Murphy, Thomas (‘Tommy’) (1921–85), Gaelic footballer, was born in Graiguecullen, Queen's Co. (Laois). Educated at Graiguecullen national school and Knockbeg College, he played for the Laois minor team aged 15, made his senior football debut for Laois in 1937 while still at school, and was soon dubbed ‘the boy wonder of football’. He won his first Leinster title with Laois when they defeated Louth in 1937, but was controversially injured in the all-Ireland semi-final against Kerry, which many people feel Laois would have won had it not been for his injury. He won two more Leinster championship medals with Laois (1938, 1946), and was on the losing side in the Leinster finals of 1940, 1943, 1947 and 1951. In 1938 he was on the Laois team that toured the USA, defeating Cavan for the Jameson cup. Despite the strength of Laois at provincial level in this period they never succeeded in reaching an all-Ireland final. Murphy played most of his county career at midfield, forming one of the best midfield partnerships in football at the time with Bill Delaney of Stradbally, yet one of his best performances was at centre half-back in the 1946 Leinster semi-final against Kildare, in which he scored 0–8 of Laois's total 0–11.
Club football in Laois was dominated by Graiguecullen and Stradbally during the 1930s and 1940s, and Murphy won eight Laois county championships with Graiguecullen (1938, 1939, 1942, 1944, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1949) and played on the losing side in three county finals (1940, 1941, 1950). He won two railway cup medals with Leinster (1940, 1945), his introduction as a sub in the latter game being influential in Leinster's victory. An accomplished midfielder, he considered high fielding to be the finest skill in the game. Selected at midfield on the 1961 Gael-Linn football team of all time and the 1984 Sunday Independent/Irish Nationwide centenary team of greatest players never to win a senior all-Ireland, he was also chosen on the 2000 An Post/GAA football team of the millennium, the members of which were the first inductees to the new GAA hall of fame. In 1981 he received the Bank of Ireland all-time all-star award for football.
A land steward and later an employee of the Department of Posts and Telegraphs, he lived at 1 St Lazerian's Terrace, Graiguecullen, with his wife Breda (née Keating) and their five sons and four daughters. He died 17 May 1985 at the Sacred Heart home in Carlow. In 1999 a commemorative stamp was printed by An Post to mark his selection on the football team of the millennium. In 2004 the GAA inaugurated the Tommy Murphy Cup, a competition for weaker Gaelic football counties.