Raiders take precious medals
A GLENFLESK man is appealing to the heartless thieves to return a priceless collection of Kerry GAA medals belonging to his grandfather.
The medals, which were stolen on Saturday night from Ned Spillane’s home in Lough Guitane, range in date from 1903 to 1913 when Edmund Spillane’s career in the Kingdom’s green-and-gold saw him win two All-Ireland’s in 1909 and 1913 and a very rare Croke Cup medal, also in 1913.
A PRICELESS collection of Kerry GAA medals was stolen from a home in Lough Guitane, Glenflesk last weekend during a spate of robberies at six homes in the locality.
The priceless medals range in dates from 1905 to 1913 and include an All-Ireland medal, an extremely rare Croke Cup medal, and five Munster Championship medals.
Six of the medals were won by Edmund Spillane who played with the Headford club in Glenflesk during the early 1900s. He won four county championships with Dr Crokes and starred for Kerry when wining All-Irelands in 1909 and 1913. His grandson Ned spoke to The
Kerryman about the traumatic experience and pleaded for the medals to be returned.
“I had great sentimental attachment to the medals. I was born and bred in this house and it’s very upsetting. Even aside from what they took, to think they were in your house is enough. There was also a Munster medal belonging to a grand-uncle of mine, Tim O’Shea, which was stolen. We’d very much like to get the medals back,” said Ned.
All-Ireland medals might be a dime a dozen in Kerry but their sentimental value and prominence in the homes of Kerry people can’t ever be fully gauged in terms of value.
“The story behind the medals is that they were given to Edmund’s sisters as jewellery and they went all over the word. But my uncle Dominic Spillane made it his business to trace them and he got them all back, bar the 1909 All-Ireland and 1913 Munster Championship medals. My uncle was actually based in Belfast and that’s where the medals were for many years before he eventually brought them home to Kerry before he died,” Ned explained.
But the history of the 1913 Croke Cup medal is an interesting one. In 1912 Kerry were locked in a dispute with the Great Western Railway over irregular train times when travelling to play matches in Dublin. Kerry refused to travel to the capital to contest that year’s All-Ireland final against Louth, who were awarded the game.
The following year a challenge game was arranged between Kerry and Louth at Jones’ Road to help raise money for the purchase of Croke Park which raised over £1,000.
Ned Spillane played in that historic game and afterwards received his Croke Cup medal to mark the event.
“It’s a very unusual and rare medal. It was round in shape and of gold colour. At the bottom of the medal there are four shamrocks. The name ‘Ned Spillane’ is inscribed in it. Everyone thinks the medal is connected with a Kerry championship given its name but apparently they were presented as the first All-Ireland medals before being replaced by the Celtic Crosses.”
Ned was in Midleton on Saturday night when he got a phone call at 9.30pm to say there had been a spate of robberies in the area, not realising his own home had been targeted.
“It was only the following morning that we discovered the house was robbed. We have people working on getting the medals back as there’s not too many places in Ireland that deal with antique medals and we’re also putting up a reward to get them back,” said Ned.