In sport and in life, everybody wants to be like Eddy Merckx – the outrageously gifted Belgian cyclist whose natural talent and extra-terrestrial strength allowed him to brush aside his rivals with contemptuous ease.

NEWRY’S divide is more pronounced this week but it’s all been good-natured.

THOSE who saw his performance that day will never forget it. The game itself is considered a classic. Many who were in Coalisland that afternoon would point to the 1989 MacRory Cup final between St Patrick’s Maghera and St Colman’s Newry as the best they ever witnessed.