Leo Murphy (1939 – 20 February 2017) was a Northern Irish

Gaelic football Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach; short name '), commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA or Football is an Irish team sport. It is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by kic ...

er. His

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and championship career with the Down senior team spanned ten seasons from 1957 to 1967. Murphy was described by the Down County Board as the "finest full back of isera". Born in

Kilkeel Kilkeel () is a small town, civil parish and townland (of 554 acres and 6521inh) in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is the southernmost town in Northern Ireland. It lies within the historic barony of Mourne. Kilkeel town is the main fishing ...

County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 531,665. It borders County Antrim to the ...

, Murphy played competitive Gaelic football as a boarder at St Colman's College in Newry, and won a

MacRory Cup The MacRory Cup is an inter-college (school) Gaelic football tournament in Ulster at senior "A" grade. The MacLarnon Cup is the competition for schools at senior 'B' grade. Players must be under nineteen at the start of the tournament. The win ...

medal in 1957. Murphy began his club football career with Lisnacree before playing with

and winning a county junior championship medal with the club. He ended his club career with

Rostrevor Rostrevor () is a village and townland in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies at the foot of Slieve Martin on the coast of Carlingford Lough, near Warrenpoint. The Kilbroney River flows through the village and Rostrevor Forest is nearby. ...

in 1975. Murphy made his debut on the inter-county scene at the age of sixteen when he was selected for the Down minor team. He played during two championship seasons with the minor team, and was an Ulster Minor Football Championship runner-up in 1957. Murphy subsequently joined the Down junior team, winning an

Ulster Junior Football Championship The Ulster Junior Football Championship is a junior Gaelic football knockout competition organised by the Ulster GAA. The competition began in 1914, with Cavan winning during the inaugural title. The most successful county to date is Cavan, who ...

medal in 1958. By this stage he had also joined the Down senior team, making his debut during the 1957 Dr Lagan Cup. Over the course of the next ten seasons, Murphy won back-to-back All-Ireland medals in 1960 and 1961. He also won six

Ulster Senior Football Championship The Ulster Senior Football Championship is an inter-county competition for Gaelic football teams in the province of Ulster. It is organised by the Ulster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) and begins in early May. The final is usu ...

medals and two

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

medals. He played his last game for Down in August 1967 when an injury forced his retirement from inter-county activity. After being chosen on the

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United King ...

inter-provincial team in 1962, Murphy was an automatic choice on the starting fifteen for the following few seasons. During that time he won two

Railway Cup The GAA Interprovincial Championship ( ga, An Corn Idir-Chúigeach) or Railway Cup (''Corn an Iarnróid'') is the name of two annual Gaelic football and hurling competitions held between the provinces of Ireland. The Connacht, Leinster, Munster ...

medals. In retirement from playing, Murphy combined his teaching career with a new role as a coach and manager. He took charge of the St. Colman's Lisnacree, Kilkeel and Rostrevor club sides in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Murphy was in charge of

Ulster Polytechnic sco, Ulstèr Universitie , image = Ulster University coat of arms.png , caption = , motto_lang = , mottoeng = , latin_name = Universitas Ulidiae , established = 1865 – Magee College 1953 - Magee Un ...

in the All-Ireland Freshers' Championship in 1983–84. He was also at the helm in 1985 as the college entered the Sigerson Cup for the first time. Murphy died at the age of 78 at his home in

in February 2017. In 2019 the GAA set up five U20 Football Development Leagues to give each county a number of league games in advance of the knock-out provincial championships. One of the new five competitions was the Leo Murphy Cup. The others being the Philly McGuinness Cup, the John Kerins Cup, the Liam Connor Cup and the Andrew Corden Cup. Down won the first Leo Murphy Cup defeating Cavan in the final 1–14 to 0-11.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Murphy, Leo 1939 births 2017 deaths Irish schoolteachers Rostrevor Gaelic footballers Down inter-county Gaelic footballers Ulster inter-provincial Gaelic footballers Winners of two All-Ireland medals (Gaelic football)