Appreciation: Jimmy Phillips

There was sadness across a wide swathe of Kilcullen last week following the sudden death of Jimmy Phillips.

A quiet man in his seventies, Jimmy was a very popular figure around the town. He originally came from the townland of Kinneagh on the edge of The Curragh and spent some time in England before settling down.

His first love was horses and he spent all his working life amongst them, mostly working for the late Charlie Weld and subsequently his son Dermot. Pride of place in his home in Avondale Drive was a frame containing two pictures, one of which shows him winning the Glengariff Maiden Stakes in the Phoenix Park in 1972, on Klairlone.



"He was particularly fond of that because the date was April 1st and the horse's number was 13," a friend recalled last week.

Before going to be an apprentice jockey, Jimmy also boxed as a young lad, with the Kilcullen Boxing Club. "He was a neat kind of a boxer, very stylish," says Pat Lynch, who trained with the club at the time. "He gave it up when he went to the horses."

He was keen on other sports too, and was a regular on the sidelines at any of the Gaelic or soccer games played on the local pitches.

Jimmy's wife Lily died about three years ago, and he is survived by his brother Christy, and his children Seamus, Paul, Fergal, Nigel, Eilis, Caroline and Siobhan.

May his friendly soul rest in peace.

Brian Byrne.