September 11 attacks: Tyrone great Peter Canavan recalls loss of cousin Sean

Peter Canavan was arguably the best gaelic footballer in Ireland at the time of the 9/11 attacks

Six days out from the county final, there wasn't much else being talked about in south Tyrone.

Rivals Carrickmore and Errigal Ciaran had made it to the showpiece, pitting the then 12-time county champions against the holders, for whom Peter Canavan stood tall in the prime of a legendary career.

So engulfed in the anticipation it might have appeared unfathomable that the event would be usurped in its importance by something that happened over 3,000 miles away.

Canavan's reaction to hearing the news of the 9/11 attacks was, like most people's, one of astonishment. His uncle Ciara, aunt Rose and their children lived in New York, but initially there was no concept that they would have been directly affected.

"Not for one minute did I think he would be in any danger," recalls Canavan, speaking to Sportsound Extra Time 20 years on from the attacks.

"It was a normal Monday afternoon, I was coming in from the pitches at Holy Trinity College and on the way in one of the teachers came across to let me know about what was happening in New York.

"He had asked me had I many friends of relatives out there and I said I had, but I hadn't heard anything and hopefully they'd be OK."

A plane crashed into the South Tower of the World Trade Center at 09:03 Eastern Time, 17 minutes after the North Tower was hit

It wasn't until later at home with the harrowing pictures playing out on TV that word came through that Canavan's cousin, Sean, had been working on the 98th floor of the World Trade Center's South Tower that morning.

A carpenter for an installation resources firm, Sean witnessed American Airlines flight 11 crashing into the North Tower at 08:46 Eastern Time.

He phoned his sister Kathleen to explain that he was OK, and that he was going to get out of the area as quickly as possible. It was the last communication Sean had with his family.

"Kathleen was watching the television and saw the second tower was hit. You can imagine the trauma that she was going through watching that," Peter says.

"It was hard because with the phone lines down communication wasn't great, so you were just waiting day after day, waiting on the call to say Sean had been found.

"A number of fellas he was working with did make it out of the South Tower, but unfortunately Sean never got that far."

For the Canavans on the other side of the Atlantic, a sense of empty helplessness took hold. The Tyrone county final, once an event unrivalled in its importance, suddenly became an afterthought.

"From football very much being front and centre of your thought process I think it was fair to say for myself, [brother and team-mate] Pascal and the rest of the clan it was very difficult to prepare for a football match, it just didn't have the same meaning".

'He was proud to wear his Tyrone jersey'

It was not until nearly a year after the attacks the the family received official confirmation of Sean's death, following the recovery of some DNA.

By then they were well aware of the outcome, and had held services in Sean's memory in the intervening months, yet still the long wait for official word, and some sense of closure took its toll on the family on both sides of the Atlantic.

"It's a devastating loss and 20 years on speaking to relatives, his brothers and sisters, it's still very raw," says Peter.

"Sean was a very jovial character. Outgoing with a very bubbly personality, he would have been over [to Ireland] back and forward, his father Ciaran left in the 1950s to go over to New York, he met Rose McAllister, a south Armagh woman and they raised their family out there.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center

"Thankfully myself and Pascal through the football were out there playing football at various stages. You could never go to New York without calling in with your uncle Ciaran.

"Inevitably Sean and his younger brother Ciaran always made themselves available. If they weren't lifting you at the airport they were joining you in the craic back at the house.

"He was proud of his roots and where he came from and despite the fact that he maybe couldn't kick the ball too far. he was very proud to wear his Tyrone jersey."

Twenty years on Sean Canavan remains in the thoughts of his family both here and in the US now every bit as much as he has for the last 20 years, since he was so cruelly taken from them on that dreadful day in September 2001.

Listen to Peter Canavan's full interview on Sportsound Extra Time on BBC Sounds.