Conneff, Thomas Patrick (1866–1912), athlete and soldier, was born in Kilmurry, Clane, Co. Kildare, the son of James Conneff and his wife Marcella (née Rourke). The Conneff family were blacksmiths plying their trade in the neighbourhood of Clane, in the shadow of the Jesuit college at Clongowes Wood which may have provided regular work. In his early teens Conneff received instruction in athletic training from local sports enthusiast Charlie Farrell of Ballinagappa, Clane. Conneff first came to prominence in the mid 1880s in the local athletic meetings at Clane, Kilcock and Carbury among other venues, at a time when such competitions were regular features of the emerging Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). His early career was shrouded in some controversy as he was engulfed in the struggles and disputes which existed between the GAA and the Irish Amateur Athletic Association (IAAA), and on at least one occasion he was prevented from competing at a race meeting when a dispute arose as to what rules would govern the event.
In 1886, Conneff, representing Haddington Harriers, captured the half-mile at the Caledonian games at Ballsbridge, Dublin, and also won the IAAA championships at 880 yards and mile flat. Victories quickly followed in sports meetings in provincial towns, including Mullingar, Newbridge and Wexford. In June 1887, then attached to Inchicore Gaelic Club, he secured a hat trick of victories at Limerick in the 880 yards, one mile and two miles. A month later he won the IAAA four-mile championship in a time of 20 minutes 55.8 seconds, thus setting an Irish record. It was about this time that Conneff was employed by the commercial department of the Freeman's Journal, where there was an immense sporting interest in the 1880s. In August 1887, buoyed by this success, and perhaps owing to the encouragement of Fred Gallagher, sports editor of the Freeman's Journal, who realised his potential, Conneff went to the north-of-England championships at Liverpool. The two-mile event over steeples took place before an estimated crowd of 40,000 people. Here Conneff defeated the English champion, F. Mills, and the visiting Anglo-American 'wonder' E. C. Carter. Unhappy with the result and seeking a rematch, Carter agreed to come to Ireland later that month to meet Conneff over four miles on 20 August 1887. Seizing the opportunity, the Freeman's Journal widely publicised the event, dubbing it 'the race of the century', and over 20,000 spectators turned out at Ballsbridge to see it. Again Conneff triumphed – much to the delight of the home support – with the Freeman's Journal of 20 August 1887 dubbing him 'the athletic marvel of the age'.
Having received an invitation from the Manhattan Athletic Club in New York, Conneff went to America to challenge the best international athletes of the day. In America he quickly established himself, and won the mile and five-mile races against the GAA 'Invasion' teams of 1888 at Madison Square Garden. He quickly added the American title for five miles, and retained it for the following three years, as well as taking the two-mile and ten-mile titles. Representing Manhattan AC, he went to Belfast in June 1888 and successfully defended his Irish four-mile title, improving his time to 20 minutes 48 seconds. He won the US 15 km road race in 1890. In the same year at Montreal, Canada, Conneff won the Canadian two miles in record time. The following year he annexed the American titles for the mile and five miles at New Orleans. Having reduced the American mile record to 4 minutes 21 seconds in 1891, at the Boston Games of August 1893 he took over three seconds off this time when he broke the world record for the mile in 4 minutes 17.8 seconds. Much was made of the fact that Conneff favoured running spikes, which were said to have given him an advantage over other competitors.
Conneff was said to have disliked training, and did not race for a period in America. He returned home to Ireland in 1892 while suffering from typhoid, spending three months in the Richmond hospital, Dublin, and a long period of convalescence in his native Clane. When the first ever international match between America and England was fixed for 1895, Conneff, who had by that time hung up his running shoes, was persuaded to make a comeback. Trainer Mike Murphy put him on a strict three-month training regime on Travers Island, New York, and to much astonishment he won the race – held at the same venue on 28 August 1895 – in style, setting a new world record for the mile at 4 minutes 15.6 seconds, a mark that stood for sixteen years. It was, according to Caspar Whitney, athletic authority for Harper's Weekly, the most remarkable performance ever seen on an American track. But on this occasion Conneff was carried off the field with exhaustion, a sign perhaps that he was in decline. Nonetheless, in 1896 Conneff made the decision to turn professional. Although suffering from malaria, he competed against F. E. Bacon in three high-profile races in Dublin (3 October), Bolton (17 October), and Glasgow (25 October). Bacon won all three races convincingly. Returning to full health, Conneff challenged George Blennerhasset Tincler, a law student at TCD, to a race at the Oval, Worcester, Massachusetts, watched by crowds of over 10,000 people including Theodore Roosevelt on 21 August 1897. Nicknamed the 'Gander' for his awkward posture, Tincler easily defeated a now failing Conneff. In a rematch, which Conneff requested, Tincler even afforded him a twenty-five-yard head start but Conneff could not cope with the power of the 'Gander' in what proved to be his final race.
In America, Conneff had a number of jobs, which included clerical office duties, car conductor, and bar manager at Waynard Palace Hotel, while he also enrolled for a time as a medical student. When the Spanish–American war broke out in 1898, Conneff enlisted in the US army, and saw service in Cuba, Puerto Rico, St Michael (Alaska), and in the Philippines. When the war finished, he was stationed in the Philippines deployed as a clerk to Troop E of the 7th Cavalry Regiment. It was here on 10 October 1912 he was found drowned in the Pasig river. Although he was a competent swimmer, mystery surrounded his death. In 1916, E. C. Carter, the onetime athletic adversary of Conneff, wrote that he had met his end by 'foul means'.
In the 1880s and 1890s, Conneff was an international athletic sensation, setting and breaking several world records. Many of these records remained unbroken for many years after his death, some indeed for over fifty years. Throughout his career Conneff was accorded many titles, including 'the little Irish wonder', 'the speedy son of Erin', and 'Tommy of the bulldog heart and greyhound legs', while records set by him were often referred to as the 'Conneff mark'. Conneff is mentioned by James Joyce (qv) in the Cyclops episode of Ulysses as one of Ireland's great heroes. This inclusion may reflect Joyce's attendance at Clongowes Wood College in the latter 1880s, a time when Conneff was very much a local celebrity in his native Clane. Today, Conneff is commemorated in Clane where the local GAA grounds are named in his honour. He was buried in the US military cemetery in San Francisco.