Club History

The Fr. Murphy’s Ladies GAA Club is now in its 22nd year, having formed as a Junior Football Club in 1988. In the early years the Club repeatedly won the Roundwood Irish Festival Trophy. In 1991 the Mick Butler Shield commenced as our own Club competition, which we won retained up until 1994. The following year the Shield was renamed the Michael J. Butler Shield and has been retained by the Ladies to date. In 1996, the Club entered a team in both the Junior and Senior Championships and won the Reserve Championship. This made us one of the only Ladies Clubs to enter both Junior and Senior teams.

In 1998 we decided to form a Camogie team with many of the football players making up this team. Our achievements in Football were emulated in Camogie when we won the Junior Championship title in our first year of competing. We went on to win this title on two further occasions.
In 2001 we finally won the title that eluded us for so long: the Senior Football Championship. Having secured the Senior League and the Mary Feehan Cub honours in the same year, 2001 will be remembered as our greatest year to date.
For the Fr. Murphy’s, 2003 has been one our most exciting years to date, as we became the first Club in London to compete in both the senior Football and Senior Camogie competitions respectively. In May 2003, 6 Fr. Murphy Camogie Players represented London in their Championship match against Derry and in June 7 Fr. Murphy Footballers represented Britain in the Interprovincial Tournament in Mulingar. Six of those 7 players went on to compete in an All-Ireland Football Quarter-Final for London against Sligo in Markievicz Park in August.

2003 will also be remembered as the year that the Fr. Murphy Ladies launched an underage code, forging links with Cardinal Wiseman RC School in Greenford and St James RC School Colindale. In April of this year the Fr. Murphy’s won the Tir Chonaill Gaels International 9-a-side tournament, having entered a team comprised of both senior and underage players.
In 2005 & 2006 the Senior Camogie team have made it to the Championship final by displaying the 'Father Murphy fight & determination' that is well known. The Football team are the proud and deserving winners of the 2005 & 2006 League Final.

2007 was a tremendous year. The Ladies are the proud and deserving winners of the Camogie and Football Championship - a first ever 'Double' win by the club. This was followed by a win in the Junior Camogie League Final in December.

2008 was another very success, and no doubt will be remembered as the most successful for both Camogie and Football when the club completed the double again, beating Croydon in the Camogie final in July, and Tara in the Football final in October.
The Camogie team also made history by being the first London team to win at club championship level in Ireland, when they beat Donard Glen from Wicklow in the Leinster Quarter Final convincingly. Unfortunately a Leinster title was to elude them as they were beaten in the semi final.
The history making did not stop here, however. Fr. Murphy’s became the first team in London to win both the Senior Camogie Championship and League in the same year when they won the Senior League in November.

2009 got off to a fantastic start for the girls in purple and gold. They won the Birmingham International Womens Festival in March, and were again victorious in the Tara CC 7-a-side tournament in April. Unfortunately, dreams for three-in-a-row in the Senior Camogie Championship were dashed at the semi final stage by Tara who won the competition. The junior camogie team reached the Championship Final in July, but were defeated by Tara.
The footballers had a fantastic year, and won the Senior Championship for the third year in a row, beating John Mitchels of Manchester in what was their toughest final yet.

At the start of 2010, Fr. Murphy’s had ten players named for the London camogie panel – Melanie Hogan, Eimear O’Higgins, Anne Marie Keogh, Liz McGrath, Bronagh McLernon, Sue Harding, Emma Taylor, Ruth Foley, Zoe Power and Brenda Kerr.
We hope that by embracing the interest and enthusiasm for the sport amongst the grassroots here in London, this may be the beginning of many exciting times ahead for both the Fr. Murphy’s Club and London as a County.