Long-lost medal is found in Australia

October 2003

An ex-hurler from a famous Wexford GAA family got the shock of his life this week when a treasured medal stolen from his house 17 years ago turned up in an antique shop in Australia.

When Jim Kehoe’s wife, Kathleen, told him that she had a ‘startling’ story to tell him on Monday night, the haulage contractor from Palace, Enniscorthy, could never have guessed what was about to unfold.

Back in 1986, while Jim, Kathleen and family were on holidays in Rosslare, their house was burgled and a number of items, including three of Jim’s prized hurling medals, were taken.

Aside from a Leinster and All-Ireland intermediate medals from 1961, Jim also lost his only senior county hurling medal, won with the Geraldine O’Hanrahans clubs in 1966.

But amazingly, the the medal has resurfaced again over a decade and a half from the night it went missing - and it’s all thanks to a keeneyed ex-pat.

Down native Aidan Rice was casually strolling through an antiques shop about 50km north of Brisbane in Australia when he happened to spot an unusual looking medal in a glass case just as he was about to leave the shop.

Inscribed on the back of it was ‘Wexford S.H.C. 1966’ and ‘J. Kehoe’. Rice immediately bought the medal and decided to return it to its original owner.

He e-mailed the GAA museum in Croke Park, but they were unable to help him. However, he was eventually given a number for Wexford County Board GAA Secretary Mick Kinsella, who tracked down the Kehoe family. The two men were eventually put in touch on Tuesday morning.

‘It was a big surprise all right,’ said Jim Kehoe. ‘To think that a medal could go missing for 17 years and then turn up over 12,000 miles away in Australia is something else.’

Meanwhile, the two men have arranged to meet up in Dublin this weekend, where the medal will be returned to its rightful owner once again.