County final week with CHAS and Chas!
Nationalist reporter Kieran Murphy interviewing Carlow hurling goalkeeper Brian Treacy. Photo: Pat Ahern
Opened up ‘The Nationalist’ last Tuesday morning and spotting a headline with the word ‘CHAS’ in it, says, great, I can check the starting time for John Kelly’s CHAS talk on the infamous ‘Battle of Rathoe’.
Now while John’s talk was an excellent one and a story for another day, the article underneath the Chas heading was not about the CHAS of the Carlow Historical and Archaeological Society but, to my delight, concerned news that the Chas of this parish, aka ‘The Nationalist’s very own Kieran Murphy had been nominated for Sports Journalist of the Year in the National Local Media Awards.
While Kieran, alas, didn’t win the ultimate prize the nomination was real recognition. I immediately texted Kieran and I’m sure he won’t mind me sharing the sentiments contained in the message. “Hearty congratulations on your local media award nomination Chas, so, so well deserved, the graft you put into your craft is simply amazing, be it big game or small you’ll be there to cover it and not just cover it but give every game the attention to detail that creates a record for all time.” We’ll come back to that ‘record for all time’ later on, first though, courtesy of Ger McNally’s article we’ll trace Kieran Murphy’s career.
“Chas first honed his writing skills as PRO of Carlow Rugby Club during one of the most successful periods in the club's history, when they won five Provincial Towns Cups between 1992 and 1998 and competed in Division 1 of the All-Ireland League.
He takes up the story of how that led to a role with The Nationalist. “Around that time the Carlow Nationalist asked me would I cover a GAA match. That turned out to be a Senior Football League Division 1 game between Mount Leinster Rangers and Éire Óg, two of the most successful clubs in Carlow GAA,” he said.
That sparked a near three decade spell of covering sports of all levels all over the county, and of Carlow teams all over the country.
“Working with Carlow Nationalist Sports Editors, Eamonn O’Molloy, Terry Reilly, John Foley and Ger McNally they have had a huge influence on how I covered Carlow teams and individuals all over Ireland and beyond,” said Murphy.
“If I was to pick out one moment which I will never forget, it was in February 2012. I had a hip replacement earlier in the week but no way was I going to miss the All-Ireland Intermediate Hurling Final between Mount Leinster Rangers and Middletown na Fianna of Armagh on the Saturday in Croke Park, which Rangers won,” he said.
“It is a massive honour to be even nominated for this award but an even bigger honour to have been able to cover GAA, rugby, golf, racing, athletics and many other sports in the second smallest county in Ireland that continually boxes above its weight on the sporting spectrum,” he said.
Right, below you will find statistics I compiled during the week concerning St Mullins marksmen Marty Kavanagh and James Doyle, statistics that would not have been possible without Kieran Murphy’s attention to detail mentioned above. In tracing the lads scoring records I delved into ‘The Nationalist’ archive, tracked all their matches, the vast majority reported on by Chas. And his reports, whether you agree or disagree with his opinions, are a master-class in factual detail, the scoring returns broken up into scores from play and placed balls, the placed balls broken up into frees, ‘65s, penalties, line-balls. So too with substitutions, the time recorded.
You might say this is all basic reporting but you would be surprised how many reports of matches in various outlets just list the scorers without the breakdown so you are left wondering was that 1-7 all from play or were a good few of them from placed balls? A Chas breakdown would detail 1-7 (1-0 pen, 0-3f, 0-2 65, 0-1 s-l). Hence we carry below for the first time the SHC scoring returns of Kavanagh and Doyle
Yes, in 75 championship games in the green and white of St Mullins the Mouse has raised 41 green flags, 520 white flags, the total, goals and points combined, a stunning 643, a match average of 8.57.
Mouse made his SHC debut on May 1, 2011, a 55th minute sub for Shaun Gahan in a second round game against Mount Leinster Rangers in Dr Cullen Park, a rare no-score day, understandable given the time restraint and that the final score was a scarcely believable 0-10 to 1-6 in St Mullin’s favour. That might be the score at the end of the first quarter of next Saturday night’s final between the same clubs.
Marty has scored a healthy 29-157 (244) from play, a match average of 3.25 while he has racked up 12-363 (399) from placed balls, a average of 5.32 a game.
James, though he made his debut two years later than Mouse, has played a game more and from those 76 outings has posted a tasty 20-243, a points total, goals and points combined of 303, a match average of 3.98.
Opening his account with a point from play in his first appearance in a 1-17 to 2-14 draw with Naomh Bríd in Dr Cullen Park on July 14, 2013, James has scored 19-150 (207) from play, a nice match average of 2.72 while when on free-taking duties James has tallied 1-93 (96) from placed balls, a match average of 1.26
Yes, yes, I can hear in my minds eye the Rangers readers demanding Chris Nolan’s figures and rightly so. However, due to deadline demands and the slow nature of compiling such figures, Chris doubtless impressive returns will have to wait until next week.
However we will carry here the citation penned by this scribe on Chris’ elevation to ‘Hurler of the Year’ in 2025.
“The sporting mantra ‘Big players perform on the big day’ could have been coined with Chris Nolan in mind. The last five times Mount Leinster Rangers won the Carlow Senior Hurling Championship who was their scoring ace in the county final, who went home with the ‘man of the match’ award? Yes, Chris Nolan. We could delve into the archive and list off those county final tallies of 2018, 2020. ’21, ’23 and ’25, we could collate his championship scores with club and county and they would make impressive reading but what those cold figures cannot reveal is the sheer quality of the scores. Chris rifles over scores from impossible angles, not to mention making angles for himself with his sorcery and his locating of the net is a combination of power and panache. A teenage prodigy who made his club SHC debut in a county final, he has more than fulfilled that early promise and good news for all admirers of the Ballymurphy/Rathanna/Borris clubman is there is plenty more to come from this wizard of the ash.
On Sunday, July 26, 2015 a young boy, just 11 years old, fought back tears as he read a prayer of the faithful at his Grandad’s funeral mass in St Clare’s Church, Graiguecullen. As the funeral cortege made its way to St Mary’s Cemetery via Carlow Town’s JKL Avenue, stopping for a moment outside No 143, the young boy heard tales of his Grandfather’s football feats, heard of how the man they called the ‘Badger’ was a stonewall full-back for club and county and of how he captained Graiguecullen to their last Laois SFC triumph way back in 1965. One of the three symbols brought to the altar was a photograph of his grandfather proudly holding the Delaney Cup.
On Sunday, July 26, 2026, eleven years later, a young man, just 22 years old, fought back tears as he mounted the steps of the Hogan Stand and held aloft the Sam Maguire Cup, the symbol of All-Ireland SFC supremacy. The man wearing the white jersey with a black No 5 on the back had just played a starring role in the shock, but deserved, defeat of Kerry, rifling over a crucial first half point.
The young boy of July 26, 2015 and the young man of July 26, 2026 were one and the same. Sam Callinan. Sam’s Granda John ‘Badger’ Callinan gloried in the green and red of Graiguecullen, his grandson glories in the green and red of Mayo though in Croke Park last Sunday the men of the West donned white and whoever decided that should take a bow as Mayo’s last All-Ireland triumph three-quarters of a century ago was won in white!
Sam’s father David kicked football in the blue of O’Hanrahan’s before going West and how fortunate were the Connacht County that the Callinan’s took to the moonlight in Mayo?!
Now, on another 26th, next Saturday, September 26, Sam Callinan will be back in Graiguecullen when he will be the guest of honour at the official opening of the club’s ball wall, built in honour of Sinéad Ní Nualláin. As the club social media post stated, “Sinéad dedicated so much of her time and energy the Graigue juveniles, it was something that was very dear to her.”
