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21 Jan 2026
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21 Jan 2026
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Jim “Dealers” Daly, Seamus Aldridge, John O’Connor, Frank O’Connor, Fintan O’Connor and Frank McMahon Chairman of Round Towers GAA Club. Photo: Martin Connelly
A special presentation of a Round Towers club jersey and a commemorative medal was recently made by Round Towers to their oldest member Frank O’Connor to mark the milestone of his 100th birthday.
Frank, the son of a publican and farmer, was born in the Leitrim Inn pub in Leitrim in May 1917. As a young man in his twenties he moved to Kildare town following the outbreak of the 2nd World War.
Frank spent his career working in the Curragh Camp where he started as a pay clerk to his retirement as the Clerk of Works. He married a local girl Lena Scanlon in February 1962 and had a family of six children.
Frank has a lifelong passion for the GAA and it was only natural that he became involved with the Round Towers, and his work as club secretary coincided with the wonderful run of success for the club in the 1950's.
He made many lifelong friends during his time with the Towers including Sean (Johnny) Breen with whom he travelled the country supporting the county team.
He took great pleasure in watching the Towers regaining the county championship in 1996 and in watching Glenn Ryan’s heroics with Kildare in 1998.
Even today at the age of 100 he still follows the Towers’ progress and is delighted to see them competing at senior level where they belong.
He was also very proud when his wife Lena’s grandnephews Mark and Neil Scanlon soldiered with club and county.
Jim Daly and Seamus Aldridge represented the Round Towers team of the 1950s at the presentation and reminisced with Frank about old times both on and off the field, you could feel the passion they have for Round Towers and the Kildare County team in the room and it was hard to believe the incidents and the characters they spoke about were from nearly 70 years ago.
It was a great honour for Frank McMahon, the Chairman of Round Towers to make the presentation to Frank for his hard work for and dedication to the club over the years as Club Secretary and as a loyal supporter. It is moments like this that show the heart and soul of the GAA in our communities and the lifelong relationships that develop.
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