and Tony often went to their house and had a lovely night talking football and had great food. We became very good friends. And a big thing, I must say, Roisin and Fergal were so good to us when Michaela died, coming over with food, they were so kind and so helpful. I’ll never forget them for it.
“The thing about Fergal was he was an absolute GAA fanatic and when he got the chance to be involved with the county it was great and, thank God, he had some great days in that time. We’d good and bad days but to be there for two All-Irelands is something very special to him and his wife and his family. It was great that he was part of it because he deserved to be part of it for the meticulous and quality work he put in.
“It was a real shock to us all. Nobody really knew Fergal was very unwell until last Thursday.”
In recent years, he had shed any excess weight he carried and was fitter than he’d ever been.
“It wasn’t so much losing the weight, he kept it off and that for me, that was the mark of him; when he took a notion to do something he did it.”
Employed by Tyrone GAA as a full-time coach, Harte said many primary school teachers will always appreciate the indelible impression he left on the children he coached.
“You talk to any of the schools he went to and the teachers were delighted to see him coming and they always remarked on the nice way he spoke to the children and how he got them so enthused about Gaelic Games. He just had that touch.”
Fergal McCann is survived by his beloved wife Roisin and their two children.
