Oisin McConville has paid tribute to his late Crossmaglen team-mate James Hughes.

Hughes and McConville were team-mates and best friends playing together for Crossmaglen Rangers over the years and the close-knit south-Armagh community suffered a massive loss in December when the former club star was murdered in Dundalk. In an extensive interview in today's Irish Times, McConville says he particularly misses James at this time of year as the club prepares for the All-Ireland series:

"The thing that hasn't really kicked in with me yet is that this week in particular would be when I'd hear from him most. He'd ring me on a Monday before a big game and go, 'Well, how's things looking for the weekend?'. And then he'd ring me on Tuesday again and ask how training went on Monday.

"And then he'd call out to the house to me one of the evenings and I'd be saying to him, 'James, I'm not talking football with you.' I'd be trying to forget about it until the weekend. But it never really mattered. He talked football and that was it.

"The thing I keep saying is that if he was at any other club in the country, there'd be a statue erected of him outside the clubhouse. This was a man who had 13 county medals, he had six Ulster championships, three All-Irelands.

"He was just consumed by the club. He'd always make sure he was the first person you'd see at a match. You'd spot him out the window of the bus or just as you walked to the dressingroom. And then he'd be the first one you'd see afterwards as well.

"He was just a constant, one of those people who was always there. He used to tell his three boys that he didn't care that they were living in Keady - they'd still be playing for Cross when they grew up.

"There's very few conversations you have now without him coming into it in some way. I think that's a great thing. I think for a lot of years, we all thought that the best way to deal with death was to never mention it again.

"Whereas I think now, it's a very healthy thing that his name is still mentioned. It helps in that we're not brushing it under the carpet. It happened and it affected everybody. He belonged to everybody." Tweet

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