Brendan O'Kelly was the youngest member of the Irish football team at the 1948 London Olympic Games, a twenty-year-old Bohemians inside-left and UCD commerce student from Blackrock, County Dublin whose multi-code sporting talent had already set him apart from his peers. At O'Connell Schools in 1946, he played wing-forward when the school won their first Leinster senior hurling title before losing the All-Ireland colleges final to St Flannan's of Ennis - his teammates on the wings included future soccer international Paddy Ambrose and Dublin GAA legend Ollie Freaney. He defied the GAA ban rule to combine hurling and football with his soccer career, on one occasion playing a match at Dalymount Park and another at Croke Park within minutes of each other. He began playing Bohemians senior football in 1945, won Leinster minor and senior cup medals in 1946, and played in the 1947 FAI Cup final replay. He was later offered but declined a substantial signing-on fee from Wolverhampton Wanderers, choosing a business career. Ireland played the Netherlands at Fratton Park, Portsmouth on 26 July 1948 and were beaten 3-1 in a match that eliminated them before the Opening Ceremony.
Football
