Tyrone 1973 team reunion planned Thursday night

MEMBERS of the 1973 Tyrone team which captured the Ulster Senior title for the third time will be in attendance at a special reunion taking place tonight (Thursday) in Canavan’s of Garvaghey.

The event is being organised by two of the players who starred in that success almost exactly 52 years ago. Aidan McMahon from Coalisland and Mickey Hughes from Killyman both played on the team which defeated Down in the provincial decider.

Mickey Hughes, who now lives in Kentucky in the United States, has been home on a number of occasions in recent years and enjoys meeting up with teammates who made such an impact all those years ago.

He is being helped in the organisation of the reunion by Aidan McMahon. He played at midfield on that day alongside the great Frank McGuigan, who at 19 was the youngest player ever to captain an Ulster title-winning team.

Now, they are looking forward to welcoming back as many of the side as possible to this special night of memories of that famous day in 1973, and the many matches that the Red Hand county played during what was an historic season.

Peter Canavan, the first player, of course, to captain Tyrone to the Sam Maguire Cup will be in attendance, as well as some other players from teams that have done the county proud at all levels both before 1973 and since then.

But the focus will, of course, be on the side which was managed by the late Jody O’Neill and captained by Frank McGuigan and defeated the Mourne men by 3-13 to 1-11. After losing the Ulster decider in 1972 to Donegal, their 1973 success proved immensely satisfying and raised hopes for further glory ahead.

The event at Canavan’s gets underway at 6.30pm for 7pm and promises to be one to remember.