A Tribute to Damian Casey
Damian was hugely popular with everyone at CRJ Services, including our sub-contractors, suppliers and customers and we continue to think and pray for his family, friends, and teammates.
Damian began his career with Ben McQuaid at Matpro Machinery in July 2016. Initially earmarked for a sales job, Damian took up his first role as Matpro’s After Sales Manager. It was important to Damian that he was not ill prepared to hit the road as a salesman in a new and unique industry and it was agreed that to gain valuable knowledge, the after sales role would well equip him for his destined role and career. It was also critical that the job would not conflict with Damian’s passion for hurling, and it was agreed that he would fly to Glasgow on a Monday morning and return to Dungannon on Friday mornings, to accommodate his sporting commitment.
Damian quickly settled into Matpro and his part-time home and in addition to his After Sales role, committed himself to every function of Matpro, organising spare parts, dealing with suppliers, meeting customers, and assisting hugely on the machinery sales of the company. This gave him huge knowledge and understanding of both the Scottish market and the brands that Matpro represented.
In February 2017, two months after Matpro merged with CRJ Services, Damian moved to CRJ/ Matpro Head Quarters in Cheshire and based himself in Liverpool. He continued his After Sales role and gained further knowledge and experience in machinery and also in the range of machines that CRJ had in their comprehensive hire fleet. He was also the vital office-based link between Matpro and his new surroundings and he forged excellent working relationships and friendships with his new colleagues and his expanding customer base.
Whilst in Liverpool, Damian accustomed himself to the city life throughout the week and continued to fly home to Ireland every Friday for his hurling, returning every Monday morning for work.
The following article gives an insight on what was involved in executing this balance and his feelings at the time towards it.
Flying home for club and county! The Tyrone hurler and the weekly commute from Liverpool (the42.ie)
In May 2018, it was agreed that Damian was ready to get out on the road as an Area Sales Manager. It was also agreed that Damian would be based in Dungannon, taking Ireland, Scotland and Northeast England as his sales areas and he would commute back and forward to the UK, reversely to previous. An office was set up in Dungannon Enterprise Centre and he was pleased that he could commit himself fully to the hurling training sessions that he had to miss during the week, whilst commuting from the UK to Ireland.
Damian picked up where he left off in Scotland and worked hard to establish himself in Ireland and Northeast England, securing machinery sales, hires and spare parts sales throughout his nominated regions. When Damian started with Matpro in 2016, there were two Haas shredders in Scotland and he was instrumental in getting this figure up to nearly 20; where it sits today. He recently sold the first Haas 2000XL electric static shredder in the UK to Billy Bowie Special Projects in Kilmarnock. Last year, he sold the first 6/6-4 (a courser shred to enable product to be picked after) configured Haas shredder to Kemp Waste in Halifax. He also introduced the first two Haas Shredders to Southern Ireland, to Country Clean, Cork and O’Toole Composting, Carlow. He covered every part of his geographically huge regions, and he won many hires and sales from a variety of customer types, from small privately owned waste companies to local authorities and Blue Chips.
Damian’s kind nature and sense of humour, combined with his knowledge and experience, quickly saw him establish himself as one of CRJ Services greatest assets and top salesmen.
Away from his work, Damian was regarded as the finest hurler his county, Tyrone, had ever produced with a scoring record that has never been seen before. In his final match on 21st May 2022, he scored 14 points in the Nickey Rackard final in Croke Park. This was only the second time Tyrone have won this competition, the first being in 2014, when a 20-year-old Damian Casey captained them to the same feat.
We will always remember Damian, our much-loved colleague and friend, his cheeky, infectious smile, the laughter, and the craic. Those fond memories will live long in our hearts, never to be forgotten.
May he rest in peace.