Shortly before Art McRory died unexpectedly a year ago this weekend, he wrote to one of his successors.
“Four days before he died, he sent me an email,” says current Tyrone joint-manager Feargal Logan. “Typical Big Art, he wrote, ‘here are a few points for you to ignore in 2024′. So, just before he died, he was sitting down at the computer and charting out 2024 for Tyrone football. How many men at 82 are doing that?
“He would have called me in the odd time and I went to visit him. He might not have been following the minute detail of modern data-based analysis but his fundamental points were always on the money.”
Art McRory was a big figure in the development of football, not alone in his native Tyrone but in the province of Ulster. He served the county as senior manager — mostly with former player Eugene McKenna — for 14 years out of 20 up to the turn of the century, spread over three periods in charge.
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Whereas he appeared a slightly forbidding figure with a habit of dropping the head and training his glasses on you like gun sights, he was actually the opposite, courteous in manner and a very amusing conversationalist with a broad range of cultural and sporting interests.
He had been shaped by watching Tyrone’s first Ulster winning side in 1956, captained by Coalisland’s Jody O’Neill, who died just this week, which influenced the rising generations as well as the Down teams who took Sam Maguire across the border for the first time.
His intercounty teams left their mark. The 1968 juniors for whom he played, coming back from an injury although otherwise a senior, and helped manager O’Neill to coach, won Tyrone’s only All-Ireland at the grade.
He was involved with the minors, who in 1973 lifted the All-Ireland for the first time in 25 years, followed by high-profile senior management, which guided the county to its first two senior finals, threatening sensation on Kerry in 1986 and thwarted by a wafer-thin margin against Dublin in 1995.
A year later, 11 of that team played in the final, which ended in Tyrone’s first All-Ireland under Mickey Harte
In the final tour of duty, he and McKenna picked up the county’s first league title in 2002.
A year later, 11 of that team played in the final, which ended in Tyrone’s first All-Ireland under Mickey Harte. During the 23 seasons of those three management spells, his teams picked up 14 of the county’s first 15 All Stars.
They are the dusty facts of the impact he made. Dominic McCaughey, the now retired long-serving county secretary in Tyrone, makes the point that Art McRory also sourced the materials for these teams.
“He got together a group of people in the vocational schools,” he says, “like Mick Brewster, John McCusker in Dromore and Donal Donnelly in Omagh. He had contacts everywhere and knew what was coming through at under-age level, which was a great help to him in future years.
“As a person, you’d imagine him being stern and a difficult person to operate with but that couldn’t be farther from the truth. Once you knew him, he was a very witty, very funny man. I had an awful lot of time for him and what he achieved with Tyrone.”
The county’s inaugural All-Ireland winning captain, Peter Canavan, first played under McRory in the Railway Cup, as the latter and his cousin, Donegal’s Brian McEniff, formed a formidable duo managing Ulster at a time when the province was pre-eminent in the competition, winning the first five title of the 1990s.
I came into the Tyrone set-up in 1989 and a lot of those players were still there — the likes of Eugene McKenna, Damien O’Hagan and John Lynch, Plunkett Donaghy, Noel McGinn were all there
— Peter Canavan
“He made the first impression on me in the 1980s,” recalls Canavan. “I was on Hill 16 in 1986 when we got to the All-Ireland final. That team left a big impression on a lot of young footballers in Tyrone and it was Art that brought them through. He had a lot of them at minor, under-21 and took them to senior where they came very close to an All-Ireland.
“I came into the Tyrone set-up in 1989 and a lot of those players were still there — the likes of Eugene McKenna, Damien O’Hagan and John Lynch, Plunkett Donaghy, Noel McGinn were all there. Not surprisingly, they all spoke really highly of Art. They raved about the presence he had and the respect he commanded.
“Then there were the stories. He was obviously a popular character. I got my chance to play under him when he came in for his second term in 1993 and worked very closely with him during two different spells. That first spell culminated in reaching another All-Ireland final in 1995, which was narrowly lost.
“He retired and came back — him and Eugene — and we managed to win the county’s first league title in ‘02 before he had to step down for the last time because of health issues.
“So, I looked up to him as a cub, as a child and then had the privilege of playing under him and getting to experience what the John Lynchs and Plunkett Donaghys had all been talking about.
“A very likable character, very well-respected by the players. A players’ manager. He made sure we were looked after to the best that we could be. Very few people would have a bad word to say about Art McRory.”
He was so big into the basketball that after a trip to the United States and whatever reconnaissance he was on, he came back with these basketball-type runners with big heels on them that American basketballers were wearing in the pre-season to help with their vertical jump
— Peter Canavan
One of his characteristics as a manager was an interest in other sports, primarily basketball but he was also a founder of the Northern Ireland Volleyball Association in 1970, an involvement he eventually had to relinquish when his county commitments grew.
Canavan remembers the appliance of other sporting sciences.
“He was so big into the basketball that after a trip to the United States and whatever reconnaissance he was on, he came back with these basketball-type runners with big heels on them that American basketballers were wearing in the preseason to help with their vertical jump.
“Art came back with a box of these for the Tyrone boys when we were training in Dungannon. There were skills that could transfer from one sport to the other and he was always mindful of that crossover.”
Another sport that Art McRory loved was greyhound racing. His teams were always treated to a trip to Shelbourne Park when staying in Dublin for a match, as Logan explains.
“That’s when you sensed Big Art was nearly at his happiest. He loved the dogs and would be up at four in the morning, walking them. I remember one night in Dublin at the dogs, I was complaining to him. Jeez, Art — I’m down a fortune here. If you’re not right at the first bend, this whole thing’s over! It’s not like the horses where you get a run for your money. He just looks at me and says, ‘I never place a bet, Feargal’.
“I was like, ‘You’re the one who brought us to the dogs! What were you doing, man!’”
Even this had transferable elements for his footballers, according to Canavan.
“The boys used to slag him he was so big into it. He walked the dogs and loved taking them to greyhound meets and there were lotions and remedies that would be rubbed into the muscles of ageing greyhounds to have them perform.
“The next thing the same lotions would be produced to see if they might have a similar effect on Plunkett Donaghy and John Lynch.”
In the dressingroom, the talent for communication helped convey serious messages without ruffling feathers, according to Canavan.
“In terms of setting up players for different roles, he was very good at gauging opposition strengths and nullifying them. Team meetings were always interesting. When he was doing the motivational speeches, you could hear a pin drop.
“Then all of a sudden, he’d say something funny because he was a very humorous man as well. He was never afraid to have a dig at players either, but he did it in such a way that he was able to get away with it. If someone wasn’t playing up to scratch, he had a lighthearted way of engaging with players to make serious points.”
His last five years were dedicated to his wife Helen, a formidable woman — a school principal, a Gaeilgeoir — who suffered from dementia and died in February last year
— Feargal Logan
Logan had played in the 1995 final and knew McRory well, staying in touch in the final years, which were difficult.
“His last five years were dedicated to his wife Helen, a formidable woman — a school principal, a Gaeilgeoir — who suffered from dementia and died in February last year.
“The sad thing is that he had only started to go out again and watch the wee grandchildren’s matches — I think he was down at an under-16 game in Ardboe the night he died. It’s a shame — maybe if he could have had a couple more years.”
In the past year, a trophy for primary schools called the Art McRory Shield has been established. Peter Canavan says that there are ongoing discussions about how further to honour his former mentor’s memory.
“I think he gave seven decades of his life to Tyrone football in one shape or form, revolutionised the county and brought it from nowhere to competing at All-Ireland level. There may be one or two competitions named after him but there will be more. A year on, it’s still raw with a lot of people.”
Logan summarises the achievement and the legacy.
“He cut the path for Tyrone and it was for others to care for it after that.”
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