Martinstown heroes.
Patrick "Staker" Wallace was born in 1733 in Teermore, near Martinstown. His first name is subject to debate but is usually given as Patrick, even though it is given as Edmond on the memorial. “The Staker” is now his usual name but that may have been given to him after his brutal execution in 1798 for his involvement in disturbances in the lead up to the 1798 rebellion. He was hanged, drawn and quartered in Kilfinane and his severed head was placed on a stake.
The local gaelic games club is called the Staker Wallace GAA club. It has some of the best facilities of any club in the country thanks to local millionaire JP McManus who did a land swap with the club when he was building his new mansion in 2006. These facilities are regularly used by Limerick GAA teams.
John Flanagan
John Flanagan was also a Martinstown native (born in 1873) but emigrated to America and joined the police force. He represented America as a hammer thrower and won Olympic gold in 1900, 1904 and 1908. He broke the world record 15 times. As you can see from the life size sculpture he was not as big a man as modern day weight trowers.
He returned to Ireland in 1924 and coached Pat O’Callaghan to Olympic gold medals 1928 and 1932. O’Callaghan was, officially, the first non-American to win an Olympic hammer gold medal.