The late Jody Gormley pictured on the sideline in his capacity as Trillick manager for their 2024 Tyrone SFC quarter-final against Ardboe.
By John Harrington
Benny Hurl took the above photograph during the Tyrone SFC Quarter-Final between his own club Ardboe and Trillick on Sunday, September 22nd.
Trillick manager, Jody Gormley, sensing an opportunity for his team, has caught the ball just after it went over the sideline and is poised to give it to one of his players so they can quickly attack.
It’s typical Gormley. Focused, alert, and cool at a moment when the game was very much in the melting pot.
He’s looking typically fit and strong too so it’s hard to credit that 78 days later he would die from terminal liver cancer.
His loss is a shocking one. For all who knew him Jody Gormley was something a bit special.
That’s probably why his name was on the lips of so many at the launch of the 2025 Electric Ireland Higher Education Championships in Croke Park today.
Benny Hurl is Chairperson of the Higher Education Council and recalled Gormley as being “a colossus” for the University of Ulster in his own playing days, but mainly he wanted to talk about Gormley the man.
“It's an absolute travesty and a tragedy,” Hurl told GAA.ie. “The first thing to say is that the tragedy is for his family. His wife, his children, his mother, his brothers, his sisters, all the family circle.
“In terms of the GAA, Jody Gormley was something different. He was a unique personality. Whilst the rest of us go along the line shouting and roaring, Jody was the epitome of calm. He wasn't exercised on the sideline at all, he was just total control.
“For his club Trillick the loss of Jody Gormely is just devastating.
“In Tyrone Trillick wear red and they're known as the reds of Trillick. Jody Gormley was a red through and through.
“I know from talking to Trillick lads it's just devastating what has happened and they can't get their heads around it. I know they will honour him and remember him. He has left a serious, serious legacy.
“Even when he was diagnosed he deliberately didn't tell the players ahead of the county final what was up.
“I’m so glad he did that podcast with Thomas Niblock because that will sustain the family. It will sustain everybody and it's brilliant to have. if nothing else leaving that behind is just a strong, personal statement. It's such a legacy to leave behind. Lessons in life. Lessons in how to be resilient, how to be strong, how to face adversity. By God, he faced adversity. He was just unbelievable.
“From a college perspective he played in Jordanstown and he played for Tyrone and he was just a force of nature for both. Formidable is the word I would describe him as.
“The other side of Jody Gormley is that he had a very gentle side. I would have known him all his life and I played against him and, by God, he could hit. But at the end of the game Jody Gormley would always be the first man to shake your hand.
“He was a unique character. Everbody says you're unique when you pass but genuinely this man was something different. He had a confidence, a determination, a steel, and a gentleness. Not very often do all of those things go together.
“I just want to extend my sympathy to his family. To the club Trillick, and to everybody in Tyrone and all of his many friends all over the world.”
Trillick manager Jody Gormley during the AIB Ulster GAA Football Senior Club Championship semi-final match between Scotstown, Monaghan, and Trillick, Tyrone, at BOX-IT Athletic Grounds in Armagh. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile.
GAA President Jarlath Burns had huge respect for Jody Gormley the footballer when they crossed swords in their playing days on the pitch and even more for the man he was off it.
“It's just a massive loss,” says Burns. “He was full of energy and started his career just as I was coming to the end of mine. I'll never forget the day we played against them in 1997 and we were beating them by a point and they were expected to hammer us that day.
“It was in Omagh and Armagh played really well but then Jody got up behind me and broke the ball down, got the ball himself, and gave it in to Mattie McGleenan who scored the goal that won the match. I always remember his sheer tenacity as a player.
“And then when he became a teacher it was his child-centred approach. His pupils always came first. A lot of fellas from my club have gone to the Abbey and they would have spoken so highly of him.
“He wasn't just somebody who saw the boys as fellas with numbers on their backs. He valued every player and was involved in their growth, not just as players, but as people. That really came across.
“You could see how loved he was in is own village and club in Trillick where he took that team for so long and had such great success with them.
“It's fitting that he will be going back to Trillick to be with his own people for eternity. Our thoughts in the GAA and my own thoughts are with his family, with his wife Deirdre.
“He bore his cross with such dignity and such inspiration. He inspired us all and he will never be forgotten.”
Solas na bhFlaitheas ar a anam uasal.
