I can’t believe you’re gone. It’s been hard to find the words to write this. Sorry it took so long. I miss you most on Tuesday mornings, I really enjoyed your company, talking about the kids, the footy and how shit the current government are, moaning about the road works at every turn. I remember you telling me about what you were getting Jen for her birthday, and being impressed by the thought you had put into it! It was so clear how much you loved Jen, Poppy and Archie. As we got to town you would always say ‘just drop me at the lights’. You never wanted to put anyone out. We will miss you on sideline at Crosby Stuart, you were so supportive of Ben. He’ll be playing his first game for Ray’s team soon - which is largely down to you - Thank you! We will miss you at Marine with Archie and Kaiden in tow. We will miss you in Turkey, Ste was looking forward to sharing a bit of culture with you, you leading the way to some old ruins or church to give him a break from the bar. I remember you two talking on New Year’s Eve about how you’d rather be drinking Vimto than beer?? Not an opinion I share. I will miss you complaining about your house being a youth club. I don’t think you’d have had it any other way! I was hoping that Christmas Eve at the Endbutt would be our new tradition but it was not to be. We will miss your quick wit and your laugh, your kindness. These things we took for granted. I hope you know how much you were loved, by so many people. You are so missed but will be forever in our thoughts and hearts. Rest in Peace.

Joey, I still can't believe I am writing this mate. I was one of Joey's many friends from St Eddies (he was hugely popular there - and from reading these lovely tributes it was clearly the same everywhere else). I can still remember my first day at St Eddies - I was worried going in as it seemed like a totally different world to what I was used to (in those days you didn't see many purple blazers in the Dingle and school kids certainly didn't tend to carry trumpets or whatever!) So I can remember as I turned the corner to go in to the school grounds - not really knowing where to go - and as I wandered about clueless and nervous I spotted 3 lads who seemed to know what way to go and approached them to ask where we needed to go. I was worried as I half-expected them to be Little Lord Fauntleroy types who might laugh at my cluelessness (to be clear nobody in the school was like this btw but that is what I naively expected of St Eddies beforehand) . Anyway the 3 lads turned out to be Joey, Jenno and Dunnie and they were from a similar background to us (which put me at ease) and all really sound. Joey from that very first day was what he always was - intelligent, extremely funny, good looking with a great smile and a fantastic laugh. I have so many good memories of Joey so I will just share a few of them here. I was in English class with Joey. The teacher was Miss Gray - a real class act - she was an outstanding teacher and also very good looking (all the kids loved her and most had crushes on her). She was great with all of us but Joey was clearly her favourite pupil in the class - you could tell she had a real soft spot for Joey. She loved his humour - who didn't? - and he would often have her in stitches. However beyond his humour you could tell she had spotted how much potential he had and she worked with him to develop this and he absolutely flourished. Needless to say at the end of that year Joey was moved up a level - we all missed him in those classes but it was clearly the right decision. My abiding memory of Joey is that he was brilliant company. He was extremely knowledgeable and passionate on pretty much anything and everything from films, TV (even down to the smallest details - for example if you wanted to know who Richie Aprile took the Jacket from in The Sopranos then Joey would definitely know), any and every sport through to politics and history. He combined all that with a great sense of humour that made any time spent with Joey a great laugh. Time with Joey could also be educational (you couldn't help but learn new things if you listened to him on any one of the many subjects he was interested in). Other than maybe sport no subject interested Joey as much as his music (from all eras). Sadly I and some of his other mates didn't always share this enthusiasm or knowledge (I am firmly a Best of the Beatles type of guy rather than an every album guy!) This occasionally caused problems as whenever we had a free house - if any of our parents went on holiday - it was a tradition of Joey's to at some stage rustle in his bag and pull out his dearly loved Rolling Stone magazine video of music history - Woodstock etc) The first time was great tbh but after most of us had seen it once we didn't feel the need to see it again (certainly not on a regular basis!). Anyway one time we made a group decision to hide it from him (until we would all be going home). Joey was fuming (and as has been said Joey when angry over something was hilarious, a real thing of beauty, with the very funny things he would say). In the end we relented and next thing you know we are sat there at about 3.00 am in the morning watching Janis Joplin etc do their thing again. Some of my favourite memories of chatting with Joey were when we would all sit out on the grass in St Eddies at lunchtime on those really hot summer days - magical times those. There were so many other great times - Uni and drinks in the Haig, Pool in the 147 drinking Steamboats, Euro 96, France 98 (can remember us all going mad when Owen scored that goal - I had a little Yorkshire Terrier at the time and I think we nearly gave her a heart attack with how we celebrated that goal), the holidays and city breaks, Championship Manager ,watching Fellowship of the Ring together in the Odeon on the first day it came out (we both came out stunned by how good it was) and many more. As often happens as we got older and had families/new jobs and other responsibilities we saw each other less and less but I will always treasure and will never forget all those great times we all had. Rest in Peace Joey - I know whoever you are with up there with will be having a great time in your company mate. Sincere condolences to Jen, Poppy, Archie and family x

Joe I still can’t believe you are gone. Working with you all them years ago was such a laugh. I will remember the nights out forever. I can still hear your laugh. You were so funny when you were angry. A night out never went by without you getting me a drink. My heart goes out to Jen, Poppy and Archie. RIP Joe xxx