Ellistown's Phil Noons, a player who did it for club and county

Phil Noons’ association with Ellistown GAA began when he moved from just outside of Rathangan to Mountrice in the 1950s.

A local farmer invited him to play U16s football for the club and now approaching his 80th birthday, Phil is still firmly embedded in the place that he has called home for all those years.

The history of Ellistown and some of their great successes runs parallel to the famous All-Ireland U21 winning Kildare team of 1965. There were three Ellistown members of the historic squad that lifted the Leinster and All-Ireland Championships that year.

“It was magic,” Phil recalled. “When we won the Leinster final, Jack Donnelly was midfield, I was full-forward, and John Cullen was a sub on that side, so we had three from the club winning that Leinster title on home soil.

“They were a great bunch of lads. It was easy to play with that team, they worked so well together. Newbridge was absolutely packed for the final that day.”

Phil had his finest game of the season in the Leinster final too with 0-3 scored as Kildare beat Offaly 1-11 to 0-10. More men than not would play for the Kildare Senior team from the U21 All-Ireland winning side, as the likes of Pat Dunney and Jack Donnelly emerged among many greats of Kildare football.

Phil’s Ellistown teammate Jack Donnelly was the standout player in '65, with the midfield man scoring 2-3 in the All-Ireland final after a year of outstanding performances. Kildare beat Cork 2-11 to 1-7 in Croke Park to lift the title.

“He (Jack Donnelly) was a great asset to us. He was a very strong player and a great man to score. He was a tremendous footballer and free-taking was one of his greatest assets. He just made it look so easy,” Phil explained.

“Being part of that Kildare U21 team was great. Playing Gaelic football was fantastic, I always loved it. Of course you were disappointed losing some games, but you got over it, and then you were looking forward to the next one.”

The All-Ireland win was an enormous success for Kildare and generated both exceptional players and excitement. The 65 win was the introduction of a lot of these young stars to the wider public. But Ellistown had the inside track as the club won Junior and Intermediate Championships back-to-back with Noons, Donnelly, and Cullen at the forefront.

Ellistown won the 1963 Jack Higgins cup with an 0-8 to 0-6 win over Clogherinkoe following their taking home of the Junior B title. The wins were the club’s first taste of major success since 1951.

“We were the B Champions. But the Higgins Cup game was played three days before Christmas in Naas. We might as well have played it out on the road it was that hard on the ground. It was a bit of a scrap,” Phil recalled.

“We all went back to the Harp Bar in Kildare afterwards because Tom McInerney, the proprietor, used to play with us. It was a great boost and of course then we went on to win Intermediate the following year.”

Ellistown would continue their upward trajectory to win the 1964 Kildare Intermediate Championship with a 2-10 to 2-7 win over Maynooth.

“We had a head of steam built up and a good panel of players. The football at that time was totally different from now, it was more or less get it and kick it into the full-forward line. When we played Maynooth in the final it was tough going. Maynooth had Fred Leavy full-forward, he was a tough cookie. But we led right through that game to win,” Phil said.

The club would repeat the feat of back-to-back Championships in 1999 and 2000 with Junior and Intermediate wins, but the years between were barren in terms of Senior success for the club. The Ellistown team of the 60s is still celebrated by their club today and looked back on as one of the club’s finest periods.

“We got together a few years ago to celebrate the '63 win and we had 16 of the lads there together. We had a great night and reminisced, telling stories of games and lads getting a thump here and there,” Phil laughed.

Ellistown were of course a senior outfit after the consecutive championship wins. The club held their own for quite a few years too with their under-age All-Ireland winners at the heart of it all. Perhaps their standout moment at senior level was a championship quarter-final win over Sarsfields in 1968.

Junior and Intermediate Championship wins with his club and an All-ireland underrage medal all came just as Phil reached the age of 21. The years that followed for Phil and Ellistown would not be as prosperous in terms of trophies, but the love of it all kept him playing the game until he was 47.

“I got to play with my own two lads, Fergal and Cathal. Lord have mercy on my wife, she was always onto me to give it up because I’ve a dodgy knee. Eventually I did, but I thought so bad of giving it up. When you are so long at something, rooted into it, you just enjoy it. It wound up that I had to get a knee replacement about 12 years ago, but I got through that as well,” Phil explained.

“There was always a great community spirit with all the Ellistown lads, maybe the fact we came from a rural area.”

The pain of having to retire from playing has only strengthened Phil’s support on the sideline as he follows his club’s adventures around the county, as well as helping out in managing their two pitches.

“I just love the atmosphere of the matches and going to all of them. I love seeing the young people coming through and playing. Offering them a little bit of criticism at times, like every old lad, but a bit of advice too,” he laughed.

The Leinster Leader will be doing a feature article from every club in Kildare over the coming weeks and months as part of the Love of the Game series. If you have a suggestion for an article on someone from your club, a legendary player, selfless volunteer or an idea of your own, send them to daragh.nolan@leinsterleader.ie