Pádraig Nolan (born 1964) is an
Irish former
Gaelic football
Gaelic football (; short name '')'', commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA, or football, is an Irish team sport. A form of football, it is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score ...
er and
manager
Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...
, who played for the
Kildare county team at minor, under-21 and senior level in the late 1980s. He later managed two county teams:
Offaly
County Offaly (; ) is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the province of Leinster. It is named after the ancient Kingdom of Uí Failghe. It was formerly known as King's County, in honour of Philip II of Spain ...
and Kildare.
Early life
Nolan is originally from in
Kilcock
Kilcock () is a town and townland in the north of County Kildare, Ireland, on the border with County Meath. As of the 2022 census, it had a population of 8,674, making it the eighth largest town in County Kildare and 61st largest in Ireland. ...
in
County Kildare
County Kildare () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster and is part of the Eastern and Midland Region. It is named after the town of Kildare. Kildare County Council is the Local gove ...
, Ireland.
As of his appointment as Kildare manager in 2002, Nolan taught and coached at
Naas C.B.S.[
]
Playing career
Nolan represented Kildare at the end of the 1980s, a career which included one historic achievement. He was on the Kildare team which lost to Kilkenny in the O'Byrne Cup.
Managerial career
Nolan coached at St Patrick's Classical School
St Patrick's Classical School () is a Roman Catholic-run school for boys in Navan, County Meath. It has produced a number of politicians, journalists, Irish sports personalities, broadcasters and two winners of the Perrier Comedy Award at the ...
, work which produced several members of the Meath county team.[ He then succeeded Tommy Lyons as Offaly manager.][
Nolan was a comparatively young appointment at 35 to the Offaly job in 1999. His first year in charge saw Offaly dethrone the reigning All-Ireland SFC champions ]Meath
County Meath ( ; or simply , ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. It is bordered by County Dublin to the southeast, County ...
[ in the Leinster SFC quarter-finals. Kildare knocked Offaly out after a replay in following round.][ In 2001 Offaly saw off ]Laois
County Laois ( ; ) is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and in the province of Leinster. It was known as Queen's County from 1556 to 1922. The modern county takes its name from Loígis, a medieval kingdom. Hist ...
in the Leinster SFC, but narrowly lost to Dublin
Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...
in the semi-final. With this being the inaugural year of the 'back-door', Offaly had a qualifier game against Louth Louth may refer to:
Australia
*Hundred of Louth, a cadastral unit in South Australia
* Louth, New South Wales, a town
* Louth Bay, a bay in South Australia
** Louth Bay, South Australia, a town and locality
Canada
* Louth, Ontario
Ireland
* Cou ...
six days later, but lost that game to a late winning point. 2002 was to prove Nolan's final championship in charge of Offaly. After again edging out neighbours Laois in the opening Leinster SFC fixture, Offaly faced Kildare with a place in the Leinster SFC final at stake. Similarly to 2000, Offaly lost in a replay. As was to prove a trait for Offaly, they failed to make progress through the qualifier system and lost to Limerick
Limerick ( ; ) is a city in western Ireland, in County Limerick. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. W ...
in the first qualifier fixture. Nolan stepped down from the post and was succeeded by Paul O'Kelly.
Following on from this, Nolan took charge of Kildare guiding them to the 2003 Leinster SFC final, where Laois defeated his team. Nolan resigned in 2005.
References
External links
Profile
at Maynooth University
Maynooth University (MU) (), is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland in Maynooth, County Kildare, Ireland. Maynooth University was formerly known as National University of Ireland, Maynooth (NUIM; ). It was Ireland ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nolan, Padraig
1964 births
Living people
Gaelic football managers
Irish schoolteachers
Kildare inter-county Gaelic footballers
People from Kilcock