John 'Curtis' Murphy was an Irish sportsman. He played

hurling Hurling (, ') is an outdoor Team sport, team game of ancient Gaelic culture, Gaelic Irish origin, played by men and women. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goa ...

with his local club

Blackrock BlackRock, Inc. is an American Multinational corporation, multinational investment company. Founded in 1988, initially as an enterprise risk management and fixed income institutional asset manager, BlackRock is the world's largest asset manager ...

and with the

Cork "Cork" or "CORK" may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Stopper (plug), or "cork", a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container *** Wine cork an item to seal or reseal wine Places Ireland * ...

senior inter-county team in the 1880s and 1890s. Murphy captained Cork to

All-Ireland All-Ireland (sometimes All-Island) is a term used to describe organisations and events whose interests extend over the entire island of Ireland, as opposed to the separate jurisdictions of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. "All-Irelan ...

victory in 1893.

Playing career

Club

Murphy played his club

with the famous

club in

and enjoyed success. He won his first senior county title in 1887 as ‘the Rockies’ captured the very first Cork county title. Murphy added further county titles to his collection in 1889 and 1891. Blackrock quickly became the standard-bearers in the county and Murphy had further county victories with the famous club in 1893, 1894, 1895, 1897 and 1898.

Inter-county

Blackrock’s victory in the county championship in 1893 allowed them to represent

in the inter-county series. For the second year in-a-row the Cork inter-county team contained a mix of players, including Murphy who, as a Blackrock player, was appointed captain. That year Cork reached the Munster final where

Limerick Limerick ( ; ) is a city in western Ireland, in County Limerick. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. W ...

provided the opposition. On that occasion Cork retained their provincial title with a remarkable 5-3 to 0-0 victory, giving Murphy his first, and only,

Munster Munster ( or ) is the largest of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the south west of the island. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" (). Following the Nor ...

title. The subsequent All-Ireland final pitted Cork against

Kilkenny Kilkenny ( , meaning 'church of Cainnech of Aghaboe, Cainnech'). is a city in County Kilkenny, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is located in the South-East Region, Ireland, South-East Region and in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinst ...

. It was the very first meeting of these two great rivals in the history of the championship. The game was fixed for Ashtown, however, upon arrival both teams refused to play there as somebody had neglected to mow the grass. After a long delay the goalposts were uprooted and both teams and their supporters headed to the

Phoenix Park The Phoenix Park () is a large urban park in Dublin, Ireland, lying west of the city centre, north of the River Liffey. Its perimeter wall encloses of recreational space. It includes large areas of grassland and tree-lined avenues, and since ...

where the game took place after a delay. The game itself turned into a rout as Cork score 6-8 to Kilkenny’s 0-2. It was Cork’s second

title in-a-row and it was Murphy’s only one.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Murphy, John Year of birth missing Year of death missing Blackrock National Hurling Club hurlers Cork inter-county hurlers All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship winners