The late Josie Murphy Josie Murphy of Maynooth who passed away peacefully in his 97th year on 19th April, 2007 will be sadly missed by his family and large circle of friends in Maynooth, where he was a well known figure in the local GAA club, and throughout the county. He featured prominently for Kildare in both hurling and football during the 1930s, playing on the Kildare junior hurling team which win the Leinster Championship in '34 before losing to Waterford in the All-Ireland final. He played altogether nine years junior hurling for the lillywhites. In football be played in the Leinster Senior Final of '38 at midfield, marking Tommy Murphy 'the boy wonder' of Laois. Unfortunately for Kildare Laois won on the day by a score of 2-8 to 1-3, even though Kildare drew with them earlier that year in the league. He played with the London Irish team in the early '30s and with an all Kildare team in London, formed to help maintain friendships and companionship among young Kildare men in London, who had to emigrate due to the poor state of the Irish economy at that time. He had a long and illustrious career with the 'Crom Abus' of Maynooth in both codes. In '35 he captained the team to its only success in the Leinster Leader Cup defeating county champions Raheens in the first round and Ellistown in the final. He later helped for many years with the running and maintenance of the club's facilities on the Moyglare Road. His love of the GAA was to keep him going over his lifetime and he enjoyed nothing more than to spend Sunday afternoons in Croke Park, especially when the lillywhites were playing. He remembered the All-Ireland finals of '27/'28, when Kildare. powered by greats like Larry Stanley, Jack Higgins, Matt Goff and Paul Doyle, beat Kerry and Armagh respectively. He was in Croke Park for Kildare's Leinster final win against Wexford in 1956, in which their Kilcock contingent starred, and subsequent defeat by Cork in the All-Ireland semi-final. In the sixties he had fond memories of Kildare stalwarts such as Mick Carolan, Ollie Crinnigan, Pa Connolly, Tommy Carnew and Pat Dunny and later in the '80s and '90s Larrry Tomkins, Paddy O'Donoghue, Davy Dalton, Glen Ryan, Anthony Rainbow and Sos Dowling with more recently Maynooth man Karl Ennnis making him proud. He loved to relax with his newspapers every day and enjoyed watching Ted Walsh and Robert Hall presenting the major events in Irish racing on TV. He was predeceased by his wife Kathleen in 1998 and is survived by his three sons and three daughters. He was laid to rest in Larraghbyran Cemetery following Requiem Mass in St Mary's Church on Monday 23rd April, 2007. A guard of honour was formed by past members of the Maynooth hurling and football club. Ar dheis De go raibh a anam dhilis. Courtesy of the Leinster Leader 17 May 2007 Tweet

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