Emotions run high for Paul Murphy after club win with Danesfort
Danesfort's Paul Murphy with the Tommy Murphy Cup, named in honour of his late father, after their win over Ratoath in the Leinster IHC final at Páirc Tailteann. Photograph courtesy of kilkennygaa.ie taken by Willie Dempsey.
By Paul Keane
Winning an AIB Leinster club intermediate hurling final is always going to be an emotional experience.
Particularly so when your beloved club is six points down with 15 minutes to go and you battle back to steal the silverware on a wet and windy day far from home.
But when that very cup you're lifting is named after your late father, that's an altogether more poignant moment and something truly special.
Danesfort defender Paul Murphy, a four-time All-Ireland winner with Kilkenny and four-time All-Star, found himself in that unique situation on Sunday last in Navan. Perhaps Danesfort even got a little help from above as they reeled off 2-9 without response in the final quarter hour or so to secure a 2-15 to 0-12 win.
When it came to hoisting the Tommy Murphy Cup, named after the Danesfort clubman and former county board chairman who passed away in 2004, his son was always going to be part of it, doing the honours jointly with club captain Diarmuid Phelan.
"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 Murphy.
"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's Paul Murphy helps lift the Tommy Murphy Cup, named in honour of his late father, after their win over Ratoath in the AIB Leinster IHC final at Páirc Tailteann. Photograph courtesy of kilkennygaa.ie taken by Willie Dempsey.
Murphy finished up his inter-county career in 2021 having won just about every available honour in the game. He starred in defence throughout the Brian Cody era and also won an All-Ireland junior football medal with Kilkenny in 2022. Much earlier, as a raw 17-year-old, he won an All-Ireland junior club hurling medal.
Those were all special, landmark moments but Murphy still placed Sunday's win in a league all of its town. Just before the Tommy Murphy Cup was handed over to team skipper Phelan and centre-back Murphy to lift together, the Leinster Council official told the crowd that the cup was 'going home'.
"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."
That's why he acknowledged that Sunday was 'probably the best day I've had on a hurling field'. The thing is, he could only talk about all of this, the emotional significance of the occasion, after the final whistle, when the job had been done. Anything else would have risked jinxing the thing.
"Dad passed away 21 years ago, we picked this cup out," explained Paul. "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."
They can relax alright, but only for a while. Danesfort will take on Munster champions Upperchurch Drombane in an AIB All-Ireland intermediate semi-final on the weekend of December 20/21.
"I suppose the first debate will be what's going to happen with the black and amber jerseys because they're the same as us," smiled Murphy. "Look, lads are enjoying the journey, it's coming thick and fast. Traditionally you might have had five or six weeks of a wait after winning a Leinster final but it's only two weeks. It's just great to still be here and to be in it."
Danesfort's Richie Hogan in action for Kilkenny in 2022. Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
Murphy's former Kilkenny colleague Richie Hogan played a big part in Sunday's win. Danesfort were six points down when former Hurler of the Year Hogan was introduced on Sunday with just 15 minutes to go. They had the wind behind them admittedly but still had to dig deep and were grateful to Hogan for his 1-1 scoring haul and the spike in electricity that he immediately brought to the game.
The seven-time All-Ireland medallist with Kilkenny hadn't actually played for his club all year and only returned to training three weeks ago.
"Richie came on and you could see that 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 then with him. The ball had only broken slightly loose for the goal chance but he was in there putting the pressure on and got the flick and that's Richie. 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."
They'll probably need him again if they're to overcome Upperchurch Drombane.
"They've come through a really tough Munster championship," said Murphy. "Garryspillane were in it, Tallow, Ballinhassig, so you've got serious teams there. Abbeydorney as well and they beat O'Callaghan's Mills the last day. So they'll be savage, their name is synonymous with high level hurling."
