While other children were drawn to toy trucks, Fionn Kimber O’Shea recalls being fascinated by an abacus when he was in kindergarten in Belmont, California.
The early memory illustrates the beginning of his love for maths, which grew to see him take an interest in the stock market and investments based on favourable interest rates. The logical nature of maths is what O’Shea has found appealing.
Now aged 19, the Christian Brothers College Cork student has just set a new record at the Irish Maths Olympiad by winning the title for the third year in a row.
“I’ve always loved maths since I was very young – I’ve never not loved maths. Instead of playing with trucks, I’d always be adding the beads up,” he said.
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Born in California, O’Shea, whose father is from Co Kerry and mother is from Co Waterford, moved to Cork when he was 13.
In the last just three years, he has gathered more than 20 awards from maths competitions at home and abroad. In that period, he has competed in 14 countries including South Africa, Japan, the US, Hungary and Finland.
“It’s very tiring but very fun,” he said. “A lot of the time, it’s to do maths, but really it’s to hang out with my mates. The most important part of maths competitions for me is the social side. It’s just great craic.”
His favourite memory from competing at the International Mathematical Olympiad last summer in Chiba, Japan, was not the bronze medal he won, Ireland’s first in the competition since 2019, but the time spent in hot springs with his friends.
O’Shea likened competing in the olympiad to “going with your football team on a tour”, adding that he has calls weekly with friends made along the way, dotted around the world.
He is unsure which university he will attend after his Leaving Cert, but plans to study maths and eventually hopes to work in trading.
With preparation for the exams getting into full swing, Fionn O’Shea said “like every other teenager”, he struggles with spending too much time on his phone.
He said his school community has been an “unbelievable support” throughout his time competing in maths events, adding that Christian Brothers College was the one school he has attended where “it’s accepted to be very hard-working”.
His principal, David Lordon, said the school is immensely proud of its “prodigious mathematics talent”.
“We have no doubt that the future is very bright for this young man,” he said.
O’Shea also credits the work of Anca Mustata, his maths mentor at University College Cork, who has coached him over the last three years as part of a special maths programme.
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