Big Nick calls it a day
Long-serving Cork footballer Nicholas Murphy has quit the inter-county scene after a 16-year career at the top level of the game.
He was the last remaining link in the current Cork panel to the team that lost the 1999 All-Ireland final to Meath, and bows out with All-Ireland, Munster and National League medals in his pocket.
More known as a lynchpin midfielder for the Rebels - he won an All-Star in centre-field back in 2006 - Murphy was used as a target man in the full forward line in more recent years.
The Carrigaline clubman scored a goal in Cork's Munster final win over Clare during the summer.
His enviable list of inter-county honours includes an All-Ireland medal from 2010, six Munster medals spread across three decades (from 1999 to 2012) and five Allianz League medals (including four Division
1 wins).
Murphy made his senior debut for Cork against Tipperary in 1997, and another notable achievement on his impressive GAA CV was his captaincy of Munster's Interprovincial Championship winning side of 2008.
