KILKENNY GREAT PAUL Murphy lied to himself all last week, pretending that the Leinster club IHC final with Danesfort was just another game.
But when the final whistle came on Sunday, and Murphy realised he’d get to lift the Tommy Murphy Cup, a piece of silverware named after his late father, all the emotion he’d been concealing suddenly came to the surface.
Murphy had already won it all with Kilkenny, from four All-Irelands and four All-Stars to three National League and five Leinster titles. He also won an All-Ireland junior club medal with Danesfort in 2007 and an All-Ireland junior medal with the Kilkenny footballers in 2022.
But Sunday’s 2-15 to 0-12 provincial club final win over Ratoath was an entirely unique experience, the very best of his career.
Advertisement
“It’s probably the best day I’ve had on a hurling field,” said Murphy. “I know in terms of the calibre of hurling, or the level of the competition, there were bigger days. But it’s huge.
“Dad passed away 21 years ago. We picked this cup out. It was actually my Mam’s club that was the first one to win it. We went in search of it with Danesfort a couple of times and came up short.
The Tommy Murphy Cup is heading home to Danesfort.
“And it looked like Ratoath were kicking on at one stage, they were six points up in the second-half but lads dug in and at the final whistle we realised we had won it. I didn’t really want it to become a thing during the week, where we got distracted by any of the emotion of it. It was 60 minutes of hurling. But it’s nice now, we can relax and say we have it now.”
Murphy celebrated with family members and posed for pictures at the Navan venue after the battling win.
“It was something that I was probably lying to myself beforehand, during the week, saying that I wasn’t hugely invested in this, that it was just another normal match,” said the 36-year-old centre-back.
“I didn’t want to get too wrapped up in the emotion of it because at the end of the day, it was still going to be a hurling match and whoever dug in hard enough was going to win the game.
“But at the final whistle, I could feel the emotion coming up, coming into me. I could hear some of my teammates saying a few words to me as well, a lot of nice words were said. Look, I’m going to bask in the emotion now, I’m happy to let it all come out now and enjoy the next few days.”
Danesfort had to finish strongly to take the title as they trailed by six points with 15 minutes to go. Richie Hogan’s introduction for his first action of the year was a turning point and Danesfort reeled off 2-9 without response after that. Former Hurler of the Year Hogan looks set to feature again when Danesfort play Munster champions Upperchurch Drombane on the weekend before Christmas in an All-Ireland semi-final.
“Dad was never around for any of these days,” said Murphy. “He never saw his club play outside of the junior grade. And here we are, senior for 2026 and we’ve the cup that’s named after him and we’re bringing it back to Danesfort. There’s a lot of sentimental value in it. To be honest, the All-Irelands and everything with Kilkenny were brilliant but for my family, we won’t forget this.”
The pre-Christmas All-Ireland semi-final will be another landmark occasion for Murphy and his club.
“I’ve watched Upperchurch, they’ve had a few really tough matches,” said Murphy. “They’re a really good team. Any team that comes out of Munster you know is a really good team. They’ve come through a really tough Munster championship. Garryspillane were in it, Tallow, Ballinhassig, so you’ve got serious teams there. Abbeydorney as well and they beat O’Callaghans Mills the last day. So they’ll be savage, their name is synonymous with high level hurling.”
Related Reads
'That was biggest free I ever kicked. It’s the best day in the club’s history'
Dingle not expecting to have AFL star O'Connor available for All-Ireland semi-final
Hogan's 1-1 helps former Kilkenny teammate Murphy lift Leinster club trophy named after father
So is Richie Hogan’s and it looks like the seven-time All-Ireland winner will play the role of impact sub again. Hogan scored 1-1 on Sunday, won a free that was converted and generally caused panic in the Ratoath defence as Danesfort came from behind to win.
“He was getting on a few of those balls that we were maybe leaving behind before that,” said Murphy. “The poacher’s instinct was there as usual with him. He hasn’t hurled in a game for over a year but he still has that capacity and that instinct to do stuff like that.”
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Close
Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic.
Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy
here
before taking part.
'Dad passed away 21 years ago. We picked this cup out' - Murphy's special Leinster club success
KILKENNY GREAT PAUL Murphy lied to himself all last week, pretending that the Leinster club IHC final with Danesfort was just another game.
But when the final whistle came on Sunday, and Murphy realised he’d get to lift the Tommy Murphy Cup, a piece of silverware named after his late father, all the emotion he’d been concealing suddenly came to the surface.
Murphy had already won it all with Kilkenny, from four All-Irelands and four All-Stars to three National League and five Leinster titles. He also won an All-Ireland junior club medal with Danesfort in 2007 and an All-Ireland junior medal with the Kilkenny footballers in 2022.
But Sunday’s 2-15 to 0-12 provincial club final win over Ratoath was an entirely unique experience, the very best of his career.
“It’s probably the best day I’ve had on a hurling field,” said Murphy. “I know in terms of the calibre of hurling, or the level of the competition, there were bigger days. But it’s huge.
“Dad passed away 21 years ago. We picked this cup out. It was actually my Mam’s club that was the first one to win it. We went in search of it with Danesfort a couple of times and came up short.
“And it looked like Ratoath were kicking on at one stage, they were six points up in the second-half but lads dug in and at the final whistle we realised we had won it. I didn’t really want it to become a thing during the week, where we got distracted by any of the emotion of it. It was 60 minutes of hurling. But it’s nice now, we can relax and say we have it now.”
Murphy celebrated with family members and posed for pictures at the Navan venue after the battling win.
“It was something that I was probably lying to myself beforehand, during the week, saying that I wasn’t hugely invested in this, that it was just another normal match,” said the 36-year-old centre-back.
“I didn’t want to get too wrapped up in the emotion of it because at the end of the day, it was still going to be a hurling match and whoever dug in hard enough was going to win the game.
“But at the final whistle, I could feel the emotion coming up, coming into me. I could hear some of my teammates saying a few words to me as well, a lot of nice words were said. Look, I’m going to bask in the emotion now, I’m happy to let it all come out now and enjoy the next few days.”
Danesfort had to finish strongly to take the title as they trailed by six points with 15 minutes to go. Richie Hogan’s introduction for his first action of the year was a turning point and Danesfort reeled off 2-9 without response after that. Former Hurler of the Year Hogan looks set to feature again when Danesfort play Munster champions Upperchurch Drombane on the weekend before Christmas in an All-Ireland semi-final.
“Dad was never around for any of these days,” said Murphy. “He never saw his club play outside of the junior grade. And here we are, senior for 2026 and we’ve the cup that’s named after him and we’re bringing it back to Danesfort. There’s a lot of sentimental value in it. To be honest, the All-Irelands and everything with Kilkenny were brilliant but for my family, we won’t forget this.”
The pre-Christmas All-Ireland semi-final will be another landmark occasion for Murphy and his club.
“I’ve watched Upperchurch, they’ve had a few really tough matches,” said Murphy. “They’re a really good team. Any team that comes out of Munster you know is a really good team. They’ve come through a really tough Munster championship. Garryspillane were in it, Tallow, Ballinhassig, so you’ve got serious teams there. Abbeydorney as well and they beat O’Callaghans Mills the last day. So they’ll be savage, their name is synonymous with high level hurling.”
So is Richie Hogan’s and it looks like the seven-time All-Ireland winner will play the role of impact sub again. Hogan scored 1-1 on Sunday, won a free that was converted and generally caused panic in the Ratoath defence as Danesfort came from behind to win.
“He was getting on a few of those balls that we were maybe leaving behind before that,” said Murphy. “The poacher’s instinct was there as usual with him. He hasn’t hurled in a game for over a year but he still has that capacity and that instinct to do stuff like that.”
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Danesfort GAA Family ties GAA Hurling Kilkenny GAA Paul Murphy