The sudden and unexpected death of William (Willie) Cagney came as a great shock to his multitude of friends as well as to his family. Willie, who spent his life in Graigue, Castletown where he was born in 1926, was known and esteemed throughout County Limerick and Munster as a gifted and skilful water diviner.
In his youth Willie was an accomplished hurler. He played in goal for his local club, Castletown at minor and junior level for almost twenty years, from 1942 until he retired from hurling in the early 60s. He enjoyed considerable success with his club, when they became West Limerick champions in 1946 and again in 1951, '52 and '53. After Castletown transferred to the South Limerick Division in 1957 they won the South Limerick title in 1958. One of his proudest moments was when he played in goal for Limerick Junior hurling team in 1951. In later years he was honoured when he was made Life-President of the Castletown-Ballyagran GAA club. His family carried on the tradition when his sons, Eamonn, Gerard and John gave great service to the parish club, and his daughter Helen was an oustanding camogie player with club and county, and won All-Ireland medals at under-14 Community Games with Ballyagran and at secondary school level with St. Mary's, Charleville. She also won the All-Ireland Feile na nGael Skills competition.
Willie was very involved in the local community and was active in the development of Castletown Community Centre. An active member of the Fine Gael party, he attended a meeting of the local party branch on the night before he died. He was for many years a Peace Commissioner.
Willie was 35 years old when he discovered that he had the gift of water divining. Having seen a diviner at work, he decided to try it himself and had immediate success. Over the many years since then he had successfully located thousands of water sources. In his career as diviner, he has come to the rescue of industrialists as well as farmers and householders. For the divining, Willie used a single piece of wire with shaped handles at each end. Starting with the wire held straight out in front, the wire reverberated as he approached a water source. He always approached the identified source from different angles, in order to pinpoint the source as accurately as possible.
Willie was held in high esteem locally as a historian, a raconteur and storyteller. His eloquent and witty delivery made him much sought after company. He is survived by his wife, Joan, daughter Helen, sons Liam, John, Gerard and Eamonn, his brother Timmie, sister-in-law Nellie and grandchildren William, Sean, Bill, Sheila, Patrick, Sara, Rachel and Abby.
The Requiem Mass was concelebrated by Fr. Joe Shire PP, Fr Charlie O'Neill CC and Fr Pat Kelly PP, Athea. At the mass music was provided by Eithne Egan and Michelle O'Donnell. A hugh crowd accompanied the remains to Castletown Cemetery.

Limerick Leader, March 27th 2010 Tweet

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