{"id":267591,"date":"2026-01-05T01:08:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T01:08:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/267591\/"},"modified":"2026-01-05T01:08:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T01:08:09","slug":"tributes-paid-to-limerick-lion-pa-odwyer-after-his-sudden-passing-aged-40","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/267591\/","title":{"rendered":"Tributes paid to \u2018Limerick Lion\u2019 Pa O&#8217;Dwyer after his sudden passing aged 40"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Tributes have been paid to five-time winner of Ireland&#8217;s Strongest Man, <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.irishexaminer.com\/sport\/arid-30858752.html\">Pa O\u2019Dwyer<\/a>, who tragically died on Saturday at the age of 40.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Originally from Newcastle West, the father of three and former firefighter won Ireland\u2019s Strongest Man five times, and was the second ever Irishman to win the UK\u2019s Strongest Man competition.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">In recent years, he was also known for his presence on social media, where he shared videos, encouraged others, and addressed mental health struggles.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">In less than 24 hours, over \u20ac120,000 have been donated to a fundraising page set up by his friend and World\u2019s Strongest Man 2017, Eddie Hall.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Despite being nicknamed the \u2018Limerick Lion\u2019 for his sporting achievements, his proudest title was \u201cDad\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cAbsolutely devastated to hear about the passing of Pa O\u2019Dwyer,\u201d Mr Hall wrote in tribute.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\n            A true strongman, an even better human, and one of the funniest characters the world was ever blessed with.\n        <\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cPa brought strength, laughter and warmth wherever he went. He genuinely was one of life\u2019s biggest characters and everyone who ever met him would have a story to tell I\u2019m sure.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cUK\u2019s &amp; Ireland\u2019s strongest man was one of many titles he held but his most important and his most proud title was \u2018Dad\u2019.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Mr O\u2019Dwyer leaves behind his children Sienna, Rocco and Freddy, and his partner Layna, whom he loved \u201cmore than life itself\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Limerick boxer Lee Reeves wrote in tribute:\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\n            Very sad news for Limerick. Thinking of all your family at this difficult time Pa.\u00a0\n        <\/p>\n<p class=\"\">The Irish Strength Association remembered Mr O\u2019Dwyer in a statement shared on socia media.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cPa, also known as the Limerick Lion, became the second Irishman in history to win the UK\u2019s Strongest Man. He was a legend in strength sports in Ireland, winning Ireland\u2019s Strongest Man an unprecedented five times.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cPa will be a massive loss to the strength community. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends, especially his partner Layna, daughter and two sons, Sienna, Rocco, and youngest Freddy. RIP Pa O\u2019Dwyer, the Limerick Lion,\u201d read the statement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">No funeral arrangements have been announced for Mr O\u2019Dwyer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tributes have been paid to five-time winner of Ireland&#8217;s Strongest Man, Pa O\u2019Dwyer, who tragically died on Saturday&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":267592,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[18,117,19,17,5768],"class_list":{"0":"post-267591","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-eire","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-obituaries"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115839821648665381","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=267591"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267591\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/267592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=267591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=267591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=267591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}