Disgruntled McGuigan puts his All-star on eBay

TYRONE football legend Frank McGuigan has put his All-star trophy up for sale on the internet in protest at his son’s omission from the 2005 All-star team.

McGuigan senior won the award for his stellar displays in the 1984 championship, including an 11-point haul in the Ulster final, but he was very unhappy when his son Brian was not selected as an All-star last year. Brian picked up a statuette in 2003, when Tyrone won their first All-Ireland, but his omission last year surprised many observers. His father Frank called for the selection process to be revamped at the time and declared he would put his own award up for sale. Now he has followed through on that threat, and visitors to internet auction site ebay.co.uk can bid for the award online.

A reserve price of £2,000 (€2,900) has been placed on the item, but as of yesterday, the first day of sale, no offers were recorded.

Ironically, McGuigan Junior’s omission was the result of a teammate’s selection - veteran forward Peter Canavan was selected at centre forward, even though he featured mainly as an “impact” substitute in his county’s successful championship run.

“In my opinion, the best centre-half forward by a long distance was Brian McGuigan,” said Canavan two weeks ago, “So not hearing his name called out was a major surprise.”

The All-star trophy was not the only GAA item to be found on eBay yesterday. A bracelet with All-Ireland senior and minor medals dating from 1963 - which were originally auctioned to raise funds for the Live Aid Concert in 1985 - were also made available yesterday. The bracelet includes minor hurling and football medals, as well as 1958 and 1963 senior All-Ireland football medals.

Donated by an “anonymous former Dublin GAA star”, the item carries a formidable reserve price of £14,000 (€20,500).