Brendan McAnallen turned personal tragedy into ‘strong force for good’

TRIBUTES have been paid to the late Brendan McAnallen whose determination to turn the tragic death of his son and Tyrone footballer, Cormac, into a force for good has saved lives throughout the country.

Mr McAnallen died in the early hours of Thursday morning at the age of 77. He was well-known in Tyrone and beyond for his work in community development, local history and the Cormac Trust.

The Cormac Trust charity was established following the tragic death of Cormac McAnallen at the age of 24 in 2004 and became a strong advocate for access to debrillators in local communites.

Cormac was a member of the first Tyrone team to win the Sam Maguire in 2003 and his death caused widespread shock and sadness across Ireland.

Mr McAnallen lived at the Brantry, Eglish and was married to his wife, Bridget for 45 years. The couple had three children – Cormac, Fergus and Donal.

Mr McAnallen was a former secretary of Benburb GAA and was captain of the first Aghaloo GAA team in 1970.

In 1977 he set up Ardmac, a general construction company with his brothers.

A driving force behind the formation of the Brantry Area Rural Development Association, Mr McAnallen was also deeply involved in local history, had written ‘The Book of Eglish’ and was a prominent member of the O’Neill County Historical Society.

In 1999 he opened the Benburb Village Stores and the Bottle of Benburb in 2007.

His son, Donal, said his father was dedicated to raising awareness of sudden cardiac deaths.

“The Cormac Trust has saved lives through raising awareness of the condition, access to defibrillators and increasing the provision of cardiac screening,” he said.

“For several years Brendan served as chairman of the Trust, working with Bridget, medical experts, county board officials and members of the community to heighten the impact of this important issue.

“Operating from the Trust office in Benburb, he took on challenging tasks suchs as advising bereaved families and lobbying for policy changes.

“He also initiated fundraising, organised CPR training, defibrillator purchasing and maintenance. None of these were easy.

“But the merits of this work became clear when defibrillators were used to saved lives, most notably that of former Derry player, Kevin McCloy in 2014.

“Kevin became great friends with dad and succeeded him as chairman of the Trust.”

Campa Chormaic, which Brendan McAnallen had conceived as a summer camp comprising Irish language and gaelic sports, started in the Brantry in 2005 and has now spread to four counties.

Since then, thousands of children have come to a deeper appreciation of local heritage and native culture, not least in Mr McAnallen’s home parish.

“On Friday week past, Brendan made his last outing to the camp at Fr Connolly Park in Eglish, and gave a short speech to the closing assembly, telling everyone how glad he was to witness the growth of interest in Irish locally in recent times,” added
Donal.

“In spite of his illness, Brendan was alert of mind to the very end, discussing shop business, heritage
plans for Benburb and the Ulster Canal.”