A hurler, footballer, greyhound enthusiast, horseracing fan, and most of all a family man were some of the ways Billy Quinn was remembered at a funeral Mass on Tuesday .
Billy Quinn died on Sunday at the age of 80 at South Tipperary General Hospital in Clonmel after a short illness.
At the Mass at St Mary's Church in Killenaule, Co Tipperary, former international soccer player Niall Quinn recalled stories from his father's life.
Originally from Rahealty in Co Tipperary, Billy moved to Dublin with his wife Mary in the 1950s, before the couple emigrated to England.
They later returned to Dublin, where they raised their children Rosaleen, Gerry, Anne Marie and Niall, who said that they had “ an idyllic upbringing”.
More recently, Billy and Mary lived in Ballinure, close to Killenaule.
In his eulogy, Niall Quinn spoke of his father as a “hurling star”, who won two All-Ireland minor medals with Tipperary.
It was while he was a young hurler that he met Mary and persuaded her to go on a number of dates.
One of them involved a trip to the pictures in Thurles, after which a curious crowd watched to see who was going out with the up-and-coming hurler.
“Mammy, you were the first-ever WAG,” Mr Quinn said.
“He told her he loved her every day. He said to her, ‘What did you ever see in me, how did I get you?’”
Symbols
Symbols of Billy Quinn’s life were brought to the altar during the Mass, included a football medal from 1955, a hurley, a calculator and a radio symbolising his love of music.
He was buried at the graveyard at Ballinure, Co Tipperary.