'He's in the changing room with us every day' - Tyrone inspired by memory of Damian Casey at Croker

The Red Hand will face New York at HQ on Saturday.

Fri, 29 May, 2026 - 07:14

Paul Keane

There's a free seat in the Tyrone changing room each night they train, an empty jersey resting on it and a hurley that will never be used.

Tyrone captain Aidan Kelly expects that it'll be the same for tomorrow's Nickey Rackard Cup final at Croke Park, where Tyrone will take on New York.

It's a game Damian Casey would probably have been involved in but for the tragic accident that cost him his life in 2022, a few weeks after engineering Tyrone's last Rackard Cup success.

The dressing-room memorial is an effort to keep his memory strong and vibrant.

Kelly, who will shortly turn 35, joined the panel in 2009 and their careers dovetailed for a decade or so.

"He's in the changing room with us every day," said Kelly of Casey. "You'd go in to get togged and you see the hurling stick and it's still there.

"Up in Garvaghy, where we train, the hurling stick and a jersey and a candle are always there. Aodhán McHugh, who would have been Damian's best friend, is still involved in the team and he's our kit man.

"He carries the jersey in and he does the changing rooms for us, puts the jersey up and puts up the hurl. It's still a big thing for us."

They'll remember Mattie Lennon tomorrow too, Tyrone's manager for the Rackard Cup win of 2014. The Armagh man, who had two separate spells as Tyrone boss, passed away earlier this year at the age of 62.

"Damian was playing that day too," said Kelly of the 2014 win. "Both of them have their own identities and legacies in Tyrone hurling. On days like this, when you're getting ready for another final, you remember them and you want to do them proud, and to do their families' proud."

Casey, regarded as one of Tyrone's greatest ever players, passed away following a swimming pool accident in Spain in the summer of 2022. He'd scored 14 points a few weeks earlier in the Rackard Cup final win over Roscommon.

Kelly also played, although he wasn't long back in the fold.

"I played right up until 2018, then I went out to Melbourne for a year and ended up staying for three," he said.

Kelly hadn't intended to come back for 2022 either. He had a job and an apartment in Australia but a night out with a couple of members of the Tyrone management around Christmas of 2021 convinced him to stay for good. It must have been some night?

"It was a good night's craic alright," smiled Kelly. "Michael McShane was over us. His coach was Stephen McGarry, who is our manager now. So I decided to stay at home anyway, for 2022, and I'm glad I did because we went on to win the Nickey Rackard that year.

"We beat Roscommon at the end of May, 2022. Sure three weeks later, Damian passed away, our best player. There was a lot of mixed emotions about that year. It was an unbelievable win obviously, winning the Nickey Rackard, and then three or four weeks later you get that news. He was such a massive player for us, a brilliant hurler. A brilliant lad too, which was probably the main thing about him. He was unbelievable. He always stood up to the mark in these finals."

Tyrone can't be fully sure what they're walking into this time. Opponents New York, the Lory Meagher Cup holders, were parachuted into the competition at the semi-final stage and defeated Mayo last weekend.

"A very physical, strong team, very direct," said Kelly of the Exiles. "We'll have our hands full. That's an honest opinion of it. Mayo were probably favourites for the competition."