Kieran Shannon: Christy Ring and Cormac McAnallen leave a legacy that will live forever  

Everyone remembers where they were and who they were with on 3/2 when they learned the news that the finest in Gaeldom – an abstract, sometimes even mawkish construct but apt in each of these cases – had fallen.

NAMES THAT WILL LIVE FOREVER: Cormac McAnallen leads the Tyrone team onto the field against Longford. Pic: Matt Browne / SPORTSFILE 

“March 2,” as Donal McAnallen wrote in his fabulous book about the life, death and legacy of his brother Cormac, “is bookmarked in many minds for [some] of the most staggering pieces of news they’ve ever heard.” 

Not just in 2004 but in 1979 too when Cork rather than Tyrone was the epicentre of a tragedy whose shockwaves would reverberate all across the country and even cause ripples across the globe.