{"id":2155,"date":"2015-02-27T16:11:05","date_gmt":"2015-02-27T16:11:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kildare.ie\/ehistory\/?p=2155"},"modified":"2025-10-29T11:45:18","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T11:45:18","slug":"death-of-old-gaa-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/death-of-old-gaa-star\/","title":{"rendered":"Death of Mr. Joseph Curtis, Our Lady\u2019s Place, Naas, 1980"},"content":{"rendered":"

LEINSTER\u00a0 LEADER<\/em> 24 MAY 1980<\/b><\/p>\n

Death of old GAA star<\/b><\/p>\n

The death took place suddenly last Wednesday of Mr. Joseph (Joe) Curtis, Our Lady\u2019s Place, Naas, member of the famous Kildare Gaelic football team which won the senior All-Ireland Championship for two years running \u2013 1927-1928.<\/p>\n

Native of Naas, Joe was reared in New Row.\u00a0 He spent most of his life in the army and was a military policeman on the Curragh during the war years.\u00a0 On coming out of the Army he was employed in the post office in Naas as caretaker and worked there until his retirement.\u00a0 He was one of the most popular citizens of the town: a gentle, kindly man who had two great loves in his life outside of his family \u2013 football and horses.\u00a0 He was active up to his death and was a familiar figure in the town riding his bicycle.<\/p>\n

He played Gaelic football for the local Naas Club.\u00a0 He was a member of the Kildare team which won six Leinster senior football titles in a row \u2013 between 1924 and 1929, the hey-day of football in the county, and a decade when the Lilywhites were one of the most feared teams in the land.<\/p>\n

Injured<\/b><\/p>\n

In the 1927 All Ireland final Joe scored two points.\u00a0 He almost missed the final the following year as had broken three ribs in the semi-final.\u00a0 However, his replacement could not play and Joe lined out although he was heavily strapped up.\u00a0 He scored a very valuable point that day and Kildare became the first-ever winners of the new Sam Maguire Cup.\u00a0 Years later Joe, who always played as a forward, said that high catching and long kicking were the distinctive features of the game in those years.<\/p>\n

He rated as one of his disappointments the calling off of a trip by the All-Ireland champions to New York after the 1928 final.\u00a0 It was cancelled due to financial problems.\u00a0 Joe continued to play football for his local club and for the county for a good number of years after the halcyon days of the late twenties.\u00a0 He never lost his interest in football, often cycling long distances up to recent years to see Naas play.\u00a0 He was interested in all sports, and enjoyed soccer as well as the native code.\u00a0 Only recently his achievements in sport were honoured when he was the recipient of a special token \u2013 an enscribed silver tray \u2013 in the Philips G.A.A. All-Stars awards.<\/p>\n

Remains were removed to the parish church on Thursday evening and the funeral took place after Mass, celebrated by Rev. Fr. Ramsbottom, C.C., on Friday morning to St. Corban\u2019s Cemetery, Naas.\u00a0 Rev. Fr. Grogan, a friend of the family, officiated at the graveside.\u00a0 Guards of honour were provided at the obsequies by members of Naas G.F.C.\u00a0 and the Co. G.A.A. Board.\u00a0 On the coffin were placed jersies in the colours of Joe\u2019s club and in the county\u2019s colours.\u00a0 The attendance was large and representative of all sections of the community.<\/p>\n

Joe was predeceased by his wife Christina four years ago.\u00a0 He is survived by his sons, Mick (Patrician Ave., Naas); Joe (Sarto Park, Naas);\u00a0 John (St. Martin\u2019s Avenue, Naas);\u00a0 and Thomas (Our Lady\u2019s Place);\u00a0 and daughters, Mary (Naas);\u00a0 and Essie (Blackchurch), and by\u00a0 his sister Mrs. Moll Waldron, Sarto Road, and by in-laws and grandchildren.<\/p>\n

Re-typed by Mary Murphy<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LEINSTER\u00a0 LEADER 24 MAY 1980 Death of old GAA star The death took place suddenly last Wednesday of Mr. Joseph (Joe) Curtis, Our Lady\u2019s Place, Naas, member of the famous Kildare Gaelic football team which won the senior All-Ireland Championship for two years running \u2013 1927-1928. Native of Naas, Joe was reared in New Row.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[118,123],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-people","category-sport"],"blocksy_meta":[],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Kildare Local Studies","author_link":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/author\/localstudies\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2155"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2155\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7994,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2155\/revisions\/7994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}