McGuigan 'the best I've ever seen' - Harte

Mickey Harte paid tribute to "one of a kind" Frank McGuigan, as Ardboe came to a standstill on Thursday to say its goodbyes to the 71-year-old, who passed away on Sunday.

Harte and McGuigan played on the same Tyrone team that won the 1972 Ulster minor title before McGuigan graduated to the senior squad which lifted the Anglo-Celt Cup 12 months later.

While Harte says McGuigan is "without a doubt" one of the best footballers never to win an All-Ireland title, his exploits in the 1984 Ulster final when scoring 11 points from play ensures he will remain in GAA folklore.

"I don't think I've ever seen a footballer with as much natural talent as Frank McGuigan and I've seen a lot of players playing football - he was the best I've ever seen," Harte, who managed Tyrone to three All-Ireland titles in the 2000s, told BBC Sport NI.

"He could do everything: field ball with anybody, pass the ball, vision, power and was deceptively fast.

"He had this ability not many have where he floated in for a ball. You see people putting in a real effort to get a high ball, this man was effortless. He has the timing, positioning and used his back end quite a bit to keep the people getting close to the ball - a nice little skill."

Harte reflected on a man who "enjoyed life to the full" and while his footballing aptitude was beyond question, it was matched only by his unassuming nature.

"I always said you could play him from corner-back to corner-forward or even stuck him in goals nowadays and he would have excelled," Harte continued.

"There's very few you could say that about, but the biggest thing of all was his modesty. He was such a humble man, you wouldn't even know he played football but was the best who ever walked these fields I believe."