Offaly football heroes help team mate celebrate 90th birthday

Most of the surviving members of the first great Offaly football side, the 1960 and 1961 Leinster senior football champions gathered in Tullamore recently to celebrate the 90th birthday of one of their team mates, Phil O'Reilly.

O'Reilly was wing back on the team that won the first Leinster senior football title for Offaly in 1960 and went to the All-Ireland final a year later, losing out narrowly to Down in front of a record attendance at Croke Park.

A well known and hugely popular funeral undertaker in Tullamore, Phil O'Reilly (right) has been a lifelong GAA supporter and activist as well as immersing himself in charitable work. Pictured from left are Willie Nolan (Clara), Paddy McCormack (Rhode), Charlie Wren (a native of Ballinagar who played with Air Corp in Dublin), Tommy Greene (Daingean) and Phil O'Reilly. Missing from picture is the other surviving member of those panels, Frank Higgins, Gracefield.