THE GAA WORLD is in mourning following the passing of iconic Galway hurling centre-back Tony Keady, who died last night aged 53.

The 53-year-old had been in Croke Park on Sunday to watch the Galway overcome Tipperary in their titanic All-Ireland semi-final, and bumped into a former tutor of his outside the ground before throw-in.

Cyril Farrell managed a young Keady to All-Ireland triumphs in 1987 and 1988, with the latter year also seeing Keady crowned the country’s best hurler. Incidentally, he’s the last Tribesman to have won the award.

Speaking to Des Cahill on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, a saddened Farrell recounted his chance encounter with Keady outside HQ last Sunday, before paying tribute to a man he described as ‘bigger than life’.

“It’s hard to believe. [I was] talking to him outside Croke Park before the match last Sunday, and [he was] always in great form and always kind of out for the craic, telling me, ‘Sure I wouldn’t come at all only we’re playing Tipperary!’ – this sort of stuff,” Farrell said.

“He never missed a match. Great family man. Came into me as a young lad – brilliant hurler, brilliant player – and the bigger the occasion the better he played.

He’d believe, like, if there was 70,000 in Croke Park, well, they came to see him play. ‘Sure this is what we’re training for.’ You know what I mean? He had a free spirit.

“There was no problem with self-confidence. Especially [on] the big day. He lived for the big day, he’d say, ‘This is what we’re training for’, and on all the big occasions he played very, very well.”

Farrell expressed his sympathy for Keady’s wife, Margaret, and Keady’s four young children, while explaining that the shock and sadness surrounding his loss will have impacted the entire county, such was the regard with which he was held in Galway and across the country.

“Your heart would go out to Margaret and the kids. They’re heartbroken. They had a few days there in the hospital, hoping and hoping and hoping, and everyone’s hoping, because this character is bigger than life. And so fit and strong. He’s the last person, if you looked at him, that you could think this would happen, but that’s life.

“It’s a very sad day for Margaret and the kids, but for everyone in Galway, because this guy was known everywhere.”

Keady is one of just three Galway players to win Hurler of the Year, with Joe Cooney preceding him ’87 and Joe Connolly being the first seven years earlier.

The Killimordaly man is widely regarded as one of the best centre backs to ever puck a ball.

You can listen to Farrell’s conversation with Des Cahill below.

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