Kieran McGurk

[Harold Disgracey]

Very sad to hear of the passing this morning of former Armagh footballer Kieran McGurk, only 49 I believe.

[Club Rossa]

Kieran McGurk was a fine footballer and a nice fella too.

[Radda bout yeee]

A Great Man! Legend in our part of the world!!!
He played for Kildress at youth level and for a year at senior whilst still in his late teens early 20's I believe. He then came back to the Tones in the twilight of his career as he always said he would and became player/manager then continued as a player under Tony Scullion for few years! Unbelievable player even at that stage of his career (I remember a hat trick he scored in Aghyaran of all places) - glad to have seen him play.
Our senior team of the last 10-15 years owe him alot as he came in and helped a very good young team make the step up to become an established senior team for a number of years!

THE MAN IS A LEGEND!

VERY VERY SAD!

RIP General!

[pintsofguinness]

God that's very sad. RIP.

[BennyHarp]

This is really awful news - what happened? RIP Kieran!

[fitzroyalty]

Awful news. Will be fondly remembered, especially in North Armagh GAA circles. Go ndéana Dia trócaire ar a anam.

A Great Man! Legend in our part of the world!!!

That legendary status would extend to Sarsfields Derrytrasna and Clann Eireann Lurgan as well, speaks volumes for the man.

[armaghniac]

One of the greats. RIP.

---------------------
Armagh had it easy at Tralee: ARMAGH ... 1-7 KERRY ... 0-6 The Irish Times ; Dec 4, 1989;

ARMAGH  1-7 KERRY  0-6 ARMAGH ran rings around Kerry in the National Football League division one tie at Tralee yester-day. There was a big local cheer of derision at the end of the third quarter as Kerry succeeded in scoring their second point. With Niall Smith. and Kieran McGurk lording it at centrefield Armagh got a good opening service and while Kerry gained possession in some other sectors they just could not put their game together and their ill-timed and misplaced passes were coupled with poor shooting and left Armagh free and easy. Armagh led 0-2 to 0-1 at the end of the first quarter and 10 minutes Into the second Niall Smith soloed towards the Kerry goal from which Charlie Nelligan advanced but Smith made no mistake sending•the ball to the net. A couple of minutes later Oliver Reel tapped over a point and before the end of the second quarter the Kerry goal-keeper was called upon to dive full length to divert another shot at his goal: Armagh's Alden Shorn, John Toner and Colin Hanrafty were sound in defence, cutting off many a Kerry bid while Kerry sharp-shooter Maurice -Fitzgerald was almost completely out of the pic-ture both from • general play and frees. Jack O'Shea did his best in various positions but he could not swing it for his side. Halfway through Armagh led by 1-3 to 0-1 but on resumption there appeared .to be new fire in the Kerry brigade supplemented by Billy O'Sullivan' Timmy Fleming and later by Anthony Gleesom Maurice Fitzgerald found some accuracy and in the last quartee picked off points to get within 4 goal of the leaders. Kerry's strongest were half backs Ambrose O'Donovan flanked by Stephea Stack and Connie Murphy. Reel put the issue beyond doubt with a few minutes left for play and ensured that this fast Armagh side, which had the measure of their opponents, would stay the course by 1-7 to 0-6. ARMAGH; 8 Tierney; L McGeary, G O'Neill, B Canavan; A Shorn, J Toner, C Hanratty; N Smith (1-1), K McGurk; 0 Reel (0-3), M McQuillan, D Horish; S Skelton, D Canavan; J McConville (0-3). Subs: G Houlihan for Skelton; K McGeeney. for McConville. KERRY; C Nelligan; 0 McCatthy, S Burke, ,M Nix; C Murphy, A O'Donovan, S Stack; F Ashe, ? Shannon (0-1); A Murphy (0-1); K Culharte, U Fttnerstd (0-3 E Moynihan, J O'Shea (0-1), P Dennehy. Subs: T Fleming for Dennehy; B O'Sullivan for Moynihan; A Gleason for Ashe. Referee: P Russell (Tipperary).

[Orangemac]

Sad news indeed. Only remember him at the tail end of his career but his class was evident. RIP Kieran.

[The Worker]

RIP Kieran

very sad news

[BennyCake]

Very sad.  Great player.

My condolences to his family.

RIP Kieran

[rrhf]

Keiran Mc Gurk was a class footballer.  My  memoroes are of a swashbuckling Armagh raider who when they were fit to turn over Tyrone in the early 1990s in the early days of Canavan and Cush when Tyrone people were starting to see a little potential, Mc Gurk, Mc Quillan and others cut down this fledgling Tyrone team.  And they done it with a fast running game played with power, ball played to the wings and whilst they may not have won Ulsters there were some serious footballers in that team.. and Mc Gurk certainly was one of them.  He served his adopted county well, and would have been some benefit to Tyrone who may have achieved even more during this time if Mc Gurk had remained a red hand.  Such a sad loss to his family and friends.  From a Tyrone man who enjoyed watching him play his football, even if that meant we were on the wrong end of a defeat. RIP

[new devil]

A Great Man! Legend in our part of the world!!!
He played for Kildress at youth level and for a year at senior whilst still in his late teens early 20's I believe. He then came back to the Tones in the twilight of his career as he always said he would and became player/manager then continued as a player under Tony Scullion for few years! Unbelievable player even at that stage of his career (I remember a hat trick he scored in Aghyaran of all places) - glad to have seen him play.
Our senior team of the last 10-15 years owe him alot as he came in and helped a very good young team make the step up to become an established senior team for a number of years!

THE MAN IS A LEGEND!

VERY VERY SAD!

RIP General!

Well said Radda... RIP General..was a pleasure to have played for and with you....An absolute gentleman

[maddog]

One of my favourite players of that era. You will see him playing at FF in this clip
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2i4R-jPDElU

RIP

[samwin08]

Sad to hear . He always  brought the 'brain' to any team he played for. was a huge part of  Sarsfields success in early 1990's

[Harold Disgracey]

'A colossal person and player'
McAlinden tribute to Orchard star Kieran

Club and county colleague Brian McAlinden paid tribute to Kieran McGurk as a "colossal person and player" after the former Armagh star died suddenly yesterday morning.

The 49-year-old McGurk played with McAlinden for Armagh and their club Highmoss Sarsfield's, his native Kildress in Tyrone and Lurgan club Clann Eireann and coaching Glenties in Donegal.

He won an Ulster SFC medal with Armagh in 1982 and became the first Sarsfield's man to lift the Gerry Fagan Cup when he captained the club to the Armagh SFC title in 1990.

McAlinden, who also managed him at club and county level, said the shock of his passing has been felt in Sarsfield's, Armagh and beyond.

"Certainly he was held in very high esteem in both county and club, and all across Ireland," he said yesterday.

"I don't think you can put into words what people thought of Kieran McGurk – and not because of where he is now. In living memory of Kieran, everyone would have had the same word for him.

"It was just unreal this morning and it's hard to put into words what people are thinking in Derrytrasna and the whole of the county.

"We have two ex-players, who now live in Chicago, who were onto me within an hour of me getting the word this morning and we had an hour-long conversation. Unfortunately that type of word spreads very fast."

"He was simply, a colossal person and player and it's just unreal how quickly he was taken away."

In his debut season for Armagh in 1981, McGurk scored a winning goal in Killorglin that beat Kerry – the first time Armagh had won away in the Kingdom – and kept Armagh in Division One of the National League.

The high-point of his county career came the following year when he won an Ulster medal, while he also went on to pick up a Railway Cup medal with Ulster, play in three National Football League finals and be name an All-Star replacement.

McAlinden's memories of McGurk include all those moments, and stretch back to the time the Kildress man joined the Sarsfield's club.

"I would have known Kieran a long time," he said.

"Kieran was a Tyrone man who came to Lurgan with the family to live. He played underage at Eire Og in Craigavon then moved to ourselves.

"I was fortunate enough to play with him at club and county level, and manage him at club and county level as well.

"When we won the senior championship for the first time in 1990 I was the manager of the Sarsfield's team and we gave Kieran the honour of being the captain of the team.

"When it came to selecting the captain, Kieran's name was there first and foremost.

"There was never a doubt in my mind or the selectors' minds who the captain would be."

McGurk was renowned as an almost unstoppable penalty taker for both Armagh and Sarsfield's. Goalkeeper McAlinden admitted inside knowledge didn't provide any help when facing them in training.

"Even with me knowing where he was going to put them, it was impossible to stop them," he said.

When McAlinden and Brian Canavan took over the Armagh job in 1995, McGurk was still on the Orchard panel, but was approaching the end of his inter-county career.

"He wouldn't have played much past the time we took over," said McAlinden.

"He said to me at a training session one day in Belfast 'Brian, that's it. I can't give you what I want to give you. My time has come."

"I didn't want to hear those words but when they came from Kieran himself, I knew that was it. Myself and Brian Canavan were just unfortunate that Kieran felt it was time for him to go."

Current Armagh stars Steven McDonnell and Aaron Kernan posted messages to Twitter yesterday paying tribute to McGurk.

The Irish News
Tuesday September 27 2011