Feargal Logan: Art McRory 'knocked down walls' for Tyrone football

Tyrone joint-manager Feargal Logan described former supremo Art McRory as someone who "knocked down walls" for his successors in the county.

McRory, who died today aged 82, had a decades long association with Tyrone football, dating from his days as a county player during the lean 1960s, then as the minor manager who brought All-Ireland success in 1973 and most notably the senior manager across three different spells from the start of the 1980s until the early 2000s.

Logan, who was part of the 1995 Tyrone side who were infamously edged out by Dublin in a controversial decider, said that McRory had been in contact with him in recent days about football in the county.

"The whole Tyrone GAA family is in deep mourning over the loss of a colossus of Tyrone football over the years," said Logan, speaking to the BBC.

"As a player, as a manager, Art was involved in every Tyrone team coming up.

"He pushed Tyrone forward when it wasn't just so fashionable. He was a giant of Tyrone football.

"Art was a mentor to many, many people. He had vast experience and vast insight and knew football inside out. He was someone who was in touch with me in the last couple of days about footballing matters in Tyrone.

"That shows the depth and the regard in which he held Tyrone football and in which he was held in Tyrone football. By all the guys in the 70s, the '86 team which produced All-Stars when All-Stars weren't coming to Tyrone.

"It's a deeply, deeply sad day and everyone in Ireland will mourn Art's loss."

Having taken the senior job in 1980, McRory is perhaps most famous for guiding Tyrone to their first ever All-Ireland final in 1986, when they led Mick O'Dwyer's Kerry by seven points early in the second half before fading in the last half hour.

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