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"Neeley" Murphy

Name:
John Cornelius Murphy*
Born: c.1879, Pomeroy**
Died: 2 September 1935, Darlington (England)
Height:
Weight: 
Position: Centre-Forward


Representative Honours: Ireland: 3 Full Caps / 1 Goal (1905).


Club Career:

Team

Seasons

Signed

Fee

League

FA Cup

Other

Castle Rovers

 

-1894

-

-

-

(Blaydon)

Blaydon United

 

-1897

-

-

-

 

Birtley

 

-1899

-

-

-

Northern Alliance

Darlington St Augustine’s

01/2

-1901

-

-

-

Northern League

Sheffield United

01/2

Dec-1901

-

0/ 0

 

 

Queen’s Park Rangers

03/4-05/6

-1903

-

51/11

2/1

Southern League

Luton Town

06/7

Aug-1906

-

13/ 3

2/0

Southern League

Aston Villa

06/7-07/8

Oct-1906

-

0/ 0

 

 

Shildon

07/8

Oct-1907

-

-

-

 

Gainsborough Trinity

07/8

Nov-1907

-

19/ 3

3/2

 

Darlington

 

-1908

-

-

-

North Eastern League

Wingate Albion

 

-1909

-

-

-

North Eastern League

 

 

 

 

83/17

7/3

 


Biography:
The first QPR player to earn Ireland international caps, "Neeley" Murphy played three games at centre-forward in the 1905 International Championship. In what was a relatively successful campaign for the Irish, he scored in a 2-2 draw with Wales as the Irish also achieved a rare draw with England. The Wales match at Cliftonville’s ground at Solitude was his only footballing appearance on Irish soil.

Fans nicknamed Murphy "Spud" and the press described him as "fast and clever... with lightning drives that spell 'danger'." In a club career that took him across England, Murphy played his only League football as a winger for Gainsborough Trinity during the 1907/08 season.

Murphy’s FA Cup appearances were noteworthy as he scored for Queen’s Park Rangers in a 1-1 draw with Fulham in the 4th qualifying round in 1903/04 only to go out 3-1 in the replay. Then with Gainsborough Trinity in 1907/08 he scored the equalising goals in the 1-1 and 2-2 draws in the second round matches against Stoke. Unfortunately Stoke won the second replay 3-1.

Aston Villa DataBase
Hatters Heritage

Ireland Cap Details:
  1. 25-02-1905 England. A D 1-1 BC
  2. 18-03-1905 Scotland A L 0-4 BC
  3. 08-04-1905 Wales... H D 2-2 BC 1 Goal
Summary: 3/1. Won 0, Drew 2, Lost 1.

* Murphy’s identity was a bit of a mystery as his christian name was accepted as “Neeley”, which the English population accepted as short for Neil. Hence all records showed him as N. Murphy. This was the case until recently when relatives of the said John Cornelius were in contact with John Duffy and the matter was resolved.

** an alternative date and location of birth has been suggested as Co. Cork on 24th June 1878.

By George Glass

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