By Sean Moriarty

A Lough Guitane man is hoping to re-unite a 1949 All-Ireland Athletics medal with the family of its rightful owner who could be a former Irish Olympian.

Pat F O’Donoghue found the medal in a Killarney car park over 20 years ago.

At the time he put the medal in his jeep for safe keeping and forgot all about it.

It only resurfaced recently when Pat changed cars and the medal was found in the pocket of the jeep when he cleaned it out before trading it in.

The story took an unexpected twist when his daughter was home from America on a holiday just after Christmas.

She decided to research the details 'Youth 1949 Mile Winner' which was inscribed on the medal and it led them to believe that the medal was won by John Joe Barry from Tipperary.

“Orla’s research shows that there was only one Youth Mile Race in 1949 and it was won by John Joe,” Pat told the Killarney Advertiser.

“What I want I know is how in the name of God did this man’s medal end up in a car park in Killarney."

John Joe Barry (October 5 1925 – December 9 1994) was an Irish middle-distance runner. He competed in the men's 1,500 metres at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London. He finished eighth in the first-round heat of the 1,500 metres, and failed to complete his 5,000 metres race after suffering a stitch.

This was the first Olympic Games in 12 years after disruption caused by World War 2.

Barry was born in Illinois but his mother brought the family home to Tipperary after she inherited the family farm.

He had a distinguished career as an athlete which included holding Irish, English, Scottish and American national titles at the one time in 1950.

On August 9, 1947 Barry set the Irish mile record, breaking the record set by Tommy Conneff in 1895, which was a world record at the time.

In 1950 he became the third Irish athlete – and the first middle-distance runner – to go on an athletics scholarship to the US at Villanova University.

Upon graduation he spent most of his business career in the United States, but retired to Dublin where he died in 1994.

Pat is hoping to get the medal back to a family member. He can be contacted via the Killarney Advertiser office on info@killarneyadvertiser.ie.