Two-time All-Ireland winning Tyrone star Kevin Hughes has spoken of the heartbreaking loss he and his family endured after two of his siblings died in two separate car accidents.
Paul (22) and Helen Hughes (24) lost their lives in two accidents four years apart on a notorious stretch of the old A4 road just one mile away from the family home in Killeeshil.
Kevin Hughes was also playing for the Tyrone minor team in 1997 when his teammate, Paul McGirr, died after an accidental collision when competing for a ball in an Ulster Minor Championship game against Armagh.
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Many of that team, including Hughes, would go on to represent the Red Hands at senior level and, in 2003, they won the county’s first senior All-Ireland title.
Yet, tragedy rocked Tyrone once again the following year when their newly-appointed captain Cormac McAnallen died suddenly aged 24.
Speaking on the BBC’s GAA Social podcast with Thomas Niblock and Oisin McConville, Hughes recounted how each devastating loss shaped his life both on and off the pitch.
“It could have been any one of us,” stated Hughes when speaking about Paul McGirr’s death.
“I remember it well - the ball was flicked across the goal line, Paul went to palm it in. The ’keeper came out. . . you’d see it 20 times in a game. That was it. Paul just never came up.”
It wasn’t until later that evening that Hughes learned of his teammate’s passing.
Just two months after Paul McGirr’s death, Hughes was on his way to Tyrone minor training in Cookstown when he noticed there was a tailback on the A4 road caused by an accident.
He took a back road to avoid the traffic and trained with the minor team unaware that it was his brother Paul Hughes who was involved in the accident.
“It was the same situation as the A5 now. Back then, the traffic coming from Belfast to Enniskillen, Omagh, Derry all came up that (A4) road," said Hughes.
“Paul was going to a challenge match for Killeeshil. A mile from home. I am not sure exactly what happened, but they hit an oncoming car. Paul was the only one in the car that died.
“We came on the scene. I was going to minor training at Cookstown and where the accident happened, there was a tailback for half a mile and I thought nothing of it. I took a side road, bypassed the accident and went on to training.”
By the time he had fought out what had happened earlier that evening, Paul had passed away in hospital as a result of his injuries.
“Four years later, lightning strikes twice,” continued Hughes.
Helen Hughes was killed in a car accident close to where Paul Hughes lost his life four years previously.
Hughes, affectionately known as “Hub” to Tyrone fans, was just 21 and had already lost two siblings and a teammate as his county career was beginning to take off.
“I think at the time football was a real good outlet,” reflected the former Tyrone midfielder.
“I had that distraction, I had a purpose, especially after Paul’s death. It was about making Paul proud.
“Growing up, we were typical Irish brothers. He was five years older than me and would, in a football sense, be very sore on me, but it was the way back then.
“You’ve no other choice but to get on with it. That’s the reality of it.”
In 2003, Kevin Hughes was Man-of-the-Match as Tyrone defeated the-then All-Ireland champions Armagh to win their first senior All-Ireland title.
Many of the side had graduated from the 1997 minor team along with Hughes, including his midfield partner from the underage ranks Cormac McAnallen.
Many feel it was Mickey Harte’s decision to play McAnallen at full-back in the second half of 2003 campaign that ultimately won the Sam Maguire for the Red Hands.
However, the Eglish clubman’s sudden passing in March 2004 rocked the GAA community.
Earlier that year, Harte had made him the captain of the All-Ireland champions and they had just won the first silverware of the season, capturing the Dr McKenna Cup - the one trophy that eluded them in 2003.
“Cormac McAnallen was at the absolute peak of his fitness, his lifestyle. . . everything about him. He was a role model to all of us young lads,” added Hughes.
“He was just at the peak of his powers in every sense. It hits you - well if he can be taken, what hope have the rest of us?
“It was a very different loss and a very different form of trying to get over it.
“This just didn’t seem right with Cormac. A man who was fit as a fiddle and seemed to be in top health. It was very hard.”
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