Obituary of Willie Casey: The hard man with the heart of gold

In the days leading up to the All-Ireland football final, Eanna Casey popped into his parents’ home on the Sligo Road in Ballina with a kit bag, writes Terry Reilly

His elderly father, from his chair in the sitting room, asked him what he was carrying. The son told him. Reaching inside, the man in his 80s pulled out a jersey. Number 21. A tear rolled down his face. “That was the first number I was ever given on the Mayo team,” Willie Casey said.

Now Willie was not an emotional man. Far from it. He was the hardest of hard men in an era when the rallying cry of defenders was “get your man carried off on a door”. And many a door was dismantled for men that crossed the line with Willie.