Cormac Trust to be wound up on 20th anniversary of Tyrone star's death

Donal McAnallen says this weekend's 20th anniversary of the death of his beloved brother Cormac McAnallen is the right time to wind up the charitable trust that was set up in his memory.

The shock of the Tyrone footballer's sudden death at the age of 24 on 2 March 2004 was felt far beyond the GAA world.

Speaking to The GAA Social on BBC Sounds, Donal McAnallen recalls his frantic attempts to resuscitate his brother in the early hours of 2 March, 2004.

Cormac had just been appointed as Tyrone captain by then Red Hands manager Mickey Harte after helping the county win their first All-Ireland title six months previously.

"I didn't know how to do CPR. I tried whacking him on the chest but I didn't know how to do it precisely," Donal told the BBC's GAA podcast.

"I rang 999 but we were out in the country and it was going to take a while. A local GP arrived before that but then when the ambulance crew did arrive half an hour or more after it, they tried reviving him with a defibrillator but it didn't work.

"I do look back and wonder, if I had been better prepared would it have made any difference."

Amid their grief, the McAnallen family, led by parents Brendan and Bridget, resolved to do everything in their power to prevent such tragedies happening again.

The Cormac Trust was set up before the end of 2004 with the aim of raising awareness of sudden cardiac deaths in young people, promoting screening and also accumulating funds so that defibrillators could be strategically located in public areas in addition to sufficient people being trained in how to use them while performing Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR).

One of those defibrillators which had been funded by the Cormac Trust saved the life of Lavey and Derry footballer Kevin McCloy when he was playing in a GAA match at the Owenbeg venue near Dungiven in 2014.

McCloy joined Donal McAnallen on this week's The GAA Social and spoke of how "my life is indebted to the Cormac Trust".

"I often said it to Bridget and Brendan, I don't know where they got the strength after all the grief of Cormac's death to do what they did," added McCloy.

"Defibrillators were not even heard of, not even around shops or community centres never mind a GAA pitch.

"It gave me a second chance at life with my family."

After spending a month at Altnagelvin Hospital in Derry, McCloy's heart stopped again when he was undergoing surgery in Belfast to have an internal defibrillator.

But as he recovered following his surgery, he made contact with the McAnallen family and he later became chairman of the Cormac Trust.

"Brendan became almost like a father figure to me," added the former Derry player.

"I lost my father when I was three months old and Brendan brought me through a lot of stuff in my head, never mind the body.

"Brendan always said 'you only have to chair a few meetings every year…..that's all'. I've found it enjoyable and I hope during my time there, I did it justice."

After recovering to the extent where he was able to coach at his own Lavey club, McCloy had what he describes as a "big setback" last November when he had another cardiac arrest at home.

"Coming back out of hospital it just re-sets you. You can't sleep and you're just sitting there wondering when it's going to go again. How long am I going to be here.....all that kind of stuff."

Brendan McAnallen died 18 months ago at the age of 77 and son Donal admits that his passing "accelerated thoughts that were already emerging" about whether it was time to consider winding up the trust.

"Twenty years is a big milestone. Let's make sure it bows out in the right way, rather than let it die a natural death out of apathy, which you wouldn't want. That's why we've come to the decision.

"The office used to be in Benburb and you go there now and it's all empty. It's sad to go in now and nobody in it but it's still the right thing to do and the right time to do it.

"The Cormac Trust spent hundreds of thousands of pounds in providing defibrillators and gave almost £200,000 towards research.

"It trained approximately 2,500 people in CPR and defibrillator use and there were other cases where people were revived by those defibrillators.

"My father lobbied Spar to get defibrillators into their shops and they launched their 'Heart of Our Community campaign' and it was announced about this time last time that 17 people had been revived by defibrillators from that.

"And Daddy and the Trust had a big part in the set up of the Armagh & Tyrone First Responders and that has resuscitated maybe two dozen people as well.

"It wasn't just Cormac - don't forget John McCall the rugby player from Armagh Royal School, who died within a fortnight of Cormac playing out in South Africa.

"But Cormac's death was the turning point in that narrative so that people began to take notice and a lot of other cases after that began to be reported.

"It is a nice consolation to know that there are people alive today who mightn't have been if it wasn't for Cormac."

Donal recalls his brother's "sense of fun and pranks" but how seriously he took his football, which included hand written reviews of every game he played, which are documents that are now very precious to the McAnallen family.

The 1998 Tyrone All-Ireland minor title winning captain's legacy and memory will never be forgotten in the GAA with a club in Sydney even named after him.

His own Eglish club named their new second Pairc Cormac pitch in his memory in 2012 and pride of place in the club's new pavilion opened last year is the match ball from the 1998 All-Ireland minor final and McAnallen's jersey from his county's 2003 Sam Maguire Cup triumph.

In addition, the International Rules series between Ireland and Australia saw the countries battling for the Cormac McAnallen Cup.

"All those things are going on and you're not going to be saddled with the guilt of thinking he's going to be forgotten," added Donal.