Seamus Kelly

J.J. “Seamus” Kelly of Phoenix Harriers, Dublin was one of the top sprinters of his time, winning under-18 titles for 800 metres in 1946 and 1947 and for 1500 metres in 1947. He would later win national titles in sprints for 300 metres in 1947, 400 metres in 1950, 800 metres in 1947, 1948, 1949, 1953 and 1954 and 1 mile in 1947.

Kelly was one of five athletes (along with Dermot McDermott, Joe Kelly, John O’Donnell and Martin Egan) entered to compete for Ireland in athletics events at the 1948 London Olympics by the National Athletic and Cycling Association of Ireland (NACAI) at which time existed a competing athletic body in Ireland, the Amateur Athletic Union-Eire (AAUE), which had also entered its own slate of athletes. A last minute decision however deemed the NACAI athletes ineligible to compete in favor of the AAUE sponsored group, and thus removed them from the entry lists.