First All-Ireland winning football medal for Limerick fetches hefty price at auction
A HISTORIC medal won by the Limerick team who took home the first All-Ireland football championship has been sold at auction.
Originally, the medal was estimated to be worth between €15,000 and €20,000.
It was part of a Rare Book, Literature and Collectors sale at the Talbot Hotel, Dublin by Fonsie Mealy's Auctioneers on May 31.
As the hammer came down, the medal ended up being sold for well over its estimated worth at €32,000.
The medal was won by Jeremiah Kennedy of Limerick Commercials who beat Dundalk Young Irelands by 1-4 to 0-3.
The match was played on a field in Clonskeagh known as The Big Bank on April 28, 1887.
The Limerick team of 1887 were not photographed on the occasion of their win, they received no trophy and really no recognition until they were issued with this medal in 1910.
By that time a lot of the excitement generated by the initial championship had dissipated, and some of the team emigrated, as with the recipient of the medal.
The following year, the championship was unfinished, owing to the famous US Invasion by GAA athletes.
Having won the inaugural championship of 1887, Limerick won again in 1896, these two years remain the only occasions in the proceeding years when Limerick collected the honours.
The style of the Medal is in what is now known as the traditional GAA Celtic Cross design, of a cross super imposed on a circle with the engraved arms of Munster on a shield overlaid in centre, the obverse inscribed 'Central Council-Eire-G.A.A. C.Ship', with the left and right points of the cross with the date 18-87, the reverse is engraved 'First All Ireland F. Championship, Won by Lmck. Commercials, J.J. Kennedy'.
This is not the first medal from the game to go under the hammer. In 2005, former Limerick Leader owner John McStay bought Malachi O'Brien's medal at Sotheby's for €30,500