Only known photograph of Irish ‘Champion of USA’ runner presented to GAA Museum

The only known photograph of one of the greatest Irish athletes of the pre-modern Olympic era, which was recently discovered in Kilkenny a remarkable 123 years after it was taken, was officially handed over to the GAA Museum in Croke Park last Wednesday, the 21st of December 2011.

T.J. O’Mahony, aka The Rosscarbery Steam Engine, from west Cork, was GAA Irish Champion in the quarter-mile (400 metres) in 1885, 1887 and 1888 and Irish Amateur Athletics Association (IAAA) champion in 1886, before grabbing all the positive headlines as part of the GAA’s ‘Gaelic Invasion’ tour of the USA in 1888, when the some of the country’s finest hurlers and track and field athletes were dispatched to promote Gaelic sports. The American athletes were the international benchmark on the track at the time and O’Mahony beat the USA champion in some style. This was before the era of the modern Olympics and The Rosscarbery Steam Engine was described as the de facto World Champion.

The full story can be seen in an earlier post HERE