Geordan Murphy was last night honoured as the Guinness/Rugby Writers of Ireland Player of the Year at a banquet in The Guinness Storehouse, Dublin. Gerry Thornley, Rugby corespondent, reports.
The reward was ostensibly in recognition of a sequence of outstanding displays in the Six Nations Championship, which constituted something of a breakthrough campaign for the immensely gifted but previously injury-bedevilled fullback cum winger.
The 25-year-old Leicester player had won only 10 caps prior to the championship in a stop-start test career against opposition which wasn't exactly top drawer but in a reversal of ill-luck injuries to Shane Horgan and Girvan Dempsey gave Murphy the opportunities to replace Horgan on the wing against Scotland and then start at outhalf against Italy.
He scored tries in both games, landed a superb and ultimately crucial drop goal in the win over France, made some classy contributions in the victory away to Wales when creating Keith Gleeson's first-half try. From Naas, where he played after a schools career with Newbridge, Murphy briefly played with Waterpark as a dual status player while a student at Waterford Institute of Technology, Murphy has since won two Heineken Cup medals and four English championship medals with Leicester, with whom he recently signed for another two years.
In something of a break with tradition which is sure to cause some debate on the club scene, the Rugby Writers chose Clontarf as the Guinness/RWI Club of the Year in preference to Ballymena, having hitherto chosen the AIL champions for the award.
However, Clontarf did top the regular league table before reaching the final, recording 10 successive wins along the way and scoring a new division one record of 60 tries, while the club also won the Leinster Senior and Junior League titles.
The Tom Rooney Memorial Award, presented for an exceptional contribution to Irish rugby, was presented to Irish team manager Brian O'Brien by Charlie Mulqueen, chairman of the RWI.
O'Brien, the first Shannon player to be capped by Ireland when winning the first of three caps in 1968 and has since served as coach, President and manager at Shannon, and as manager of Munster, the Irish under-21s and latterly the national side.
Two new members were inducted into the Guinness Hall of Fame, namely Niall Brophy and Robin Thompson. Quite a dapper winger in his day, Brophy won 20 caps for Ireland and twice toured with the Lions, subsequently becoming president of Blackrock College, the Leinster branch and the IRFU and becoming a selector for Leinster and Ireland.
Thompson was an Ulster interpro at 18, a final trialist at 19 and won the first of 11 caps at 20, captained the Lions to South Africa in 1955, before turning professional in rugby league with Warrington.
RUGBY WRITERS ANNUAL AWARDS
Player of the Season - Geordan Murphy (Leicester and Ireland).
Club of the Season - Clontarf.
Tom Rooney memorial award - Brian O'Brien (Shannon, Munster and Ireland).
Hall of fame - Robin Thompson (Queen's University, Instonians, London Irish and Warrington) and Niall Brophy (UCD, Blackrock College and London Irish).
