Phil Purcell (hurler)

Phil Purcell (13 November 1902 – 2 February 1961) was a famous Irish sportsperson. He played hurling with his local club Moycarkey-Borris and with the Tipperary senior inter-county team from 1926 until 1937.

Phil Purcell
Personal information
Irish name Pilib Puirséil
Sport Hurling
Position Centre-back
Born (1902-11-02)2 November 1902
Moycarkey, County Tipperary, Ireland
Died 2 February 1961(1961-02-02) (aged 58)
Thurles, County Tipperary, Ireland
Occupation Sugar factory labourer
Club(s)
Years Club
 Moycarkey-Borris
Inter-county(ies)
Years County
1926-1937
 Tipperary
Inter-county titles
Munster titles 1
All-Irelands 1
NHL 1

Playing career

Club

Purcell played his club hurling with his local club Moycarkey-Borris and enjoyed much success. He won his first senior county title in 1932. It was the first of four county victories for Purcell, the other three coming in 1934, 1937 and 1940.

Inter-county

Purcell began his inter-county hurling career at a time when there was no minor hurling championship. He first came to prominence with the Tipperary junior team in the early 1920s. He was captain of the team in 1924 as Tipp captured the Munster junior title. Purcell later captured an All-Ireland junior title as Tipperary defeated Galway in the final.

Purcell later joined the Tipperary senior team and made his debut in 1926. It was a time when Cork were dominating the provincial championship. Purcell, however, first tasted major success sin 1928 as Tipp defeated Laois to take the National Hurling League title.

Two years later in 1930 Purcell lined out against Clare in the Munster final. It was Tipperary’s first appearance in the provincial decider in four years; however, they hadn’t won the title in five years. Purcell’s side were the dominant side for the whole game and went on to win by 6-4 to 2-8. It was his first Munster senior title. Tipp later defeated Galway in the All-Ireland semi-final, setting up a championship decider with Dublin. Two goals just before half-time gave Tipp the edge and the team hung on to win by 2-7 to 1-3. It was Purcell’s first and only All-Ireland medal.

Tipperary went into decline following this victory as Limerick became the dominant force in Munster. Purcell retired from inter-county hurling in 1937, shortly before Tipp reclaimed the provincial and All-Ireland titles.

Provincial

Purcell also lined out with Munster in the inter-provincial hurling competition. He first played for his province in the second year of the Railway Cup competition in 1928. On that occasion he collected his first winners’ medal as Munster defeated Leinster. Coughlan remained on the team and helped Munster to capture a further four titles in-a-row in 1929, 1930 and 1931 when he captained the side. Purcell captured a fifth Railway Cup medal in 1934.

Achievements
Preceded by
 All-Ireland Junior Hurling Final
winning captain
1924		 Succeeded by
Preceded by
Dinny Barry-Murphy
(Munster)		 Interprovincial Hurling Final
winning captain
1931		 Succeeded by
Jim Dermody
(Leinster)
Preceded by
John Flaherty		 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Final referee
1947		 Succeeded by
Con Murphy

Teams
gollark: Nope. The actual transistors in the CPU doing things.
gollark: I really would. It would be excellent.
gollark: I'd like to see you implement an efficient SUBLEQ computer.
gollark: Raptor Computing Systems have hilariously expensive POWER workstations without binary blob weirdness.
gollark: Or OpenPOWER!

References
  • Corry, Eoghan, The GAA Book of Lists (Hodder Headline Ireland, 2005).
  • Donegan, Des, The Complete Handbook of Gaelic Games (DBA Publications Limited, 2005).
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