Legendary kitman Tom Murphy discusses his 30 years with Kildare

In case over 30 years of service wasn’t enough, Kildare’s legendary kitman Tom Murphy also played a key role in the county’s purchase of what is now the Hawkfield Centre of Excellence.

“It is right behind me. Jimmy Kelly, who owned the land, asked me if I would buy it and I said I would if I had the money,” Tom laughed.

“But I added that I knew a lad who would. Then Seamus Aldridge came out and they (Kildare GAA) bought it straight away. Ever since they built the place I used to clean it and started off taking care of the dressing rooms. Myself and the wife painted the inside of them and then I was asked to be the kitman for Mick (O’Dwyer). I started off with that then and I have been there ever since.”

Tom had nothing but praise for the legendary Kerrman who led Kildare to two Leinster Championship wins and an All-Ireland final in 1998.

“He was brilliant, he was some character. He always knew what you were thinking. He said to me one time ‘tell everyone what they want to know, but think your own way’. The only one next to him in terms of that was McGeeney,” Tom recalled.

“It (success) had a lot to do with the group that they had together and as well as that you need a bit of luck. You could be the best team in Ireland, but you may never win the big one, look at Mayo. The 1998 final was a brilliant occasion and the build-up was great to be a part of. It was a downer afterwards of course.”

Kildare’s finest hour in recent times was undoubtedly the 2000 Leinster final win over Dublin and their exceptional turnaround following a dismal first half.

“I remember what it was like at half-time and then to get two goals. We had been six points down and it should have been more so you can imagine the way it was at half-time,” Tom said.

“After the match we were coming back into the dressing rooms because we were under the Cusack Stand that day because they were doing up the Hogan. I was so used to the other layout that I turned into the wrong dressing room and they (Dublin) were all just in there with their heads down. I said ‘I am in the wrong place’ and they said ‘you are’ fairly quickly. I just smiled and got out.”

The two Leinster Championship wins would be Kildare’s apex during Micko’s second stint and one of the big characters of that team was Willie McCreery. Tom recalls one incident in particular before training with the tireless Clane forward’s antics.

“I had an old Honda 50 (motorbike) at the start and I was up there one day waiting for the lads to arrive and next thing Willie said to me ‘give us the key’. I gave it to him and he was flying around the field on the bike and then the next thing lads went out with footballs then trying to knock him off it. I was trying to call them back in before Micko came or I’d be run out of the place,” Tom laughed.

A hallmark of Micko’s time with Kildare was the aforementioned man-management, but the boss from Waterville was far from afraid to send someone packing too.

“Micko would let a lad go out the gate and he’d say ‘you’ll never see that lad here again’,” Tom recalled.

Did that happen often?

“It did, but then again he knew how to raise lads up. I remember one day he dropped Ken Doyle and Ken was really upset. Ken came to me then and I told him that it would only make him more determined and, to be fair to Micko, he played brilliantly after it,” Tom said.

“McGeeney did that with Jimmer (James) Kavanagh. He was a brilliant footballer, but sometimes he would go in kind of half-hearted for it. McGeeney really got onto him one time. I said to him if he kept playing the way he was that he’d be dropped, but if he played to his capabilities he’d get an All-Star, and he was nominated that year. I still remember the goal he scored against Galway that year when he rounded the ‘keeper.”

The time between Micko and Geezer wasn’t short of stories either with Kildare visiting Sunderland FC under John Crofton after a random meeting on a plane between Syl Merrins and Niall Quinn.

“They looked after us fairly well too. They had a football pitch made to the size of Croke Park when we got over there. It was brilliant,” Tom explained.

“We were playing a match there one day and four lads came down to watch. They were asking me all sorts of questions, but they eventually got to ‘what sort of money are these lads on?’ and I said nothing. They were shocked of course and next they asked ‘would there be many at a match?’ and we were about to go back and play a Leinster semi-final so I told them that there could be about 60,000 at it. ‘And no money?’ they asked again, they couldn’t believe it.”

Kildare GAA enjoyed plenty of trips stateside too with visits to New York, Boston and San Francisco under Kieran McGeeney. The Kildare kitman and the now Armagh manager were close with Tom being great friends with his father Pat McGeeney.

“He was different. He was very good to lads, if anyone was in trouble, he would look after them. Geezer would always let a lad know what he thought, whereas Micko wouldn’t. I got on very well with him though,” Tom said.

“He had hard luck with us. Especially that year against Down and you can’t blame Benny Coulter for scoring because if we got one like that we’d take it. It was the referee’s fault and he later admitted he was wrong.”

Due to ties with the family, Geezer’s Armagh journey was a special thing to watch for Tom with his 10-year effort culminating in an All-Ireland win in 2024.

“I met him (Pat McGeeney) at the All-Ireland this year and we were chatting. It was a brilliant day for them and we were all delighted,” Tom recalled.

“When (Kieran) went there first he told me that he can’t even get lads to play for Armagh, but he said ‘when I get lads in, they’ll be lads that want to play for Armagh’.”

Carrying on from Geezer’s time in Kildare with managerial stints for Jason Ryan, Cian O’Neill and Jack O’Connor, Tom remained as the man working behind the scenes. Those were years with their own drama and stories too with Cian O’Neill being the face of the now infamous ‘Newbridge or Nowhere’ campaign.

O’Neill was followed by Jack O’Connor, who Tom affectionately referred to as “another Micko.2

It has been a struggle of late for Kildare and the evergreen kitman explained what things have been like during the recent decline.

“It was hard for him (Glenn), nothing seemed to work out. To think, we would have won nothing without him (playing). The lads he had there with (Anthony) Rainbow and Johnny (Doyle) were all brilliant footballers too,” Tom said.

“Glenn was a brilliant captain. It was hard (watching them lose and be criticised). They are all great lads, who all had the interest in us, and are wholeheartedly Kildare. They just wanted Kildare to win.”

Despite recent struggles, Tom has high hopes for new boss Brian Flanagan and recalls the former Johnstownbridge player’s ambitions from his playing days.

“Brian is great. When he was here playing under McGeeney, himself and Emmet Bolton wrote down everything he said or done. They were always paying attention,” Tom recalled.

“I remember Brian, and I can’t even think what game it was, but it was really tough, and the tougher it got the more he rose to it. Shouting ‘come on’, the tougher it was, the more he wanted it. He loved it.”

Tom Murphy has now retired from his duties as Kildare GAA kitman after over 30 years of service. Two years ago, he was honoured with the Leinster Award in Gradaim an Uachtaráin (GAA President’s Award) for his long-standing contribution to Gaelic Games.

“It is great to be recognised,” Tom said. “I am 79 next year and I put it down to that time spent that I am so well. I was always out doing things with Kildare and I am living too close to it still to be away all the time.”

A lifetime of service to Kildare, the GAA President's Award for all that he has done and, over the weekend, Tom added his 50th wedding anniversary to his list of beloved achievements.