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Mystery of 1949 medal found in Killarney car park

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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.

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10-minute plays will linger in the memory

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The West End House School of Arts is delighted to take part in this year’s St Patrick’s Day Festival with a special evening of entertaining readings on Friday, March 13 at 7.30pm.

It promises to be a vibrant showcase of five original 10-minute plays written by emerging local playwrights, each of whom has recently completed a playwriting course with Fiona Doyle (pictured).


Diverse in style and subject matter, these beautifully crafted pieces promise an evening of laughter, tears, and powerful storytelling and each reading will be performed by West End House actors from Kerry.


Together, they highlight the remarkable talent of these up-and-coming writers and actors, who are the future of theatre in our community.

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Get your scrap together

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Following the success of the first ever Killarney Lions Club scrap metal collection in 2025, the Club will again run the event this year in partnership with KWD Recycling on March 28, at Killarney Racecourse.

Similar to 2025, money raised through recycling the metal will go towards improving facilities for families attending the children’s cancer unit in Cork University Hospital, as part of an overall fundraising drive being coordinated by Lions Clubs all over Munster.

The Club is asking people to bring non-ferrous scrap metals such as aluminium, copper, brass, zinc and stainless steel (no white goods such as fridges/cookers washing machines). Volunteers will be on hand from 9am until 4pm to take donations of scrap and work with KWD Recycling to remove it for processing.

“Although Lions Clubs in Munster have already raised some funds for CUH, more is still needed, so we’re delighted that KWD Recycling is working with us again to support this very worthwhile cause”, said Jason Higgins, President of Killarney Lions Club. “We’re asking anyone who has scrap metal at home, at work or on the farm now or in the next few weeks to please bring it to the Racecourse on the day because everything we collect will make a difference.”

Tadhg Healy, Sales Manager at KWD Recycling added that “We will recycle any high quality scrap metal that we collect – it can be quite valuable and of course it’s better for the environment if it’s recycled instead of being dumped. On top of that, the main thing with this collection is to help families of children with cancer, so hopefully we’ll get a good response from everyone and raise as much money as possible through this event”.

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