End of an era as iconic 1960s Offaly footballer and Tullamore personality passes away

AN era in life in Tullamore has come to an end with the death of one of the town's best known and most cherished personalties, Phil O'Reilly.

In his 93rd year, the proud Tullamore man achieved fame as a key member of the first great Offaly football side, the 1960 and 1961 Leinster senior football champions. He was wing back as Offaly lost to Down in a famous All-Ireland senior football final in front of a record attendance in Croke Park in 1961 and he was a very highly regarded, dependable defender, who played the game very cleanly in an era when football was teak tough and not for the faint hearted.

He gave huge service to Tullamore GAA Club and his death means that there are just four of the 1960/1961 Leinster champions left: Willie Nolan, Paddy McCormack, Charlie Wrenn and Tommy Greene.

That team had a profoud impact on Offaly GAA, setting the ball rolling on an incredible four decades plus and everything else followed on from their big breakthrough wins. They were the first Offaly team to win a Leinster senior football title and were desperately unlucky not to make the ultimate breakthrough. They had the misfortune to emerge at the same time as an exceptional Down team. They took them to a replay in the 1960 All-Ireland semi-final and made a dream start against them in the 1961 All-Ireland final before falling away in the second half.

A controversial penalty given to Down in the 1960 semi-final and a cast iron one not awarded for a blatant foul on Tommy Greene in the 1961 decider were talked about for decades. Their near misses meant that this group of players didn't achieve the lasting fame that the 1971/1972 and 1982 All-Ireland senior football champions got but their legacy was absolutely enormous. Without them making the breakthrough and showing that Offaly teams could win senior titles, nothing else may have followed.

Their exploits inspired the 1964 All-Ireland minor football champions, that team provided several players for the 1971/1972 All-Ireland winners and the 1982 kingpins were “children” of that side. It was an incredible era and hurling emerged on the coat-tails of it all, everything feeding into each other and creating a wave of euphoria in the county.

The GAA was only one strand of a long and very well lived life for Phil O'Reilly. He was one of the town's best known and most familiar individuals, a friendly, personable presence in the life of generations of people.

A classic Tullamore man, he was the town's premier and biggest undertaker for over five decades. Having initially ran a small bycycle shop, he took over an undertaking business in the early 1970s and was renowned for his professionalism and compassion in very difficult times for families and the bereaved.

He oversaw the funerals of thousands of people and was the consummate undertaker. He had a real “funeral air” about him, a truly steady, comforting presence as people grieved and he was so efficient in overseeing all aspects of them. He prided himself in this and did not take kindly to his professionalism being brought into question by clergy or anyone else – I saw him react at one funeral in Ballinagar in the 1990s when a priest complained at the time the funeral arrived into the Church. That was through absolutely no fault of the undertaker and Phil dealt with it in a very straightforward manner that let the priest know nicely but clearly that a line had been crossed.

He was a religious man, who often said the prayers himself at removals and he possessed a great faith. He had a great charitable instinct. He ran the Lourdes Invalid Fund for years, bringing hundreds of people to the famous French shrine. He organised Meath diocesan pilgrimages to Lourdes for decades and once again, his compassion and kindness permeated everything he did.

He organised the fundraising activities for the Lourdes Invalid Fund trips with an annual golf classic the major source of revenue and his presence meant that these were always a resounding success. He was a great supporter of all Tullamore parochial activities.

He was a brilliant organiser, he loved Lourdes and he was genuinely devoted to bringing consolation into the lives of people whose health was not the best. They were serious trips with a lot of logistics involved and sometimes complex medical needs to be catered for but he tried to make them as much fun and a holiday as possible for both the people brought and the volunteers, without whom it couldn't happen.

He had a very successful shop on the Arden Road, across from O'Connor Park for several years into the 2000s. This was a newsagents, small provisions shop and went very well before they moved out of it.

He ran a shop at his Harbour Street property for years, selling ornaments and much more, until deciding to concentrate on his undertaking business some years ago. As he began to pass on the reigns to his son, Phil junior, from the 2000s on, he remained hands on and very influential in the business. They moved with the times, providing a show room with coffins and then opening a funeral home, suitable for removals.

They have been an essential part in the lives of Tullamore people through this business since the 1970s and it is a symptom of how good they are that it is almost impossible to find anyone with anything negative to express.

He grew up in the 1930s, a member of a tradtional and well known local Tullamore family. Football dominated his teen and early adult years. He won underage championships with Tullamore in the 1940s and 1950s, he won Senior Football Championship medals with Tullamore in 1954, 1956 and 1963.

He made his debut for Offaly senior footballers in 1956 in the league and played just under sixty competitive games from then until his last appearance against Dublin in the 1963 league. He wore the number 5 jersey as Offaly achieved a success many thought would never come as they beat Louth in the 1960 Leinster senior football final and he was a rock solid, ever steady presence in 1960 and 1961.

That team retained a great bond long after their playing days ended and Phil O'Reilly was the main advocate of this. He was the architect of and organiser of many of their reunions, keeping in contact and making sure they turned out for funerals and other functions. There was no love lost between Offaly and Down when they were playing in 1960 and 1961 and those games were very physical, hard hitting encounters, yet in classic GAA fashion, they developed lifelong relationships off the field.

Offaly players occasionally went up to Down to meet them, Down came down and they made a particular point of attending funerals from both camps. In Offaly, Phil O'Reilly was the main conduit of all this.

He did a lot more for Offaly GAA and he was the secretary of a Policy Committee that changed the administrative structures of the County Board in the early 1970s. Another Tullamore resident, Br Giffney chaired this and their report was revolutionary at that time where almost all business was done by full County Board meetings and it could all be quite chaotic. They recommended the establishment of an executive committee of officers to run the day to day affairs, sub committees to oversee various aspects such as fixtures, discipline, social and more with the County Board having the ultimate say in most things.

Their recommendations were adopted in 1973 and this changed the way Offaly GAA operated. These structures evolved over the years to the highly streamlined, efficient organisation that we see today but this committee initiated it and Phil O'Reilly was very influential in it all.

He remained a lifelong GAA supporter. He travelled far and wide to Offaly games all over the country, was a familiar figure in O'Connor Park and other venues in the county and his passion for Offaly GAA never declined. He enjoyed rekindling old memories, speaking to me about the famous GAA ban on foreign sports just a couple of years ago – that ban went in 1971 and Phil revealed that he never broke it, stating that in Tullamore, you would be reported very quickly and that the reporting was done by Tullamore people!

He served as an Offaly senior football selector for a spell in the 1980s with his former 1960s team mate Greg Hughes and he was a knowledgeable football supporter with a more passing interest in hurling. He was inoffensive and articulate in the way he expressed opinions – he could give out about the quality of football and games but very rarely criticised individual players.

He was a keen member of Tullamore Golf Club for decades, an almost daily visitor at their Brookfield course until advancing years forced him to give up the game – and this was an aspect of his life that he really missed.

He was a real force of nature in Tullamore and a complete gentleman. He was easy to talk to, easy to like and had such a personable way about him. He was devoted to his family and he went the full distance.

He aged very well and his mental and physical fitness was remarkable as he journeyed through his 80s. It was only in the past few years that Fr Time finally caught him and his physical faculties diminished. Him and his loved wife Celine have been in the Nursing Home in Bethany House in Tyrrellspass for a while now and his daughter Fiona posted a lovely picture of him with a Mayo flag before their All-Ireland senior football final win just a couple of months ago.

He remained a great conversationalist for most of his life, a word for everyone and even when he could no longer move about the town as he once did, he often sat outside his Harbour Street home, watching the world go by and enjoying chats and interactions with the many passerbys, people beeping their horns at him. He regularly sat in on removals at their funeral home, again chatting people going in and comforting mourners with a simple nod or smile.

Phil O'Reilly was a genuinely good, decent man. His legacy will long outlive him and the many people who knew and loved him, from his family, close friends to more casual acquintenances, will harbour great memories of him for several years to come.

He will be sadly missed by his loving wife Céline and his family Monica, Fiona, Phil Jnr and Frankie, sons-in-law Tadgh and Steve, daughter-in-law Sinéad, Phil's partner Lynne, his much adored grandchildren David, Mark, Ciara, Darren, Niamh, Ronan, Lauryn, Robyn, Eve and Priya, his cherished great-granddaughters Mariah and Sybil, his sisters Patsy (RIP), Maire, Nuala and Nora, his nieces, nephews, cousins and his wide circle of friendsReposing at his Funeral Home, Harbour St, Tullamore (R35 FC84) on Wednesday (2nd September) from 2pm until 7pm. Removal from the Funeral home on Thursday morning (3rd September) to The Church Of The Assumption, Tullamore arriving for Funeral Mass at 10am. Burial after Mass in Clonminch Cemetery, Tullamore