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Tullamore Distillery was founded by Michael Molloy in Tullamore in 1829. On Molloy’s death in 1857, the distillery passed to his nephew Bernard Daly and in 1887, his son, Captain Bernard Daly took charge.

Tullamore GAA Club was founded on 26 May 1888 and won its first title in 1890 when it defeated Banagher in the final of the Offaly Championships (football). Its club colours were initially red and green, but inspired by the 1916 Rising, the club changed its colours to green, white and gold in 1917. In the early 1920s, Tullamore gave the county team the right to wear the tricolour as the county colours and adopted the blue and white colours which are still used today.

Having played in rented fields at Church Road, and then Tinnycross, the club acquired land at Ballyduff Park in the 1910s. In 1932, it developed a site on the Arden Road and in 1934, O'Connor Park was opened. Following the decision in 2001 to let Offaly County Board lease O'Connor Park, O'Brien Park was developed for use by Tullamore GAA Club.

The Tullamore Pipers' Band or St. Colmcille's Pipers' Band was founded in 1911 with the help of the Tullamore branch of The Gaelic League. Founder members included Alo O'Brennan and others active in the nationalist movement. The new Tullamore Pipers Band received additional encouragement from national figures such as F.J. Bigger (1863-1926) and Alice Stopford Green (1847-1929). The band first performed in public on St Patrick’s Day 1912 and was presented by Bigger with its fine banner at a feis in Tullamore in August 1912. The band played at the foundation of the Volunteers in April 1914 and the Geashill Cattle Drive in November of that year. In the aftermath of the affray or incident in 1916 the instruments of the band in the loft in Market Square were badly damaged and compensation awarded later that year. There appears to have been a split in the band along political lines in 1916-17. This was brought to a close at the same time as the split in the GAA and the two bands, St Colmcille’s and St Enda’s amalgamated with a combined strength of about forty. Judging by the financial supporters of St Enda’s band it appears to have been sponsored by Sinn Féin and the new organisation claimed the credit for bringing the split to an end.