A veteran Irish football champion shocked former team-mates when he "came back from the dead" for their 50th annual reunion.

Kevin McCormack, 69, had not been invited to the 50th annual reunion of the Cavan minor-winning team because organizers believed he was dead.

The local newspaper, the AngloCelt, had listed McCormack as deceased in August when it ran a report about the 50th festivities.

However, McCormack was very much alive and those reports of his death were greatly exaggerated.

McCormack found out about the function (and the "fact" that he was dead) after a friend sent over a copy of the Anglo Celt to London where he works as a street musician.

So, McCormack did what any self-respecting corpse would do; he bought a ticket to Ireland and went off to the function.

Suffice to say that many of his former team-mates were stunned when they saw him walk into the party at the Slieve Russell Hotel in Ballyconnell.

Cavan chairman Phil Smith said: “He entertained everybody. He was busking with the accordion, playing the flute, the guitar – you name it. He was the life and soul of the function.”

McCormack played corner back for the Cavan minors who won the Ulster title in 1959 but were beaten in the All-Ireland by Dublin.