Joseph Patrick O'Neill Irish Cycling

Hi everyone, im trying to dig up a bit of information here about the above. Its a long shot but someone might be able to point me in the right direction. (I also know there is a Dublin FGSS too but no luck there yet.)

basically my girlfriends great grandad Joseph Patrick O'Neill was apparently a big thing in irish cycling sometime between 1900-1920's, I was hoping to get some info about him, maybe a bit of memorabilia if I could because all his trophies were given away or sold I think.

and thats it. all the info I currently have. Oh he used to cycle around Croke park but then I think that was common for races to be held there at the time.

Thanks, John

hey there,

you should try to get in touch with kevin mccarthy, he is a sports historian who has just written a widely acclaimed book called "green silver and gold" published by cork university press. its about irish athletes competing for other countries, mostly the usa, in the olympics in the years before independence, because they couldnt bring themselves to compete for the united kingdom.

he has a huge amount of primary source material from that period, mostly athletics but he may have some cycling, or possibly another avenue for you to explore.

i'd prefer if you tried to contact him first via his publishers, but if you cant, let me know. i dont want to be hassling him (we're related), he's quite busy at the moment since the book came out.

http://www.corkuniversitypress.com/Gold,_Silver_and_Green:_The_Irish_Olympic_Journey_1896_1924_/304/

(we're related)

That you're both called Kevin is a bit of a giveaway, I reckon. ;)

not what you think!
i wouldnt have had the patience he had to write that book. it started life as a phd in history which took a few years, then was re-written and revised several times so it wasnt so academic. i also wouldnt have the money to be travelling back and forth to lausanne all the time, where the ioc and the olympic museum are based.