Rooted in gaelic games, blossoming at the Olympic Games

By Kevin Egan

Due to Ireland’s mixed sporting culture, it’s rare that those who experience success in one sporting field don’t benefit in some form or another from the experience they’ve garnered elsewhere. All Ireland football and hurling winners have used the lessons they’ve learned in sports such as basketball, rugby, athletics and elsewhere to great effect, while a solid grounding in gaelic games has also proved to be a wonderful launchpad for athletes to go on and achieve wonderful things in the international arena as well.

This afternoon, as the 2020 Tokyo Olympics gets underway, Ireland will send a record number of athletes into competition across a wide range of disciplines, and many can either directly or indirectly attribute their success to their GAA background.

Boxer Aoife O’Rourke only took up her sport as a way to develop her fitness and sharpness for playing football for Castlerea St. Kevin’s, and her sister Lisa played for the Roscommon ladies this year but travelled to Japan as part of a training squad, with a view towards securing qualification for Paris in 2024.

Ciara Mageean has spoken recently of her desire to return to playing camogie with Portaferry and Down, having competed strongly for both at underage level before she committed herself to athletics, while the connections between Shane Lowry, who will compete for a medal in the golf event, and the GAA in his native Clara and Offaly are well-documented.

Marie Carey of the Irish Hockey team still plays camogie with the Ballinteer St. John’s club, and is a niece of current Uachtarán CLG, Larry McCarthy.

These examples are easily found, now and all the way through the history of the GAA. So today, on the first day of the 2020 Olympics, we look at some of the more celebrated examples of famous GAA figures who also wrote their name in the annals of the most famous sporting event in the world.

Sean Lavan of Kiltimagh (centre), pictured at the 1924 games alongside the then Prince of Wales (right). 

Dr. Seán Lavan (Mayo)

Few footballers have made anything like the same impression on the sport Kiltimagh native Seán Lavan, who completely transformed the sport by inventing the solo run in the 1921 All-Ireland final between Dublin and his home county.

Lavan was noted for his incredible speed on the ball during his six-year intercounty career, which was cut short due to a wrist injury. He is credited as being the first player to play the ‘toe-tap’ or solo in a game, which caused no end of confusion with both the referee, Willie Walsh of Waterford, and the opposition, who were recorded as arguing to Walsh that “this culchie from Mayo is making up his own rules”.

The Irish Times reported that “(Mayo’s Sean) Lavan came in for heavy charges when in possession, but his style rather invites danger”, referring to his new technique.

Unfortunately for Lavan and Mayo, it didn’t yield the desired result and Dublin prevailed by 1-9 to 0-2 on a day when their defensive play was described as “impregnable”, and he was to retire without winning an All-Ireland medal.

His sporting achievements were just beginning however. He was to win national honours on the track at every distance from 100 yards to 440 yards, including hurdles, and competed in the Paris Olympics in 1924 before captaining the 1928 team that travelled to Amsterdam.

During all this time he was attending UCD, where he won the O’Ferrall medal for surgery in 1929, and his second career took off. He went on to become a lecturer in anatomy and later a surgeon in Temple Street Hospital. In 1932, Seán addressed the INTO Conference when he argued for sport’s potential to bring peace to this island.

In his capacity as a qualified medical doctor with a unique background and understanding of sport, particularly track and field athletics, he travelled to Melbourne in 1956 to serve as team doctor for the Irish Olympic team of that year.

Edwart Barrett, seated front left, as part of the 1908 British Tug of War team.

Edward ‘Ned’ Barrett (Kerry/London)

There are those who have competed in both the Olympics and intercounty GAA, but the list of those who have known elite success in both those spheres is a very short one, and top of it is Ned Barrett, who has both a Celtic Cross and an Olympic gold medal on his CV.

Barrett began hurling with Ballyduff in North Kerry, but emigrated to London and was part of the London team that won the 1901 All-Ireland at Cork’s expense, to this date London’s only senior All-Ireland hurling Championship title. Barrett also appeared for London in the final of the following year, when Cork won somewhat comfortably to win their fifth event title.

When it came to the 1908 Olympic Games that were held in London, Barrett – a police officer – competed in a number of different events, including the shot, javelin and discus competitions.

However wrestling was his preferred sport, and one in which he excelled. He was British heavyweight freestyle champion in 1909 and 1911, and won a bronze medal in the heavyweight division of that year’s games. He also competed in Stockholm in 1912 in the Greco-Roman wrestling section.

Barrett’s gold medal was earned in the tug-of-war event, when he was part of the City of London police team that took the big prize.

Pat O’Callaghan won successive gold medals for Ireland in 1928 and 1932. 

Dr. Pat O’Callaghan

Perhaps Ireland’s most famous Olympian, Dr. Pat O’Callaghan was a highly-regarded footballer and hurler with his home club of Banteer before he went on to become the first athlete from Ireland to win an Olympic medal under the Irish flag rather than the British, when he took the gold medal in the 1928 games in Amsterdam.

After travelling to the games along with his brothers, Seán and Con O’Callaghan, he edged out Swedish thrower Oissian Skoeld to take the gold medal and bring about the first ever playing of Amhránn na bhFiann in an Olympic context.

O’Callaghan continued to go from strength to strength in between Olympic seasons, winning national titles in an array of events while setting and extending the European record in his chosen event.

He travelled to Los Angeles in 1932 as a strong contender for gold, reflected in the fact that he was the flag bearer for the Irish team. However the competition wasn’t without drama.

 The surface of the hammer circle had always been of grass or clay, and throwers wore field shoes with steel spikes set into the heel and sole for grip. In Los Angeles, however, a cinder surface was to be provided. The Olympic Committee of Ireland had failed to notify O’Callaghan of this change. He wore his shortest spikes, but found that they caught in the hard gritty slab and impeded his crucial third turn. In spite of being severely impeded, he managed to qualify for the final stage of the competition with his third throw of 171’ 3”. While the final of the 400m hurdles was delayed, O’Callaghan hunted down a hacksaw and a file and cut off the spikes, which enabled him to reach a distance of 176’ 11” and retain his Olympic title.

Roscommon’s 1943 All-Ireland winning team. 

Bill Jackson (Roscommon)

In terms of sporting success, Bill Jackson will always be the man who won successive All-Ireland titles with Roscommon in 1943 and 1944, playing at left-corner back in 1943 and in the right corner in 1944, and earning recognition with selection for several Railway Cup teams. He picked up Railway Cup medals in 1944, 1945 and 1946, and was a stalwart for his club of Tarmon, Castlerea – an area which is home to current Olympian, Aoife O’Rourke.  

Jackson’s Olympic exploits were as part of the only Irish team to compete in Olympic basketball competition, at the London Games in 1948. With five defeats in five games, Jackson didn’t have the same success on the court as on the field of play, but he still stands in the history books as someone who was part of a unique piece of Irish Olympic history.

The Irish Whales. 

The Irish Whales (various)

The Irish Whales were a group of athletes who became internationally famous for their exploits at the Olympic Games, competing under the banner of either the United States or Canada, but all having previously emigrated from various parts of Ireland.

The Irish Whales were hugely prominent in track and field competition, particularly throwing events, at the Olympics between 1896 and 1924. Some of those with more prominent GAA connections are:

John J. Flanagan was born in Kilbreedy, Limerick, and played interprovincial hurling for Munster alongside national hammer titles before moving to New York in 1896. He joined the NYPD and went on to head the world rankings, setting seventeen world records and also winning the American shot-put title five times. He was the first athlete to win three successive gold medals at the Olympics, picking up gold in the hammer in 1900, 1904, and 1908. He later returned to the family farm in Limerick and won two Irish championships in 1911 and 1912 before becoming coach to Pat O’Callaghan.

James Mitchell from Tipperary dominated hammer and weight throwing events in Ireland and Britain from 1886 onwards, then joined the GAA ‘Invasion’ tour of the United States in 1888 during which he won every weight throwing contest he entered and broke most American records. After the tour he decided to stay in New York and joined the NYPD.

He took the bronze medal at the 1904 Olympics in St. Louis in the 35lb throw, but his retirement followed two years later due to an injury sustained while travelling.

Paddy Ryan was born in 1882 in Pallasgreen, Limerick. He won eleven All–Ireland hammer titles under the auspices of the GAA and the Irish Amateur Athletic Association. In 1910 he emigrated to the United States, also joining the NYPD. At the 1920 Olympics in Antwerp he won gold in the hammer throw and silver in the 56lb weight throw, and today a statue in his honour stands in Pallasgreen. Ryan is grandfather to former Tipperary and Dublin hurler Ryan O’Dwyer.

Con Walsh from Clondrohid was part of the Cork sides that lost the 1901 and 1903 All-Ireland football finals. He won several GAA place kicking titles, and in 1906 he also captured five titles at the national athletics championship.

In 1907 he emigrated to New York before moving on to Toronto. Representing Canada, he won bronze in the hammer event at 1908 Olympics behind John Flanagan and Matt McGrath. This was the first time three athletes of the same nationality had finished first, second and third at an Olympic event. He captured several American and Canadian titles before abandoning athletics in 1911 to pursue an unsuccessful attempt to become a professional boxer.