All-Ireland medal fetches €31,000

Memorabilia: It's generally said that an All-Ireland winner's medal is priceless.

There is now some idea of their value after a winner's medal belonging to Limerick footballer Malachí O'Brien sold yesterday for €31,000 at an auction of sporting memorabilia at Sotheby's in London.

It was, however, no ordinary medal. O'Brien played on the Limerick team who were crowned the first All-Ireland football champions in 1887, and his medal is widely believed to be one of the last of its kind in circulation. And that's what ultimately convinced the Limerick Leader newspaper to launch the winning bid, thus ensuring the medal comes home again after all these years.

John McStay, chairman of the Limerick Leader, participated in the auction by telephone in Limerick. Bidding started at £4,000, but that rose steadily until it reached over three times the guide price of between £5,000 and £8,000 - and eventually sold for £18,000 (around €26,500). When VAT, auctioneers' commission and buyer's premium is added the total cost to the Limerick Leader was €31,000.

"It's a unique piece of Limerick history," said McStay, "and we felt the appropriate place for it to be was in Limerick. Limerick is a great sporting city with a great sporting tradition. And it's not very often you get the chance to get hold of the first All-Ireland medal won by Limerick Commercials and that also belonged to the man of the match.

"It was also won in 1887, just two years before the newspaper itself was founded. So we're absolutely delighted. It's a piece of Limerick history and we're delighted it's coming home. A local newspaper is all about the local community, and this is something very unique to the Limerick community. Myself and the manager director, Joe Gleeson, just put our minds to it, and decided this was something we wanted to see coming back to Limerick."

The medal comes loaded with GAA history. The 1887 All-Ireland was the first and only time the championship was not divided into counties, and instead played on a club basis, with Commercials, the then Limerick champions, representing the county. They beat the Louth champions, Dundalk Young Irelands, with the final actually being played in April 1888 at a site known as "The Big Bank" in Clonskeagh, south Dublin. And the winners' medals were not presented until 1912.

McStay admitted the final sale price was "a little more bit expensive" than the paper had reckoned on, but they were determined to get it nonetheless. The paper has recently undergone a takeover and the medal was also seen as a sort of parting gift.

"I always thought it would make somewhere between £12,000 and £15,000. And we were fairly determined to get it. Of course we could do with 30 more next year, or at least in the very near future."

The paper will now decide how to best display in the medal in the near future: "We haven't quite figured that out yet," added McStay. "We have a very small front office in the Limerick Leader, and even forming an orderly queue would be difficult. But we said we'd get our hands on it first, and after that worry about how best to display it. There are a number of options, even the refurbished Gaelic Grounds. It will need to have a permanent home eventually, but we need to make up our minds about that. But of course Croke Park is one possible resting place. But the whole thing has happened relatively quickly we'll have to think about it."

O'Brien was a pivotal member of the Commercials team, and became known as "The Little Wonder" for his great range of skills despite his small stature. Born in Ballinvrina, Emly, he later moved to Dublin, and eventually to America, where he remained for 32 years. He returned to Ballinvrina from 1929 until his death on August 2nd, 1953. Since then his medal has been handed down through four generations.

It was put up for auction by Mary Doran, who lives in Northampton in England, primarily to raise funds for the care of her mother. O'Brien was the great granduncle of her late father, Matthew Malachí Doran, and it was his dying wish that the medal be used towards funding the care of his mother. Doran pronounced herself delighted with the outcome of the auction, especially that it would be displayed in Limerick.

Whether other medals from the 1887 final still circulate remains to be seen: "I understand there is another one out there made into a broach for somebody," said McStay, "but I don't think it's true to say this is the last remaining medal from that All-Ireland. I think one or two may appear after this."