Barbara O'Connell: Willie Walsh was a great club man, a great person and a great friend to me and my daughters

Shocked, saddened, disbelief and genuinely gutted is how I felt on Thursday afternoon when I heard that Carrigaline FC's Willie Walsh had suffered a heart attack. 

At that point I was led to believe he hadn't yet passed, so I hoped and prayed he would make a full recovery.

I was coaching at a football camp when an 11 year-old boy told the news of how he happened to come across the incident before he arrived at the camp. 

Right then it brought home just how well known and loved Willie was.

He was well known by this 11 year-old boy, and 10 minutes later I received numerous texts from friends as old as 70, who had also heard about Willie's incident and were concerned about his well being.

Before the session had finished, the dreaded news came that Willie had passed away. 

I was suddenly absolutely deflated, heartbroken. 

The last half hour of the session was a blur and Willie's smiling face was all that I can remember thinking about at that time.

How could this be possible? 

This was the man I passed on the roads daily, as he saluted me from his white car van and I always commented about how fresh he looked as he kept himself busy, what appeared to be him "on the go" constantly.

As I came off the pitch I had received various messages regarding Willie's passing from my daughters, Jes and Al, my brother Mark, and my friend Pat. 

All football people, who were as touched and as heartbroken as I was to hear about Willie's untimely passing.

I first met Willie back in 2004, over two decades ago when I first introduced my daughters to football in our local club Carrigaline. 

Willie, was and always remained the face of the club, even well after my girls had finished up playing with the club.

Always positive and a good word to say to my girls, Willie put them on a pedestal and always made them feel 10 feet tall, no matter how good or bad they played, he always made sure he pointed out the positives.

Because of this, I knew from early on that Willie was a complete gent, who knew how to get the best out of people.  He was a people's person.

As a player myself, he gave me advice that "those who do the extra bit of training, will always go far."

I never forgot this and even if only meant kicking a ball in the garden with the kids for 10 minutes a day, I always felt I was doing the extra bit of training and it gave me the belief that I was gonna be better than my opposing player come match day. 

I owe this to Willie for instilling that belief in me, something that I passed onto my girls.

Although my football club is Wilton United, living in Carrigaline meant that Ballea Park is like a back garden to me. 

We spent many days training there and in particular during Covid. 

At a time when certain club members weren't too happy about kids using the pitch, especially non members like us, Willie never turned us away. He always welcomed Jes and Al to train on their local pitch and whenever we (Wilton) played in Ballea Park, while I have no doubt Willie always wanted a Carrigaline win, he was always quick to congratulate the girls on either their win or performance. 

An absolute gent at all times. 

Equally, he showed his kind hearted nature always ensuring my mom was looked after at the games, whether it was a chair brought out or a cuppa, Willie was the only person I can ever remember being at every game every time we visited Ballea Park. 

He was the first person who would lead us to our dressing rooms while he was busy folding gear. 

A real hands on club man which is something I loved about him. 

He wasn't just a chairman sitting behind a desk, he was the first and last person you'd see as you arrived and left the ground. He gave his life to the club.

Plenty of tears were shed today in our house as myself and the girls repeatedly stated how hard it was to believe Willie was gone and what he had done for us over the years.

No more Facebook comments from Willie, again, ones that would always make you feel great and ones that would make you feel proud of your achievements. 

It was never "Have a great day" on your birthday from Willie, it was "Have a great year." 

And he genuinely meant that. 

He wanted every person to enjoy every moment of life. 

I hope you enjoyed every minute of your life Willie, and while we all wished it was a longer life for you and your family, I guarantee your legacy will live on for a very long time. 

RIP Will. 

Condolences to all your family and friends.  You were one of the great ones.