Tommy
Murphy was born in Nov. 1920 in Knockbeg and his father came from Tinryland
to work at Knockbeg but he also was not born in Tinryland, he is from a
place called Tomacork on the Carlow Wicklow border.
Photo of Tommy Murphy in New York c.1937 with two friends posted
on Facebook by
Anna
Nolan Goug.
They had four sons; Andy, Eddie, Tommy and John and five daughters,
Mrs
Marna Geoghehan, Mrs Bally Morrissey, Mrs Nuala MacRory, Mrs Deirdre
King and Mrs Enda John. Mrs Marna Geoghehan, (nee Murphy) was his eldest
daughter who married John Geoghehan and has lived in Australia for about
44 years
In Laois football the name of Tommy Murphy
will live forever because indeed the maestro of Laois was the greatest in
Ireland. In the thirties and forties his was a household name all over
Ireland. He won Provincial medals in 1937, 1938 and 1946. He first won fame
against Kerry in the All-Ireland semi-final in 1937. The following year his
team won the Leinster College Championship.
He played for Laois Minors when
he was only 15 years old and at
16, he was first chosen for the county senior team and his
performances bestowed on him the title "Boy Wonder".
He developed into a mid-fielder of great fame and
respect and was crucial to the successes of Laois during the 1930s when
winning three Leinster titles in a row from '36 to '38.
He won eight Laois Senior medals and the Railway Cup
medals. He toured the United States with the Laois team just before the war.
His last game for Laois was against Wexford in the 1953 Championship and
two years later he played his last game, Graiguecullen v Annanough.
For many years he worked as a Land Stewart and later with the Department
of Post and Telegraphs. He contested the 1948 election for Laois-Offaly as a
Clan na Pobhactha candidate but failed to get a seat.
Tommy Murphy died of a heart attack in May 1985 and was buried in his
native Graiguecullen.
In 1999 the Gaelic Athletic Association honoured Murphy by naming him on
the Gaelic football "Team of the Millennium." He was further honoured in
2005 when the organisation named the "Tommy Murphy Cup", a new football
competition, in his honour.
Irish stars on Irish Stamps:
Tommy
Murphy, 1921-1985. Football Team of the Millennium 1999 - Tommy Murphy. A
member of the Millennium GAA Team.
Source of
image:
https://colnect.com/en/stamps/stamp/10216-Tommy_Murphy-Gaelic_Athletic_Association_Millennium_Football_Team-Ireland
- Source: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Source:
http://laoisgaa.ie/contentPage/43343/tommy_murphy
- Sources: Irish Midlands Ancestry
http://www.irishmidlandsancestry.com/content/laois/people/murphy_tommy.htm
- Source: Anna Nolan Gough
(Facebook)
