Matthew "Matty" Fouhy (1923 - April 1977) was an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

hurler who played as a right wing-back for the

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

senior team. Born in

Carrigtwohill Carrigtwohill, officially Carrigtohill (), is a town in County Cork, Ireland with a population of 5,080 (2016). It is 12 kilometres east of Cork city. It is connected to Cork Suburban Rail and is bypassed by the N25 road. Carrigtwohill is on ...

County Cork County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns a ...

, Fouhy first played competitive hurling during his schooling at Midleton CBS. He arrived on the inter-county scene at the age of seventeen when he first linked up with the Cork minor team before later joining the junior side. He joined the senior panel during the 1944 championship. Fouhy subsequently became a regular member of the starting fifteen and won three

All-Ireland All-Ireland (sometimes All-Island) refers to all of Ireland, as opposed to the separate jurisdictions of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. "All-Ireland" is most frequently used to refer to sporting teams or events for the entire islan ...

medals, two Munster medals and one National Hurling League medal. He was an All-Ireland runner-up on one occasion. As a member of the Munster inter-provincial team on a number of occasions, Fouhy won four Railway Cup medals. At club level Fouhy enjoyed a twenty-year career with

Throughout his career Fouhy made 24 championship appearances. He retired from inter-county hurling following the conclusion of the 1957 championship.

Playing career

Club

Fouhy played his club hurling with his local club in

and enjoyed some success. His major moments of victory came in 1949 and 1950 when Carrigtwohill captured back-to-back county intermediate championship titles.

Minor

Fouhy first played for Cork as a member of the minor team in 1941. He was an unused substitute that year as Cork claimed the

title after a 3-11 to 1-1 defeat of

Galway Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a city in the West of Ireland, in the province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay, and is the sixth most populous city on ...

while also claiming a delayed Munster title following a 4-6 to 3-3 defeat of

Tipperary Tipperary is the name of: Places *County Tipperary, a county in Ireland **North Tipperary, a former administrative county based in Nenagh **South Tipperary, a former administrative county based in Clonmel *Tipperary (town), County Tipperary's na ...

Senior

Beginnings

In 1944 Fouhy joined a Cork senior team on the brink of history as they aimed to capture a fourth All-Ireland title in-a-row. On 3 September 1944 Fouhy was a member of the substitutes as Cork faced

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

in the All-Ireland decider. Joe Kelly was the hero of the day and he contributed greatly to Cork's 2-13 to 1-2 victory. In spite of playing no part in the game Fouhy still collected an

medal. Fouhy was suspended from the Cork senior team in 1946 after lining out illegally in a club game in

Waterford "Waterford remains the untaken city" , mapsize = 220px , pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe , pushpin_relief = 1 , coordinates ...

. It was a move which cost him an All-Ireland medal. During this period he spent two unsuccessful years with the Cork junior team. On 29 June 1947 Fouhy made his senior championship debut when he came on as a substitute in Cork's 3-10 to 1-5 Munster semi-final defeat of

. He remained on the substitutes' bench for the subsequent All-Ireland decider against Kilkenny on 7 September 1947. A last-minute point from

Terry Leahy Sir Terence Patrick "Terry" Leahy (born 28 February 1956) is a British businessman, previously the CEO of Tesco, the largest British retailer and the third-largest retailer in the world measured by revenues. He now lives in Cuffley, Hertford ...

resulted in a 0-14 to 2-7 defeat for Cork.

Three-in-a-row

After a period in the wilderness Cork bounced back in 1952 with Fouhy as a regular member of the team. After missing much of Cork's provincial campaign, he was back at right wing-back on 6 September 1952 as Cork faced Dublin in the All-Ireland decider. In spite of only leading by three points at half-time Cork eventually won by 2-14 to 0-7 and Fouhy picked up a first All-Ireland medal on the field of play. Fouhy won a National Hurling League medal in 1953 following a 2-10 to 2-7 defeat of Tipperary. He later collected his first Munster medal on the field of play following a 3-10 to 1-11 defeat of Tipperary. On 6 September 1953 Cork faced Galway in the All-Ireland final. The game itself is remembered as one of the ugliest championship deciders ever and is clouded in controversy due to the injury to the Galway captain, Mick Burke. Cork won the game by 3-3 to 0-8, with Fouhy winning a second All-Ireland medal. In 1954 Fouhy won a second Munster medal on the field of play as old rivals Tipperary were bested by 2-8 to 1-8. A record crowd of 84,856 attended the subsequent All-Ireland decider on 5 September 1954 with

Wexford Wexford () is the county town of County Wexford, Ireland. Wexford lies on the south side of Wexford Harbour, the estuary of the River Slaney near the southeastern corner of the island of Ireland. The town is linked to Dublin by the M11/N11 ...

providing the opposition. Wexford had a four-point lead with seventeen minutes left to play, however, history was against the new team of the decade when

Johnny Clifford John Clifford (1934 – 19 October 2007) was an Irish hurler and hurling coach. After All-Ireland Championship victories as a player and manager during a five-decade association with the Cork senior hurling team, he is regarded as a "Cork le ...

scored the winning goal for Cork with just four minutes left. A narrow 1-9 to 1-6 victory secured a third successive All-Ireland for Cork and for Fouhy.

Decline

Four-in-a-row proved beyond Cork, however, the team returned for one last hurrah in 1956. After missing much of the team's successful provincial campaign, Fouhy was restored to the starting fifteen for the All-Ireland showdown with Wexford on 23 September 1956. The game has gone down in history as one of the all-time classics as

Christy Ring Nicholas Christopher Michael Ring (30 October 1920 – 2 March 1979) was an Irish hurler whose league and championship career at senior level with the Cork county team spanned twenty-four years from 1939 to 1963. He established many champions ...

was bidding for a record ninth All-Ireland medal. The game turned on one important incident as the Wexford goalkeeper,

Art Foley Michael Arthur Foley (14 December 1928 – 28 October 2019) was an Irish hurler who played as a goalkeeper for the Wexford senior team. Born in Enniscorthy, County Wexford, Foley first arrived on the inter-county scene at the age of seventeen ...

, made a miraculous save from a Ring shot and cleared the sliotar up the field to set up another attack.

Nicky Rackard Nicholas Rackard (28 April 1922 – 10 April 1976) was an Irish hurler whose league and championship career with the Wexford senior team spanned seventeen years from 1940 to 1957. He established many championship scoring records, including bein ...

scored a crucial goal with two minutes to go giving Wexford a 2-14 to 2-8 victory. Fouhy retired from inter-county hurling following Cork's defeat by Waterford in the 1957 Munster decider.

Inter-provincial

Fouhy also lined out with Munster in the inter-provincial hurling competition and enjoyed much success. He first lined out with his province in 1950. That year he picked up his first Railway Cup winners' medal as Munster triumphed over

Leinster Leinster ( ; ga, Laighin or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, situated in the southeast and east of Ireland. The province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige. Following the 12th-century Norman invasion of ...

. It was the first of four Railway Cup titles in-a-row for Fouhy and for Munster. Munster were defeated by Leinster in 1954 as Fouhy hoped to make it five-in-a-row.

Death

On 27 April 1977, Fouhy died aged 53 at St. Finbarr's Hospital in

after taking ill the previous day. After the news of his death, leading figures from the world of hurling paid tribute to him, with former teammate and incumbent GAA president Con Murphy described him as "a most accomplished and sporting hurler and one of nature's gentlemen." Fouhy was survived by his wife Dympna, two daughters and a son.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fouhy, Matty 1923 births 1977 deaths Carrigtwohill hurlers Cork inter-county hurlers Munster inter-provincial hurlers All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship winners