NAME: Eamonn McCaffrey DATE OF BIRTH: 3/10/71 HEIGHT: 6' 1" WEIGHT: 13st CLUB: Errigal Ciaran COUNTY: Tyrone HONOURS: Three Ulster Under 21; two All-Ireland Under 21; two All-Ireland Vocational; one Ulster Minor INTER COUNTY DEBUT: McKenna Cup, 1991 PLACE OF EMPLOYMENT: Bass Ireland, Omagh TOUGHEST OPPONENT: Paul Curran, Dublin FAVOURITE GROUNDS:Croke Park; Healy Park, Omagh FAVOURITE POSITION: Centre half forward SPORTING AMBITION: To win an All-Ireland senior medal DO YOU PLAY ANY OTHER SPORTS? Soccer, pool BOYHOOD HEROES: Frank McGuigan FAVOURITE PLAYERS: Martin McHugh BIGGEST INFLUENCE ON CAREER: My parents and workmates WAYS OF IMPROVING THE GAME: Having two referees operating at one time DISLIKES ABOUT THE GAA: National League and Championship should be all played between Easter and September BEST GAME SEEN: 1984 Ulster Final - Tyrone versus Armagh. F. McGuigan scored 0-11 from play PLAYERS WITH A PROMISING FUTURE: Eoin Gormley (Tyrone) HOPES FOR 1993: To keep a first team place and finish the year with a winning title and keep injury free YOU PLAY WITH ERRIGAL CIARAN. TELL US ABOUT YOUR CLUB: It is a First Division club in Tyrone. We have teams from Under 12 to Senior level. Our underage teams from Under 21 down are starting to become one of the strongest in the county THE CANAVAN BROTHERS ALSO PLAY WITH ERRIGAL: It is a great help playing along with Pascal and Peter at club level as you then can blend in with them much easier at county level BY NOW, YOU HAVE OBVIOUSLY BUILT UP A GREAT UNDERSTANDING WITH PETER CANAVAN: He is great to play along with in the forward line. It is a big advantage being in the same club and it's here you get to know another player's style best AND WITH ADRIAN CUSH? Adrian is also extremely talented and will be around for a long time. Playing with both these players at each side of me in the Under 21 (1990 was a great experience YOU WERE VERY IMPRESSIVE IN THIS YEAR'S NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE FINAL AGAINST DERRY, SCORING SOME GREAT LONG-RANGE POINTS. THIS MUST HAVE BEEN THE HIGHLIGHT OF YOUR SENIOR CAREER TO DATE: It was only my third competitive senior game and I was very pleased with my own personal performance, but when we got beat the way we did, it doesn't rate as the highlight of my senior career AND THEN IN THE DERRY CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES NOTHING WENT RIGHT: Although I scored the same in the championship game as in the league final, I felt I myself, and the other forwards should have done much better with the amount of chances we got TYRONE'S START TO THIS WINTER'S NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE SERIES HAS BEEN DISMAL. WHY THE BAD START? The management are introducing a lot of new faces which haven't really blended together yet and also the unavailability of established players. In our remaining League games there should be a marked improvement HAS NEW MANAGER, ART MCRORY, ALREADY GOT ONE EYE ON THE CHAMPIONSHIP? I personally feel he has got both eyes firmly on the championship and when championship time comes around we will be a force to be reckoned with YOUR OPINIONS ON ART: He is a very fair and dedicate manager and with his past experience he should blend in well with the other mentors AND DANNY BALL, THE MAN WHO GUIDED TYRONE TO THREE SUCCESSIVE ALL-IRELAND UNDER 21 FINAL APPEARANCES, TWO OF WHICH ENDED IN TRIUMPH? He also was very dedicated and always full of confidence, which is a great asset for any manager. He gave a lot of players great self belief. He at no time lost faith in any of the teams he managed THOSE ALL-IRELAND WINS OVER KERRY AND GALWAY MUST HAVE BEEN SPECIAL: The final against Kerry was extra special as I myself scored 2-2 and also because it was Tyrone's first Under 21 title. It was very important for us to retain the title to prove that we were worthy All-Ireland champions - yes, they were very special WHAT WAS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TYRONE UNDER 21 OF 1990 AND '91? THE FIRST YEAR KERRY HAMMERED YOU IN MULLINGAR. BUT IN '91 AT NEWBRDIGE, MOST OF THE PLAYERS WERE BACK ON BOTH SIDES AND YOU REVERSED THE RESULT WITH A BANG: The fact of being beat by 10 points in an All-Ireland final was very disheartening and getting the opportunity to reverse the result against the same team was a great incentive and even more so, it being against Kerry. We all gained a lot of experience from the 1990 final TYRONE WERE NOT OVER IMPRESSIVE IN THE UNDER 21 GRADE THIS YEAR. DO YOU FEEL THAT THE LONG THREE MONTH LAY-OFF BETWEEN THE ULSTER FINAL AND THE KERRY ALL-IRELAND SEMI HAD A BIG BEARING ON THIS? I myself feel that with Tyrone being All-Ireland champions, other teams lifted their games. Naturally the lay-off didn't help but our management kept the team together over this period. I think the team showed their true potential by going on to win the All-Ireland THIS TYRONE UNDER 21 SIDE SEEM TO HAVE A BLOOD RELATIONSHIP WITH KERRY. THE KINGDOM DID, ON THE WAY TO ALL-IRELAND GLORY, BEAT YOU IN THE ALL-IRELAND SEMI FINAL OF 1988: On that day we were beaten by a single point in which we felt we should have won. It was a very big disappointment and this game also would have had a bearing on the 1991 Under 21 final, as it was the same players involved. The fact that Kerry won the minor final that year proved to us we had an All-Ireland winning team ourselves WERE YOU PLAYING THAT DAY? I was playing centre half forward in which I scored 2 points DESPITE THE FACT THAT YOU HAD QUITE A FEW OF THE '91 SQUAD INVOLVED THIS SUMMER, DERRY, ARMED WITH THEIR MAGNIFICENT MINOR SIDE OF 1989, WERE FAVOURITES TO LIFT THE 21 CROWN: Overall Tyrone had more experience and we were not prepared to hand the Under 21 crown over to Derry DID YOU EXPECT TO BEAT YOUR NORTHERN NEIGHBOURS? I knew it was going to be very close and with Peter Canavan not available, it put more pressure on the rest of the team. We believed we had the team to beat Derry YOU HAD A FINE PERSONAL TALLY IN THE DERRY REPLAY: That day I scored 10 points which was a great feeling, especially in front of our home support. It was the following day that I made my senior debut and it was also against Derry in the McKenna Cup ANY IDEA WHAT YOU NOTCHED IN SCORES DURING THIS YEAR'S UNDER 21 CAMPAIGN? I finished with 2-27 ALL-IRELAND SUCCESS IS NOTHING NEW TO YOU. YOU WERE INVOLVED WITH THE TYRONE ALL-IRELAND VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS WINNING TEAMS OF 1988 AND 1989: I gained a lot of experience in these teams and with both finals being played in Croke Park it made them extra special YOU WERE VICE-CAPTAIN IN '89 AS CLUB MATE PETER CANAVAN WENT UP TO ACCEPT THE CUP: It was a very special day for our club and it was an honour to be vice-captain to a player like Peter Canavan THE TYRONE SUPPORT, ONE OF THE BIGGEST AND MOST LOYAL IN THE LAND: This is very true and I think everyone realised this in 1986 when the seniors got to the All-Ireland Final. With loyal supporters like Tyrone's they themselves deserve a lot of credit for Tyrone's success and they also deserve an All-Ireland senior victory YOUR VIEWS ON NEXT YEAR'S ULSTER CHAMPIONSHIP DRAW: No game in the Ulster Championship is easy at present and never was. There are at least five teams in Ulster with a very good chance but I think it's coming near Tyrone's turn (I hope) AND TYRONE'S EAMONN MCCAFFREY TO HIT THE TARGET OVER AND OVER AGAIN: If I can keep hitting the target in every match, I will be very happy and another few games like this year's replay match against Derry in the Under 21 would go down very nicely Taken from Hogan Stand magazine 20th November 1992 Vol 2 No 82 Tweet

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