‘That was our All-Ireland final’- recently retired Willie Dunphy looks back on Laois hurling career

One of Laois’ greatest-ever hurlers recently announced his retirement from the inter-county scene. Clough-Ballacolla’s Willie Dunphy first donned the blue and white jersey in 2009 as a Laois minor before being called up to the senior panel in 2011 as a 19-year-old.

From there, Dunphy quickly became an integral part of the Laois set-up, going on to represent his county for 15 seasons before announcing his inter-county retirement via social media on New Year’s Eve 2025.

Dunphy was to the fore on one of the greatest days in Laois hurling history in 2019, when they stunned Dublin in an All-Ireland Preliminary Quarter-Final, just a week after lifting the Joe McDonagh Cup in Croke Park.

Speaking to the Leinster Express/Laois Live, Dunphy revealed that the decision to step away from inter-county hurling had effectively been made before the 2025 season even began. While he admits he would have loved to bow out with another Joe McDonagh Cup triumph, that opportunity never came as Laois were beaten by Kildare.

“I probably had the decision made going into the start of the season. I would have liked to finish on a winning note in Croke Park, but that didn't happen. Having undergone surgery the week of the Joe Mc final, I knew my time was coming to an end at that stage. I started a new job there this year as well, so things have kind of changed in that sense, and I just felt the time was right to finish up,” he said.

When asked if he ever envisaged his Laois career lasting as long as it did, Dunphy reflected on his early call-up to the senior panel and the injury setbacks he endured along the way, particularly with knee issues from a young age.

“I suppose I was lucky enough to get called up onto the panel when I was young. I had just turned 19 at the time, and you're not looking too far into the future at that stage, but I suppose I'm grateful to have got so long out of my career. Considering the cards I was dealt early on with knee trouble, I was fortunate enough to prolong it for long enough. Yeah, so happy to have a career of 14/15 years,” Dunphy said.

Both of Dunphy’s knees caused him significant hardship throughout his career. While he enjoyed a number of seasons relatively free from injury, the final setback came just weeks before the 2025 Joe McDonagh Cup final when he picked up an injury while playing for Clough-Ballacolla. That ultimately forced him to undergo surgery during the week of the final, ruling out one final appearance in a Laois jersey.

“Up until last year, I had a few good years without any real issues. I think it was back in the COVID years that I got surgery on the opposite knee as well, but I had three or four good years there without any real trouble with it. I kind of probably overtrained a bit last year and hampered it a bit. I ended up playing a club game two weeks before the Joe McDonagh final, and I just was unfortunate enough to come down on it at that stage. It reacted, and I was barely fit to walk for a week after that, so I knew then that I wasn't going to be fit to compete for a place on the Joe McDonagh final team. 

“That's when I had a hard conversation with Tommy (Fitzgerald) about getting surgery or not, and Willie Hyland, as well, was kind of in my ear regarding what to do in that sense. So it is what it is, and that's the card I was dealt with. I did my cruciate when I was young, I was 15 at the time, so I was probably fortunate enough to get so long out of that, in that sense,” he said.

Thankfully, Dunphy made a full recovery from the surgery, allowing him to return in time for the 2025 club championship with Clough-Ballacolla. That campaign ended on a high note, as he collected an eighth Laois SHC medal, a moment that made all the sacrifices worthwhile.

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“It does, yeah, definitely, it makes the sacrifices a lot easier. That's kind of your goal at the start of the year if you're not with the county; our goal in the club is always to win a county final, and we were blessed to win another one this year. The years are running out for some of us, so you kind of want to make hay while the sun is shining, and we're blessed with the last five or six years we've had in the club to win so many, because they're hard won in Laois, county finals. There are a lot of good teams that are coming through, and county finals are really hard won,” he admitted.

The summer of 2019 will forever be remembered as one of the finest periods in Laois hurling history. Victory over Westmeath in the Joe McDonagh Cup final was followed a week later by a famous win over Dublin in Portlaoise, which sent Laois back to Croke Park for an All-Ireland quarter-final against eventual All-Ireland champions Tipperary. 

Dunphy regards that Dublin game as Laois’ All-Ireland final and says those three weekends stand above everything else in his career.

“That's the way I sum it up: that was our All-Ireland final. That was the pinnacle, really, at that stage for us. Winning a Joe McDonagh final, that was our first time in Croke Park, the week before that Dublin game as well, and to win a final up there on our first day in Croke Park was obviously a special occasion. But the day in O’Moore Park against Dublin, that was our big one. I think about the 14 years I had with Laois, and everything boils back down to those three weekends. That was our barren time, and it feels like a long career just to be reflecting on three savage weekends for the county, but that's the way it goes. There's no guarantee in any career, so we'll always look back on those good days and those weekends for us,” he reflected.

Dunphy’s retirement announcement came in the form of a simple Instagram post, featuring the words “Agus Sin É”, a post he never expected to gain the traction it did.

“No, not a bit. That was a pure boredom post on Instagram, to be honest, sitting here on New Year's Eve. I think I was home on my own there with the kids, and I was just scrolling, and I just got an idea, just to throw up a picture there and just a few words, that was about it. It’s kind of got out of hand since. It’s gotten a lot more attention than I had wished for, but I'm grateful as well, and a lot of nice messages have come in there since. It's kind of humbling to hear people from my own county and even outside of the county just say, well done on a great career and all that. I don't regret doing it, but it certainly wasn't what it set out to be, to be honest,” he admitted.

The interview concluded with Dunphy confirming that, retirement or not, his support for Laois will never waver.

“I will, of course, yeah. I was watching them there on Clubber the last two nights this week, so it'll be hard, probably, to go to the first game, but no, I certainly will. There'll always be blue blood running through me. I’m living up in Meath now, obviously, but I would like to think that I'll be bringing my kids to games in the near future, and I'll always be a Laois supporter, so I will,” Dunphy concluded.