After a long illness, Paddy passed away on April 4th last. There was great sadness within the Trim club and the county. All during the late eighties, the nineties and up until to the start of his illness, Paddy could be regarded as the face of Trim GAA club. 

As the club's regular gateman he was the first person that supporters met as they came to the many games that were played in the grounds at that time. He was hugely popular with the incoming supporters, was always ready to have the banter with them and consequently was a well-known and liked character throughout the county. 

Paddy was born and reared in Loman Street in the heart of Trim town. During his school days in the Christian Brothers he first came to prominence as a footballer and hurler when he was a member of the successful championship winning U14 teams, hurling and football, of 1954. 

Among his team-mates at the time were future Trim stars such as Sean Colgan, Paddy Keogh and his brother Chris. In the following three years he came up through the juvenile ranks, mainly in hurling, his first love. 

In 1955 he played at corner forward on an U16 team that was beaten in the county hurling final. A year later, he a was member of the Trim minor hurling team that lost out in the county final. He finally got his reward when a key figure on a minor hurling team that won county honours in 1957.

In the following year, and still a minor player, he graduated on to a Trim senior hurling team that was arguably the best ever in the club. In the previous nine years they had won six senior hurling championship titles and were heading for a three-in-a-row. 

Their chances of outright victory were scuppered by a superb Boardsmill team that drew with them in the latter stages of the championship thus effectively putting them out as they had been beaten earlier by Kiltale. Boardsmill went on to win their first ever senior hurling championship that year.

Trim returned to winning ways in 1959 and 1960 and Paddy donned the red jersey for that Jubilee Cup two-in-a-row. Paddy Bird remained on as a player in the sixties but hurling in the club had gone into decline as the great team of the fifties had all retired. 

In 1966 he emigrated to England with his wife Mary which put a hold on his hurling career. On their return to Ireland in 1972, Paddy quickly got  back into harness as a member of the Intermediate hurling squad. 

He played intermittingly up to the mid-seventies but age had caught up with him and  Paddy retired from the game in his mid-thirties. When his playing career was over he continued on as a club member, a very active committee member and was involved in most of the grounds upkeep all through the eighties, nineties up until 2006.

May he rest in peace.