Dan Murphy, The Golden Boy from Ardfert by David Kissane

  Dan Murphy

The Golden Boy from Ardfert

By David Kissane

It’s a long way from Ardfert to San Sebastian. It was even longer in 1970. Northern Spain. Basque region. Probably nobody from Liscahane on the Tralee road leading out of Ardfert had ever been there. The furthest away from home that Dan Murphy had ever been. Sunday, January 25th. A nice fourteen degrees and firm underfoot. Not as warm or as firm as in Lismore, Co Waterford where he had won his second Munster junior cross country title a week before. Left a certain rising star called Niall Cusack from Limerick back in fourth place that day. Dan Murphy takes off his tracksuit top and looks down at the green singlet. He is the captain of the three-man Irish junior team. The three-leaf shamrock on his left chest and a tingle in his stomach. What a few years it has been in his life of eighteen years and his running life of four years! What a week gone by in competitive cross country! “A something given” as Wordsworth said.

He had arrived in the house of his neighbour from Ardfert, Tom O’Riordan on Thursday night. Quiet south Dublin. He wasn’t the first and wouldn’t be the last athlete who would be fed and rested in the O’Riordan house. And got nuggets of advice from an Olympian too. Tomo himself could have been on the plane to Spain with an Irish senior team the next day. But you had to be invited to this cross country event in San Sebastian and the Irish seniors hadn’t been impressive enough in recent international tests. The junior team only was invited. They got the message on New Year’s Day 1970. John Hartnett of Grange AC was announced as captain, Dan Murphy of St John’s AC, Tralee and Eddie Leddy of Ballinamore AC with Seán Fitzell as manager. Heartbreak shortly after when John Hartnett got injured and couldn’t travel. A broken leg from four years previously had flared up again and put him out of action for ten weeks that December and January. Tom Gregan of Clonliffe Harriers AC got the treasured place. Three travelled. Three to run and three to score in what was effectively a European cross country championships. Meant a lot for the new BLE athletics body in Ireland. Success would mean international recognition. Defeat could mean a long wait for future invitations and loss of status. No pressure lads!

Over a good dinner and a cup of tea, Tomo gave advice to Dan about possible tactics and what to expect from the new cross country atmosphere. Then Dan would be driven to Dublin airport while Tom O’Riordan would return to South Dublin to write up a preview to that Sunday’s Quinlan Cup road race in Tullamore which had over 460 entrants. That would be run at the same time as Dan was lining up for his first international cross country.

And now it’s Sunday in Spain as Dan lines up with the other 118 invited runners. The Irish boys have been over the flat green course and sense speed will be important. Especially at the finish. He is excited by the cheering from the masses of Spanish athletics fans who are present. The San Sebastian event is a tradition. Established in 1956, it has gained iconic status. There are no women’s races here till the next year, 1971. But with local races for young and old and the international senior and junior invitationals, the crowds have gathered from all of northern Spain for this traditional late January occasion.

Not a lot is said by Dan as the stand-in captain. He has jogged on the beach in San Sebastian with his two team mates and Eddie Leddy notices his strong legs. “That’s from running in Banna Strand” Dan tells him. “The sand strengthens you up.” Eddie will never forget that piece of advice. Dan’s spirit and his strong body have done the talking over the past year with the help of those notorious Banna-Barrow training runs with his Ardfert neighbours. And again last Sunday when he led the four mile race from start to finish in Lismore. Imperious. A clenched fist and a look in the eye is enough. Job to be done. Let’s do it. The cows will have to be milked next Tuesday when he gets back to the Murphy family farm in Ardfert and the new-born calves will have to be checked later. But not now. But there is no tomorrow at this moment. Only the here and now. Even the usually feared English singlets are not noticed but the Spanish team look focused. Brace for impact, lads.

And then the bang and the rush at the start of the 6,200m run over the flat terrain. Comfortable in the leading group from the start, Dan was in the top three with a mile to go and then Ramon Sanches Ferreira of Spain made a dash for home. The Ardfert athlete went with him and fought to keep him company and was aware of the olé olé olés of the home support. Ferreira sped across the line in a time of 19:32. Settling for second and distracted by the occasion for a moment, Dan learned a valuable lesson when Pat Standing of England passed him at pace as they approached the finish. A test of character. Dan revved up further and caught the white vest before the line in a time of 19:37. Only five seconds behind the winner. Sweet. That was a second place gained instead of lost. Sweet also when Eddie Leddy came romping home in 5th followed by Tom Gregan in 13th to give Ireland the runner up team position, behind Spain and ahead of England.

The bliss that so few can know. Three eighteen year olds making Europe their own. Success behind and the world ahead.

While Dan Murphy was basking in the Basque sun and savouring the emotion of his first international individual honour that Sunday afternoon, his team mates in St John’s AC were winning the team title in the Kerry intermediate cross country championships in Ballybeggan, Tralee. His neighbour in Ardfert, Patrick O’Riordan was just pipped by Jerry Kiernan for the bronze. In 5th position was Hugh Murphy, younger brother of Dan. In the village of Ardfert itself, it was a lazy January Sunday afternoon with a few of the GAA people selling tickets for the upcoming club social in Ballyroe. But no one knew till much later that the village had a new international star in cross country. They did know the following Tuesday when Tralee UDC honoured Dan with a civic reception. There was the Irish team trophy and his own medal. And a transistor radio which was part of the prize. A handy yoke in 1970! The rest and digest stage was enjoyed.

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Dan Murphy was born in Liscahane, Ardfert in 1951. Went to Ardfert NS and became interested in boxing in his early teens. Neighbours Patie and Willie Maguire sparred with him in the Murphy house. To get fit for boxing, they ran. Up the road was a man with a keen eye for running talent. Patrick Griffin was secretary of St John’s AC in Tralee in 1966. St John’s was the nearest athletic club four miles in the road. He saw the boys running and asked them to have a run with himself one evening. They did. He asked them would they like to run with St John’s. The Maguires did and were seen training more often around Liscahane. Patrick Griffin asked Dan again one evening after the cows had been milked and said there was a youths cross country championships in Sneem in South Kerry the following Sunday. St John’s needed a runner to fill the team. Reluctantly Dan said ok and off they went. November 27th, 1966. Dan came 7th in the race won by Joe Clifford. There were 35 runners and immediately the newest runner caught the running bug. Who can describe how the mind and heart feel when the legs carry you with abandon across winter fields? Who can articulate the nearest thing to freedom, to the birds of the air and the stars in the sky? Who can explain running?

And so Dan Murphy the athlete was born. The next year, 1967, Dan won the Fr Dan Browne senior road race in Farranfore at sixteen years of age. In his first juvenile race at Munster level that year he came second in the U16 event in Kenmare. Like a whirlwind he won or was placed in road, track and cross country races in Kerry in 1968 and capped the year off by winning the Munster novice cross country title in Listowel. Success continued in 1969 and he kick-started the year with his first national success. He won the Munster U18 title in Dromoland, Co Clare, leading his Kerry team to bronze medals. The Kerry athletes who followed him home were to have success in the years to come: Sonny Fennell (3rd), Tadgh O’Donoghue (6th) and Jerry Kiernan close behind. By February of that year he had won twelve of his last fourteen important races.

Then came his first All Ireland appearance. The national junior cross country championships were held in Mallow in February. In a hotly-contested race, the Kerryman was beaten by Eddie Leddy of Leitrim. Not a good day for his Kerry team either as they were pushed into fourth place after a technical slip-up. Listowel native Willie Curtin had come from England for the race and came third individual but had not been named on the Kerry team. A learning race. There is no mercy in sport. Including athletics and cross country.

But there was a silver lining in that silver medal as Dan Murphy got the news of a place on the Irish junior team for Scotland. Saturday March 22nd came and found him in Clydebank in Scotland in an invitational international race. His first international. He finished 18th and was a scoring member of the Irish team that came second. He was surprised that team mate John Hartnett of Grange AC came 4th and Eddie Leddy 6th, a long way ahead of him. An inspiration to train harder.

Back home in Ardfert, training was done at night (nobody would be seen training during the day) either in Banna or on the fierce road course that is “back Scrahan and down Sliabh”. The road to hell many labelled it, especially if there was no moon out to light your path. If there was a moon, it was eerie and full of shadows on wintry nights. Up hill and down slopes and potholes with stars shining in them. Patrick Griffin, Patie Maguire, Pat O’Riordan, Joe Duhig, Liam O’Riordan and Tom McGrath and more. No mercy, no waiting, no prisoners. Plausible reality. Welcome to Ardfert.

A busy summer of open sports and championships followed. He won the Kerry 5,000m title in Listowel during the summer. He followed the spirit of local athletics and he recorded a time of 4-36.7 on giving (or unforgiving) ground in the open handicap mile at Knocknagoshel Sports in August. He beat Seán O’Riordan, brother of Tom who was home on holidays from the US in that race. He brought the year to a close with a brilliant win in the Munster intermediate cross country championships in Killavullen, Co Cork where team mate Sonny Fennell was 5th. Somebody said afterwards that he had a chance of making the Irish team for the race of his life the following January. In Spain. And the silver medal. The day of his life.

And his last full year in Ireland as an athlete was to be 1970. The year of Spain and so much more. After the Irish team for Spain was announced on New Year’s Day there was joy in Ardfert.

A bounce in Dan’s step as he faced the starter on Sunday January 11th in Farranfore for the Kerry junior (now U20) championships in Farranfore. He would have been aware of the buzz that was around his presence now that he was an Irish international and shyly acknowledged the congratulations of supporters, officials and his co-athletes on that cold January day. He glided along in the aura of stardom in the sticky terrain of Farranfore. Led from gun to tape and a 200 yard victory over rising star Sonny Fennell of Tarbert, running with Listowel AC. The eighty miles a week training schedule was paying off with farm work acting as a warm-up and a cool-down. These were unreal days with his family, his village and his club as the athletics world reached out its arms to him to encourage and share in the magic of Dan-ness. He trying to keep a low profile and saying “sure it’s just another race!” about the upcoming trip to Spain.

And there was little time to think as up came that Munster junior championships in Lismore the following Sunday, January 18th. A battle with Ryan of Cork but Dan was unbeatable that month and so was in a good place in his head as he headed to Spain. It was also one of the best ever performances by a Kerry team so his rising tide was lifting all boats.

Then the individual and team silver in San Sebastian and out again the very next Sunday, February 1st. St Brigid’s Day and a new spring and teacht an earraigh. Wexford Racecourse and his first All Ireland at intermediate level. To understand what the importance of this day was, we have to realise that intermediate was the grade below senior, which meant that all ages and abilities were involved. It was the inaugural running of the event over six miles. There were 340 athletes milling at the start. Spikes and elbows and knees and the smell of Deep Heat and embrocation. A human race in all its rawness and reality. A test for the best on the day of the fray and unforgiving if you were making excuses. Dan Murphy made no excuses. His tactics were simple. If you had the talent, the stamina, the head and the heart for it. Stay with the leading bunch until half way. Then edge to the front and then hell for leather for home. It didn’t work too well at the start as Dan was left lost in the crowd for the first mile. Surprised at the rush and noted for the next race. It was survival of the fittest and he was fit so he worked his way through the forest of runners and did hit the front at three miles. There at the front was the upcoming star from Leitrim, Eddie Leddy. He had ambitions too. Dan tried to break away but the future Olympian understood Dan’s danger and went with him. Revealing time now as they shouldered-to shoulder the next two miles with mud and scraws flying off their powerful heels and the crowd enthralled and roaring. And then with a mile to go, the Kerryman felt fresh air in his face as the Leitrim man’s breathing faded back and he won with fifty yards to spare.

The excitement from the supporters, both partisan and neutral was a memory-clinger because the Colosseum of Ancient Rome would not have produced a battle so noble. Young gladiators born to run and wanting to win. The fact that they were both juniors added to the charisma of the occasion. Those present knew they had experienced something special and that they would experience it again soon. Cross country in all its glory…one of the joys of the 1960s and now the 1970s. Hope was in the air for the sport and it was being talked about in bars and homes that night as people relived an emotional experience. The newspapers were giving glowing accounts of cross country battles like this one in and Dan Murphy and Eddie Leddy and the 338 other runners were ambassadors for cross country that day. The gathering in groups afterwards, the steam of the athletes, the cups of soup, the banter about the going, the team possibilities, the rush for the line in the last mile, the spike cuts, the saliva wiped from mouths, the red cheeks, the after-elation…Children who were present emulated them.

Two weeks later the All Ireland junior cross country championships were staged in Grange, Co Cork. The club of John Hartnett who had recovered from his leg injury. And he proved it when he won with gusto from Eddie Leddy with Dan Murphy in third. Another learning experience after a hectic period of high-octane activity. But the upside was that Dan led Kerry to bronze medals in the inter-county event. This time Billy Curtin from Listowel was on the team and the Kerry athletes, the county board and the supporters who travelled had a day to remember with Dan creating the possibility and the reality of success on the national stage.

No real rest. Two weeks later on March 1st and the national senior cross country championships in Thurles. The Kerry county board had done their homework and persuaded Tom O’Riordan to declare for Kerry instead od Dublin. Not a lot of persuading there and Tomo may have mentioned it first! He had seen Dan Murphy’s progress over the past few months and saw that there was substance to the situation. This was the top standard for Irish cross country runners. A big step-up again for Dan but he saw the fire in Tom O’Riordan’s eye and swore he would not let the county down. Tom went on to win the title for the second time in three years. Dan was to finish eight after the seven and a half miles of texture-testing torture. Beaten in the run in by John Sheridan of Dublin. Interestingly he strode home eight places ahead of John Hartnett who had headed him in Grange two weeks before. The Kerry team were a creditable seventh in the inter-county table. Progress made.

Two weeks later again and Dan appeared in his third international cross country in Vichy near Paris. A brilliant victory for arch rival John Hartnett and the Kerryman back in 20th. Exhaustion setting in after a hectic season.

The summer of 1970 brought track appearances on a number of fronts, including a silver medal in the Munster 5000m to John Buckley of Cork in a time of 15:10 and he improved that time later at the famous Banteer sports with a third place at senior level to Tom O’Riordan in a time of 14:24. On the way, Dan beat Jerry Kiernan in the Kerry 5000m championship race in Killarney. The national junior 3000m brought him a silver medal in Glenstal later and who beat him? Eddie Leddy! Talented athletes learning from each other and pushing each other to excellence. In July he won the national army 5000m title in Dublin as he became eligible by enrolling in the local FCA corps in Tralee with some of his Ardfert and St John’s AC co-runners that summer.

September brought another international appearance. The European junior athletics championships in Vichy. September in Paris. This time on the track. Left Dublin airport on the Wednesday and easily qualified in the semi-final on Saturday and dreamed of Sunday’s final. However, a frantic pace by Korchenkov, the Russian talent, caught him out and he finished in 10th in a time of 8:43. Track was never to be his favourite.

Around this time he attained a role which will be forever his! He became the first chairman of Ardfert AC. The group of Ardfert athletes who had been the mainstay of St John’s AC in Tralee decided to go on their own. And they did. Brave move. Bravery was never a problem in Ardfert. No looking forward to the past here.

That winter brough some rest and a Kerry sports star award from the Tralee Junior Chamber of Commerce. He had it all right there in his hands then. County, Munster, All Ireland and International medals. Carpe diem. It was a good Christmas in the Murphy household. Joy to the world.

The new year of 1971 brough news from the US. On January 15th the Cork Examiner announced that Dan Murphy had been awarded a scholarship from Washington State University. A chance to develop as an athlete and a man. And see the world too. When he got the news himself some time earlier, he probably took it in his usual “Well… maybe… OK…I’ll go” way. He was 19 years of age on the verge of 20 in a month. The world was his.

And there was one sign-off to complete on his career in Ireland. The Munster junior cross country in Knockraha, Co Cork. His final race before he boarded the plane to Washington a few days later. And being Dan Murphy, he signed off well. He took the gold medal ahead of Mick O’Shea of Limerick and Tony O’Leary of Cork. They were to be the next generation. Athletics doesn’t wait too long. A special one for his new club also, Ardfert AC as they clinched the bronze medals in the club race with Dan Murphy, Pat O’Riordan, Willie O’Riordan and Hugh Murphy earning the points. Band of brothers.

That was Dan’s last serious medal in Ireland.

He went into action straightaway for Washington State College in the US and finished a brilliant 4th in the NCAA cross country championships in 1971 behind Olympian Steve Prefontaine. The Ardfert man was just 16 seconds behind the Oregon athlete and just one second behind Mike Slack of North Dakota who got the bronze. And Dan led his Washington State University team to the silver medals in a hotly contested battle, ahead of iconic colleges like Pennsylvania and Villanova.

A year later, 1972 in Houston, Texas in the 34th NCAA cross country championships, Steve Prefontaine was injured while Dan Murphy came a great 5th with incredible consistency. In his other NCAA cross country races he was a leading scorer for his college.

While in the US, his father passed away, bringing with the challenges of losing a father who, along with his mother and siblings had encouraged and nurtured his running career with a quiet family pride.

Racing most weekends then and piling on the training, the body began to feel the effort of the three glorious years that Dan made it happen. He returned to Ireland around 1975 and took over the family farm. Around that time he told me once that his calf muscles were all knotted from the relentless running. He did make a return to cross country at county level for a while and joined the new St Brendan’s AC club in Ardfert from its inception in 1987. With his quirky sense of humour and his nous of all things athletic, he was a privilege to be around. On one occasion he jogged his way through the Kerry masters’ cross country, chatting with some co-competitors in the last lap. When I told him that we were beaten by a point for the gold medals in the team event, all he said was, with a glint in his eye, “If you had told me there was a team event I would have ran faster!”

He had married and raised a family in the following years but tragedy struck when his wife died some years later. Life, like sport, can be cruel.

His last role in the club was to be a guest at the thirty year celebrations of the club foundation in 2017. He was at his best that night. He chatted about athletics and about life and had that sense of humour peculiar to him. When I asked him his opinion on what spikes were the best for a master athlete to wear, he looked at me with that glint again and calmly stated “What do you want spikes for…you’re not going to get any faster at this stage!”

Talking about his old sparring partner in cross country from his home in Tennessee, today, Eddie Leddy, twice Irish Olympian in 1972 and 1976 and US outdoor 10,000m champion in 1976 spoke with pride about Dan Murphy. He said “I loved Dan…he was both an absolute gentleman but also had this wicked competitive spirit: he would run you down in competition. I thank him for what he did to inspire me to be a better athlete”.

Dan was laid to rest in Ardfert on Thursday, 4 March 2021. Sympathy to his family, friends, neighbours and co-athletes.

You can all be assured that the golden boy of Ardfert will not be forgotten.