Uachtaran Padraig O Murchadha Remembered

PADRAIG MURPHY president of Na Gaeil CLG died last week. May he rest in peace. He will be sadly missed by his wife Alice, daughters Blathnaid, Siobhan, Crona and Cliona: By his sons Sean, Padraig and Joe: By his grandchildren, brother, sisters, relatives and innumerable friends.

He will be greatly missed by all at Na Gaeil where his contribution to the successful growth of the club is widely recognised. At the very first meeting of the fledgling club it was Padraig who proposed the name Na Gaeil. At the very next meeting he was elected president and had been re elected every year since, a total of thirty-three in all. He filled the position with dignity and decorum and always acted in the best interests of the club. His contributions to executive meetings were apt and to the point as was his advice re training and fitness, especially of under age teams. He was a firm believer in learning skills at a young age and playing the game to the best of one’s ability but most especially in a sporting manner. Cynicism and winning at all costs were anathema to him. Mol an oige was an overriding belief and motto of his. Padraig himself was a very good corner forward and has what must be a unique achievement over the course of one year. In 1949 he was captain of the Colaiste Iosagan team that won the Munster Colleges Senior championship. In the same year he won a Cork Minor Championship with Macroom. In the same year, 1949, he won an East Kerry Championship with Glenflesk. He capped off the year by winning a Junior All Ireland with Kerry.

Of course he was playing regularly with his home teams Camp and West Kerry all the while. He was a sub in the Kerry Senior team in 1951 and 1952 and played against Mayo, then All Ireland champions, in the league. He went to St. Patrick’s College to study for teaching. His friend and colleague Michael O’Muirtheartaigh was in the same year as Padraig. Their close friendship lasted right up to Padraig’s death. When Michael made his first GAA broadcasts Padraig was his helper in the box. They shared a flat at the time. He qualified as a teacher in 1951 and taught in O’Connell’s School in Dublin. Padraig must not have devoted all his energies to teaching as he found time to meet the love of his life, Alice, and they married in 1959. He came to Camp as principal after the death of his father and took over from him in the school. When Camp school closed he went to Listellig and became principal after Sean Foley had retired. He held that position until he retired 16 years ago.

After his retirement he became an active member of Probus and was President of the local branch where he gave many talks on his pet subjects, local history and geography. The huge numbers from Na Gaeil that attended his removal, funeral mass and burial bears testament to the esteem in which he was held by all. We offer our deepest sympathy to his family on their great loss.

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