Damian Casey death: Postmortem awaited as friends work to bring home body

‘He was a fantastic, wonderful lad, a kind hearted gentleman, a wonderful brother, son, friend, employee’

Tyrone hurling star Damian Casey who died in Spain over the weekend.

Friends of Tyrone hurling star Damian Casey are working to repatriate his body from Spain as soon as possible.

Widely regarded as one of the best hurlers the county has produced, the 29-year-old from Dungannon died on Friday in what was reported to have been a swimming pool accident.

He had been attending a wedding where it is understood he was to be a groomsman.

On Monday, Michelle Gildernew, MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone, who knew Casey, said results of tests to determine his exact cause of death were awaited.

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At a vigil for Casey in his home town on Sunday evening, attended by hundreds wearing GAA jerseys, his family asked people to allow them the “time and space to process what has happened”.

Ms Gildernew said “everybody was broken-hearted but broken-hearted together” at the vigil. “A country is grieving,” she said.

“It is not just a town or a community. It is not just the people in Eskra and Derryveen (in Tyrone). A country is grieving for this prolific young hurler and this exceptional young man.”

On Saturday, a minute’s silence was held in Casey’s honour before the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship quarter-finals at Semple Stadium, Thurles, Co Tipperary.

Similar tributes were held at GAA matches on both sides of the Border over the weekend.

“Damian was a very special lad,” Ms Gildernew told BBC Radio Ulster. “People who were in Spain with him are as devastated as his family. I spent time yesterday with one of those who came home (from Spain) and he is beside himself with grief.

“What should have been a very happy occasion has been tainted by this... and it is much harder for the parents to be here at home, to hear something tragic happened away in another country.”

At a tribute in Spain, Casey’s friend Karl McQuaid told people gathered for the wedding that people rushed to Casey’s aid at the scene on Friday and “tried their very best to get him to come around again but unfortunately we got him too late”.

“He was a fantastic, wonderful lad, a kind hearted gentleman, a wonderful brother, son, friend, employee,” Mr McQuaid said.

“We all think the world of him. We are going to look after him until we get him home. We are going to do that as soon as we can.”

As well as playing for his county, Casey was also a committed member of his local Eoghan Ruadh GAA club, where he was involved in the running of the club and organising fundraisers.

Tony Donnelly, club chairman, described him as “an icon of our club”.

“Everyone knows about his hurling ability, but for the people who don’t know him, the grief is about the person he was,” said Mr Donnelly.

“(Damian Casey) would have been justified for walking with his heads in the clouds for everything that he has achieved. But he was the most humble lad that I know.

“I was saying to people at the club yesterday, if you had to write a list of your five favourite people, and even before all of this happened, Damian would have been top of that list.”

Damian would “have walked onto any team in Ireland... he made the game look easy,” he added.

In a statement read at Sunday’s vigil, the Casey family said they have been hit with “the worst news imaginable, and our hearts are broken”.

“Words cannot express how devastating news of Damian’s death has been,” they said.

Brian Hutton

Brian Hutton is a freelance journalist and Irish Times contributor