Nationalist's Murphy nominated for national award
Nationalist reporter Kieran Murphy interviews Carlow hurler Kevin McDonald Photo: Pat Ahern
Long-serving Carlow Nationalist reporter Kieran Murphy has been nominated for Sport Journalist of the Year at the Local Ireland Media Awards, with the winner set to be announced at a gala ceremony in the Mullingar Park Hotel on Thursday, 17 September, hosted by RTÉ Lyric FM presenter Marty Whelan.
Murphy, better known to many as 'Chas', is nominated alongside Anthony Hennigan (The Western People), Ian Cooney (The Roscommon Herald) and Jordan Norris (The Waterford News & Star).
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, who was hard pushed to pick a favourite moment in all that time.
“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 Friday in Croke Park, which Rangers won,” he said.
Looking forward to Thursday evening, Murphy said he is happy just to have his name in the hat.
“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.
From all of us here in the Carlow Nationalist, we thank Kieran for all his years of continued service and we wish him the very best of luck on Thursday evening.
