The memory of one of Tyrone’s greatest players is to be honoured with the revival of an old football competition.
The Jim Devlin Cup, last played for nearly 20 years ago, will return in April, with the county’s 16 senior clubs competing for the trophy.
The one-off series will mark the 50th anniversary of the deaths of Jim Devlin and his wife Gertie, who were murdered by loyalist gunmen as they returned to their home near Coalisland on May 7, 1974.
Jim Devlin was a key member of the Tyrone team which won the county’s first Ulster SFC title in 1956, and retained it a year later.
He was recognised as one of the greats of that era, and was nominated for Player of the Year by Dublin newspaper The Evening Press.
At the time of his death, he was the last Coalisland Fianna captain to lift the O’Neill Cup – in 1955.
After rising to prominence as a colleges star with St Patrick’s College, Armagh during the 1940s, he went on to become one of Tyrone’s most important footballers, earning a reputation as one of the country’s finest full-backs.
In 1944, Jim captained the Coalisland Fianna to win the Tyrone Minor Championship, and two years later, aged 17, was a member of the Fianna team that won the Senior Championship, lining out alongside his brothers Paddy, Barry and Eddie. It was the first of his two O’Neill Cup medals.
At college level, he won four MacRory Cup medals (1944-47 inclusive) a record he shares with Dermot McNicholl of Derry, and in 1946 was on St Patrick’s College team that won the inaugural Hogan Cup competition.
That was a game went into the annals of folklore for an exhibition given by Dungannon’s Iggy Jones.
Jim also captained Tyrone minors to win the 1946 Ulster championship, with his bother Eddie and the Fianna’s Tom Sullivan also on the team.
Jim lined out at full-back on those first Tyrone teams to win the Ulster senior championship, captained by his clubmates Jody O’Neill (’56) and his brother Eddie (’57), who passed away last year.
He was forced to retire from playing, through injury in 1960. That year he was elected chairman of Tyrone GAA County Board, age just 32.
He went on to referee club games and also had a passion for drama, taking part in many local productions while his wife Gertie was a keen indoor bowler.
The double murder shocked not only the local and wider Tyrone community but also the whole of Ireland.
The Jim Devlin Cup was presented by members of the Tyrone county team of 1956-1957, and is currently on display at the county’s GAA centre in Garvaghey.
The double murder shocked not only the local and wider Tyrone community but also the whole of Ireland.
A huge crowd attended the joint funeral of Jim and Gertie Devlin who were laid to rest in the graveyard adjoining St Malachy’s Church in Edendork.