GAA All-Star nominee Emmet Bolton knows a thing or two about successful teams. A fixture on the Kildare senior footballers for years, the wing back has also played in the International Rules Series and dabbled in college football as well.

But it is clear once you start to talk to him about Eadestown, his home club, that it is the team that means the most to him. Eadestown is a rural parish, just outside Naas, and like a lot of rural clubs, it covers a lot of ground so the club really is the focal point of the community, as Emmet explains.

“Socially, you’re playing a team sport, you’re relying on others,” he says. “Some of my best friends I’ve met through football. The GAA, at club level, brings everybody together.”

But even better than that are the family ties. At the heart of every GAA is club are family connections and Eadestown is no different. It is has been like that since the first day Emmet stepped out in the kit.

“I started at Under 12 and we were playing with lads I went to school with, next-door neighbours and lots of lads had cousins and brothers in the teams. I won my first championship at minor, and my dad was the trainer. That was my first win and it was great that my father was a manager. He’s a selector on the senior team now. My brother is also on the senior team now. He’s 22 and to be able to play with him is special.”

And while Emmet also spoke to us about just how important his inter-county career was, it was pretty obvious that lining out for his club was magic for him.

“Everyone is very close knit,” he tells us. “Especially in a small parish, I believe it’s closer than a town team. You put your body on the line for your county and stuff like that but it is nearly twice as good when you go back to the club to play with lads you grew up.”

And the competition, while serious, is only an aspect of the life of club GAA. There’s more to it than winning.

“You can go out on the field, beat the head off a fella for a while (laughs), and then go for a few pints afterwards. It’s fantastic. Once you cross the white line you do what you have to do to win but you shake hands afterwards and go out and enjoy yourselves.”

The bonds that GAA forms up and down the country between men and women of all ages are what makes it so special and so vital to Irish society.

That said, when you do win, as Eadestown did last year, it’s pretty enjoyable too.

“Last time they won the senior championship was 1970,” he recalls. “We won the intermediate in 1996 after a replay, I was only 11 and I can still remember it vividly. Winning the Division 3 title last year was great, to be able to do it with lads I’ve known since I was a baby was fantastic.”

And while Emmet has many, many miles on the clock to go, he sees so much good work going in at Eadestown that he expects success to become more and more a part of life at his club.

“At the club now we have so many kids involved and the underage success is coming,” says Emmet. “They are starting at Under 6 and winning all the way up so it will stand to them down the line. It’s great to see.”

It seems a strong foundation is being built there, which is great news for the club, and the community.

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