Three-time All-Ireland winning manager Mickey Harte has described the late Frank McGuigan as the best footballer he has ever seen.

McGuigan passed away on Sunday at the age of 71 and his funeral took place yesterday (Thursday) at the Church of The Blessed Sacrament Mullinahoe.

Harte played alongside McGuigan on the Tyrone minor side which captured the Ulster championship title in 1972 and the following year would see the latter helping the Red Hands to provincial senior glory.

Speaking to BBC Sport NI, Harte said that McGuigan was the kind of player that could excel in any position on the field.

"I don't think I've ever seen a footballer with as much natural talent as Frank McGuigan and I've seen a lot of players playing football - he was the best I've ever seen," said the former Tyrone boss.

"He could do everything: field ball with anybody, pass the ball, vision, power and was deceptively fast.

"He had this ability not many have where he floated in for a ball. You see people putting in a real effort to get a high ball, this man was effortless. He has the timing, positioning and used his back end quite a bit to keep the people getting close to the ball - a nice little skill."

He added: "I always said you could play him from corner-back to corner-forward or even stuck him in goals nowadays and he would have excelled.

"There's very few you could say that about, but the biggest thing of all was his modesty. He was such a humble man, you wouldn't even know he played football but was the best who ever walked these fields I believe."

Tweet

Most Read Stories