![\"Pa](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/d188a3b0-afc3-497d-a618-6d68fb04ca7b.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe Rathkeale man died at the weekend aged 40, and is survived by his partner Layna and three children, and his parents and siblings.<\/p>\n
Formerly of Carrigkerry, Co Limerick, he also won the UK\u2019s strongest man competition in 2018 and qualified for the World\u2019s Strongest Man contest in 2020.<\/p>\n
He began weight training in his late teens and was one of the best-known strongmen in Europe.<\/p>\n
The Irish Strength Association described him as a legend in strength sports in Ireland.<\/p>\n
\u201cPa will be a massive loss to the strength community,\u201d the association said in a social media tribute post.<\/p>\n
TV presenter Hector \u00d3 hEochag\u00e1in, who had met O\u2019Dwyer on a number of occasions, said it was \u201ca testament to his character and charm that someone so incredibly strong kept fighting and pushing for those who were feeling so weak\u201d.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Dwyer had a huge audience on social media, and regularly shared videos, often in support of people struggling with mental health.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Pa O’Dwyer. Photo: Brendan Gleeson<\/p>\n
The Giants Live qualifying tour for the World’s Strongest Man said O\u2019Dwyer was a true strongman, an even greater human being, and without doubt one of the funniest, most unforgettable characters the world has ever known.<\/p>\n
\u201cPa brought strength, laughter and warmth wherever he went. He truly was one of life\u2019s larger-than-life personalities, and anyone who met him will surely have a story to tell,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe earned many titles, but the one he cherished most was simply \u2018Dad\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Former Strongman competitor Eddie Hall also paid tribute to O\u2019Dwyer. The weightlifting champion said he was devastated to learn of the news of his death.<\/p>\n
\u201cAbsolutely devastated to hear about the passing of Pa O\u2019Dwyer. A true strongman, an even better human, and one of the funniest characters the world was ever blessed with. Pa 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,” he said in a social media message.<\/p>\n
Hall launched a GoFundMe page to help the family cover the costs of his funeral and the challenges they face ahead.<\/p>\n
The page has already raised over \u00a3150,000 (\u20ac178,000). On it, Hall wrote that he had launched it \u201cbecause he deserves to be paid back for all he has given us in this world. He\u2019s made us all laugh. He\u2019s made us all think. He\u2019s made us all better people in some way through his bigger than life character.\u201d<\/p>\n
His funeral will take place in Rathkeale on Wednesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Rathkeale man died at the weekend aged 40, and is survived by his partner Layna and three…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":230255,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[13975,93,61,60],"class_list":{"0":"post-230254","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-conor-feehan","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=230254"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230254\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/230255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=230254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=230254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=230254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}