The remains of the Tyrone footballer Cormac McAnallen were carried home to Eglish yesterday afternoon at 3 o'clock. Among the many local people who waited along the quiet road which lead to the McAnallen family home was Mickey Harte.

Since the sorrowful news of McAnallen's sudden passing was broadcast across Ireland early on Tuesday morning, Harte has tried to find words to understand a tragedy that in scale balances the joy that Tyrone's All-Ireland victory of last September brought the county.

It has not been easy. Along with the numbing loss and confusion that his death has evoked exists a fierce pride in the afterglow of Cormac McAnallen's brief and spectacular comet-shoot through his chosen fields of education and Gaelic football.

The Tyrone team were due to meet for the first time since their captain passed away last night, but that gathering has been postponed until this evening.

"I suppose the thought of getting together as a group is of some small comfort," Harte responded yesterday afternoon.

"The shock of this is just incredibly difficult for any of us to fully understand and accept. And we had arranged to meet up as a group simply to sit down and be together and maybe just try to begin to get some clarity and to remember Cormac quietly and privately."

Although Tyrone's league game scheduled for Sunday against Cork in Omagh has been postponed, Harte has already stated that he is determined that his All-Ireland winning side will resume their defence of the league title in the coming weeks as robustly as ever. Anything less, he feels, would be a dishonour to a player whose zeal and enthusiasm was uncontainable.

It is probable that the Tyrone team will retire the number three jersey in which McAnallen arguably turned the destiny of last year's championship season when he was converted to the full back position last summer.

He gained prominence as a midfielder, but his short, flawless sojourn in defence was a revelation. This gesture or remembrance - mirroring the decision taken to retire the number 12 shirt of Tyrone's minor season of 1997 following the death of McAnallen's Tyrone minor team-mate Paul McGirr - is one of the ways the team will carry the spirit of their captain with them.

But while Harte's determination and general anxiety to honour McAnallen through Gaelic football, the medium which brought the young player national acclaim and admiration and innumerable friendships, he admits it will be very difficult to summon the energy for sport.

"It is difficult. And it is going to be difficult for some time to come. We have all suffered an irreplaceable loss as a GAA family. But all our thoughts are concentrated now on the loss to the McAnallen family and to Cormac's fiancee, Aisling. They are dealing with this tragedy with great love and dignity.

"All we can do is try and give ourselves to committing to a team of which Cormac has been such a great part and to try and honour him in that way. And we do that by being good. And by being strong."

The suddenness and circumstances of Cormac McAnallen's passing has made it all the more unbelievable. Preliminary reports now state that it is believed that a rare viral infection to his heart caused his death.

That knowledge will do little to lessen the pain. The funeral service will take place tomorrow at the church in Eglish. It will at once be a scene of local mourning and national respect as friends and competitors from the GAA community, for whom McAnallen was emblematic of the confidence and athletic spirit that delivered Tyrone its very first All-Ireland.

Not for many years has a death had such a profound and stilling affect on the general GAA community.

McAnallen last played for Tyrone in the McKenna Cup final win over Donegal. As captain, he lifted the provincial trophy that had been, strangely, about the only honour in the game that had eluded him. His roll of sporting accolades, achieved at the age of just 24, is truly stunning, but those close to him testify that it was vitality and generosity of spirit that marked him apart.

Asked when he had last seen Cormac, Mickey Harte said: "Well, it was at Gavin Devlin's wedding last Friday. Funny, when I was leaving for the evening, I saw Cormac and Aisling just taking a wee walk along a laneway close to the hotel in Ballymena where we were staying. They were just having a happy, normal time. But I just thought it was typical of who Cormac was, away from it all and happy. You know, independent."