Wattie Dunphy

Infobox GAA player
code= Hurling
sport = Hurling


name = Wattie Dunphy
irish =
fullname = Wattie Dunphy
placeofbirth = Mooncoin
countryofbirth = County Kilkenny
dob =
height =
nickname =
county = Kilkenny
province = Leinster
club = Mooncoin
clposition = Centre-back
clubs =
clyears =
clapps(points) =
clcounty =
clprovince=
clallireland =
counties = Kilkenny
icposition = Centre-back
icyears = 1920s
icapps(points) =
icprovince = 4
icallireland = 1
allstars =
clupdate =
icupdate =

Wattie Dunphy (c.1895-1972) was an Irish sportsperson. He played hurling with his local club Mooncoin and with the Kilkenny senior inter-county team in the 1920s.

Biography

Wattie Dunphy was born in Mooncoin, County Kilkenny circa 1895. He was educated locally and, like many of his contempraries, he later worked as a farmer. Dunphy had four brothers who all shared a passion for hurling: Joe, who before entering the priesthood played for Kilkenny in the late 1920s; Eddie, who played in the All-Ireland finals of 1922 and 1926; William, who was a substitute on the defeated All-Ireland team of 1935 and Richard, whose hurling was confinefd to his club. Two of Dunphy’s nephews later lined out for their native-county of Kilkenny. Dick Dunphy was the goalkeeping understudy to the legendary Ollie Walsh in the 1960s and Joe Dunphy captained Kilkenny to back-to-back All-Ireland minor titles in 1961 and 1962.

Wattie Dunphy died in 1972.

Playing career

Dunphy played his club hurling with the famous Mooncoin club and enjoyed much success. He played a key role at centre-back and helped the club to a three-in-a-row of county titles in 1916, 1917 and 1918. The senior championship was suspended shortly after this, however, Dunphy captured another three-in-a-row of county titles in 1927, 1928 and 1929. He won a seventh county medal in 1932.

Inter-county

Dunphy first came to prominence on the inter-county scene as a member of the Kilkenny senior team in the early 1920s. In 1922 he was captain of the side when he captured his first Leinster title following a defeat of Dublin. Dunphy later lead his men out in Croke Park for an All-Ireland final meeting with Tipperary. With three minutes left to play Tipp were leading by three points, however, Paddy Donoghue and Dick Tobin of Kilkeny scored two decisive goals to seal a 4-2 to 2-6 victory. Dunphy captured his sole All-Ireland medal that day and had the hnour of accepting the trophy on behalf of his team. It would be forty-five years before Kilkenny would beat Tipp in the championship again.

Dunphy won a second Leinster medal in 1923, however, Galway defeated the reigning All-Ireland champions at the semi-final stage of the championship. 1925 saw Dunphy win a third provincial title, however, Galway put an end to Kilkenny’s championship hopes at the All-Ireland semi-final stage once again. In 1926 Kilkenny defeated Offaly to give Dunphy his fourth and final Leinster medal. He later lined out in a second All-Ireland final with Cork providing the opposition on this occasion. Snow covered Croke Park on the day of the final as Cork went on to win the game on as core line of 4-6 to 2-0. Dunphy’s involvement with the Kilkenny team ended in 1930.

Provincial

Dunphy alos lined out for Leinster in the inter-provincial hurling competition. In 1927 he captained Leinster to a 1-11 to 2-6 victory over Munster in the inaugural final of the Railway Cup. That game is remembered as one of the finest contests in the history of hurling. Dunphy also lined out for Leinster in 1928 and 1930, however, victory went to Munster on both occasions.

Teams