The Donegal men who were the county's first Olympians

In the late 1960s, Patsy McGonagle was a boarder at St Columb's College in Derry and needed a top to wear to sports in school.

His mother, Lena – the chemist in Ballybofey - had a quick fix.

Patsy McGonagle Snr had an Irish jersey that would do.

This wasn't just any jersey.

In 1948, Patsy McGonagle Snr went to the Olympic Games in London as part of the Irish soccer squad.

An officer in the Irish Army, the native of Ballyliffin was a skilled footballer and went to London 1948 alongside Moville's Emmet McLaughlin.

Patsy McGonagle Jnr managed the Irish athletics team at four Olympic Games – Sydney 2000, Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Rio 2016 – and recounted the tale of the jersey in his 2019 memoir, Relentless: A Race Through Time.

“I needed a jersey, so my mother took the Irish badge off of his Olympic top and gave it to me,” McGonagle recalled.

“Imagine: His Irish jersey that he’d worn to the Olympic Games. That’s how much regard an Olympic jersey had!

“I still have the badge but, unfortunately, not the jersey. I also kept his competitors’ medal from the Olympics and it’s something I treasure deeply.”

A picture of that 1948 squad proudly hangs inside McGonagle's home in Ballybofey

Patsy McGonagle senior was born in Ballyliffin and after going to school in Rasheney, he joined the Army, while in the 1940s he played for three teams in the League of Ireland – Drumcondra, Shelbourne and Bohemians.

It was during his time with Bohemians that he was selected to represent Ireland at the Olympics. McGonagle played at left-back and McLaughlin was a centre-forward.

Ireland played just once in 1948, losing 3-1 to the Netherlands at Fratton Park in Portsmouth.

“Our eleven, after one week’s serious training,” reported the Irish Independent, “was pitted against a full-strength Dutch team which had been in special training many weeks and had caused the people in Portsmouth to shake their heads with grave fear for the Irish when they played a practice game with their 22 players at the ground on the previous day.”

Ireland got off to the worst possible start when Faas Wilkes fired the Dutch ahead in the second minute and Andre Roosenburg doubled the lead in the 11th minute.

Brendan O’Kelly pulled one back in the second half, but Wilkes’ second of the night showed the Irish team the exit door.

McLaughlin, who was studying medicine at UCD at the time, was described in the report as having ‘clever dribbling and shrewd passing.’

McLaughlin played for Bohemians and also lined out with St. James’s Gate and Dundalk FC. His Bohemians team-mates O’Kelly, Bobby Smith and Paddy Kavanagh were also on the Irish squad in '48.

McGonagle also played for Bohemians and the club used to pay for a taxi to take him to and from Dublin all the way to Dunree Fort, where he was stationed, just to play games.

He joined the army during World War 2 and was stationed in the Curragh when he got an order from a Colonel to join Bohemians and he later featured for Derry City.