Death of Paddy Kelly, last surviving member of 1948 All-Ireland JHC team

The death occurred last night of Meath and Kiltale hurling great, Paddy Kelly, the last surviving member of the Meath team that won the All-Ireland junior hurling title in 1948. He was aged 94.

From the Laracor area, the Kelly family moved to Kiltale in the 1930s. Paddy worked at Captain Denis Bagallay's Grange farm, which later became the agricultural research farm.

He was part of a local amalgamation of parishes, St Patrick's, that won a Meath Hurling Championship in 1954, and also helped Kiltale to a junior hurling success. He was responsible for the revival of the Kiltale club in the 1960s and played until he was 51.

He maintained a lifelong interest in Kiltale GAA and the county scene, as the next generations of his family continued the tradition, and he enjoyed the social side of the local clubhouse in Kiltale, where a big 90th birthday party was thrown for him in July 2016.

Predeceased by his wife Clare, his parents James and Julia, brother Billy, sisters Eve and Stephanie and grandson, Ronan, Paddy will be sadly missed by his family sons Paddy, Lorcan and Tommy, daughters-in-law Breda and Mary and grandchildren Padraig, James, Sarah, Tomas, Sinead, Niall and great-grandchildren Odhran and Cillian.

The Funeral Cortege leaving residence at 11.30am for Funeral Mass at 12 noon on Friday in the Church of the Assumption, Kiltale.

Paddy's Funeral Mass can be viewed on the Moynalvey Kiltale parish Facebook page.