The death has occurred of Padraig Burke, Union Hall.
The Castlehaven GAA club wishes to extend it’s deepest sympathies to his wife Esther children Sean, Aishling, Ciara and extended family. There was great sadness in the parish this morning when the news broke of the sudden death of Padraig Burke. Padraig gave a lifetime service to the club as a player and team management.
You would describe Padraig as a real Castlehaven footballer “full of passion and teak-tough ” a type of player every club need. Padraig had a hugely successful playing career. When the club formed an underage section in the 1960s he was on a very successful team that won a lot of divisional titles. He was on the junior B panel that won the championship 1969 at 17 yrs of age. He was a very influential player when the club had massive success in the 1970s.
He played a huge part in the club’s progress from Junior A to contest a senior final 1979. He captained the club to win the intermediate championship in 1978. He played most of his football at wing-back and gave an outstanding display in Castlehaven’s famous win over Nemo Rangers in 1979 when the club reached it’s first senior final. When Padraig retired from playing in the early 80s he started coaching teams. Padraig trained teams in his own image, like the way he played himself. Every player was expected to be fully committed to the cause. He had huge success at u21 level in the early 80s when he coached the teams to win county titles in 81 and 83. Castlehaven were the first rural club to bring the u21 county title out of the city. Padraig will forever be associated with Castlehaven’s greatest day when the club won it’s first senior county title in 1989. That win bought great joy to the parish. He trained the team to win the first county and Munster titles for the club that year. He was also a selector when the club won it’s third county in 2003. Later years he used to give a hand with underage teams. He was on the management of the u16 team that won the county in 2007, Padraig took a step back from football for a period of time due to work commitments in recent years. He still had a huge interest in Castlehaven and followed all the teams.
Off the field Padraig provided an excellent service to the farming and local community as a vet. In future years when Padraig Burke’s name is mentioned, the people for the parish will forever grateful and he will always be associated with Castlehaven’s most famous days.
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dilís.