Orwell created the Noel O'Neill Trophy race to reckonise and commemorate the achievements of Noel O'Neill.

Noel joined Orwell in 1955, spending some time with Bray Wheelers. He coached such greats as Stephen Roche.

Noel was the Irish National Road Race Champion in 1965. He tells it himself: "I won it on the last lap, the break had a good lead, there were a lot of good riders still in the bunch but I decided it was time to go and made up a minute to the break and went on to win the sprint." He represented Ireland at that year's World Championships in San Sebastian that year.

Noel's palmares also includes The Dublin to Birr 3 Day, Shay Elliot, Sean Dillion Memorial, Tour of the Gaps, Tour of the Slade and The BAR in 1964 and 1965 (Best All-Rounder: for Combined times and placings in TTs and RRs).

In recent times, Noel has been riding Leisure Events, such as the Three Peaks Challenge in 2017.

For a 2012 interview with Noel, please see "Five Decades with Noel O'Neill".

The Noel O'Neill Trophy was run as a one day event in The Phoenix Park in 2017. For 2018 the event developed into a 2 day, 3 stage event which attracted some of the best racers in the country. Stage 1 is an 11km Time Trial run on the Saturday morning, Stage 2 on the Saturday afternoon is a Kermesse featuring 10 laps of testing 8.2km circuit. Final stage takes place on Sunday morning and consists of 4 laps of a 27km hilly course.

Past Winners

2017   Philip Lavery     Unattached Leinster
2018   Paul Forristal    Scott Orwell Wheelers
2019   Paul Forristal    Scott Orwell Wheelers