Former Tyrone star and Antrim manager Jody Gormley passed away on Monday, aged 53, and led his native Trillick to a county title last year
“He treated us all like sons,” he says. “We looked on him as a father figure. He wasn’t just a coach and mentor to boys. He was a very, very good friend to players.”
All they can do is cling to the great memories they shared, with Tyrone All-Ireland winner Donnelly’s thoughts very much on Jody Gormley’s wife Deirdre and their three children. “It still doesn’t prepare you for the reality of it. I suppose the only nice thought is that it wasn’t drawn out for him. It wasn’t prolonged suffering.
“I wasn’t surprised in that regard. Even the day after he broke it to us, he was on the phone telling me that he had absolutely no regrets with the life he had lived. He was grateful for everything he had done. “Obviously it was a fair blow for us to hear, but the boys soon clocked that it wasn’t just the heartache of losing a County Final that was hanging over us,” says Mattie Donnelly.They met in the club gym where Gormley told the team the news: “It’s not a room you ever imagined you would be in, or want to be in again,” says All-Ireland winner Donnelly.
“They are the people at the front of all of our thoughts now. We were extremely close to him, but no-one is closer than his family. They will be feeling it more than any of us.”“Football is definitely an escape for people to lean on,” continued Donnelly. “We would have had a lot of conversations over the last few years and weeks.
Tyrone GAA Co Tyrone BBC Antrim
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