Vale Des O'Reilly

[Johnny Tobin]

Turner Stand favourite.

Passed away at 2am this morning.

One of my favourite memories was the Des O'Reilly chant when he appeared at the front door of the club after the 2002 GF.

[The Axe]

Gutted JT.
Des gave so much on the field. A hero in days gone by.
Do you know cause of death or whether he'd been ill?

[stephenj]

now thats a very sad piece of information, god speed big fella

[Horry]

Sad news . RIP Des.

Tobin was he unwell?

[Johnny Tobin]

Been sick for a while. The big c I think.

[eddie]

Turner Stand favourite.
.

He was.
Bloody hard worker on field. Good bloke ....

[JAF]

RIP Des. You were and will always be a Rooster champion!

[horrie hastings]

Phil Gould mentioned Des in the telecast yesterday.
Sad news, he was a champion Rooster.
RIP Des

[OMR]

RIP definitely one of my favourites and hard worker in a team full of stars at the time.

[bondi paul]

Des a really humble guy so too his brother. Des was a brainiac and a exceptional swimmer. Bondi Bred. Fond memories of Des running over to see his mates at the Paddo hill after the 75 GF where he and a lame Bunny Reilly were replacements.

[Hawkeye]

Sad news, one of the unsung hard workers of that 70's/80's side.
Can remember one RLW article about the Rooster's 'Hairy Blonde trio' ...Fairfax, Schubert and Des.

I can recall getting into a cab one night in the late 80's (I think), and to my surprise Des was the cab driver.
He was very humble and modest when I began talking about the old Sports Ground days.

The sort of player you need in every team, who wont score the winning try, or create the winning play ...but will pick up the slack and will do all the hard no frills work that those match winners can't or wont do.

[Johnny.]

61 is too damned young to go.

[Waylander]

Very sad news. Was a great team man.

Condolences to his friends and family.

RIP Des.

[Guest]

Damn. Sad news. One of my earliest memories as a Rooster was seeing Des run onto the field at the Sports Ground. As a boy he seemed as big as a mountain to me. RIP.

[eddie]

The pack we fielded yesterday could have done with a Des O'Reilly.

Is he only the 2nd player we've lost from the '75 team?