Nenagh Éire Óg are delighted to announce that Paudie O’Kennedy is our new club president

The name O’Kennedy is synonymous with GAA in our town and Paudie O’Kennedy has given a lifetime of service to Gaelic games in Nenagh.

From the moment he could walk Paudie was regularly to be found pucking a ball off the gable end of Ciss Fahy’s house, honing his skills before graduating to the Forge Field where many All-Ireland finals were hurled with friends and relations long into his childhood evenings.

As fit today as he was in his hurling days

As there were no underage competitions at the time, Paudie had to wait until he was fifteen years old before lining out for the club’s minor side against a combination of Portroe and Ballina and his performances soon caught the eye of the county selectors as he helped the club win a North final in 1955 before eventually losing out to the famed Thurles Sarsfields side in the county final, a side littered with future stars of the game including Michael Murphy who would captain the county to All-Ireland senior glory in 1964 as well as the legendary Jimmy Doyle. Of course, our own side were not without talented hurlers as Mick Gilmartin and Mick Burns more than made their own impact on the game.

In 1957 Paudie, along with clubmates Devere Reynolds and Paddy Kearns, won Munster and All-Ireland titles with the Blue & Gold having beaten Limerick 3-8 to 1-4 in the Munster decider before accounting for Kilkenny 4-7 to 3-7 in Croke Park.

One of Paudie’s biggest regrets on the field of play was losing the North minor final in 1957 after a replay, a medal he’d gladly swap his All-Ireland minor for. However, his collection of medals did not end there and he was extremely successful in schools’ hurling capturing a Dean Ryan Cup, two Dr. Harty Cups as well as an All-Ireland colleges’ title as well as two coveted Fitzgibbon Cup medals with University College Dublin.

Paudie was a member of the 1957 North Tipperary senior hurling winning panel and played a starring role in the 1964 success where he contributed four points from wing forward before retiring from playing the game two years later but that did not end his involvement with Nenagh Éire Óg and he served on numerous committees over the years, putting in countless hours to ensure the continued success of the club.