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A bronze statue honouring one of Kerry’s most eccentric sportsmen will be unveiled in Cahersiveen this weekend. Mick Murphy, the self-styled “Iron Man” who shocked the cycling world by winning the Rás Tailteann in 1958, is to be remembered with a sculpture by Mayo artist Mark Rode.
From farmwork to unexpected champion
Mick Murphy’s rise was anything but conventional. A native of Cahersiveen, he was working as a farm labourer in north Cork in 1958 and had only bought his first bicycle two years earlier when he entered the national stage.
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His victory captured attention during what many recall as a golden period for Irish cycling, alongside figures such as Gene Mangan, Sé O’Hanlon and Paudie Fitzgerald. Murphy’s win remains remarkable for how little he was known before that Rás campaign.
A race punctuated by crashes and improvisation
Murphy endured multiple crashes during the race. One left him with a concussion, another dislocated his collarbone; reports from the time say he was even strapped to his bike to continue.
He also severely damaged his bicycle in the third stage, yet managed to retain the overall lead through resourceful — and now-famous — improvisation. Recalling the episode in 2008, Murphy told RTÉ:
‘I was coming down from Watergrasshill down into Glanmire and I had a heavy crash and broke my bike. I ran for about two miles and then I saw a farmer coming out of a field with cows and he was walking with a girl’s bike.
‘I ran from behind and grabbed it, jumped up on the girl’s bike and I was gone before the farmer knew it.
‘I rode for ten miles on the girl’s bike before I was given another. I lost twelve minutes, but I made it back before the stage finish in Clonakilty. I defended the jersey.’
Unorthodox training and a larger-than-life reputation
Murphy developed a tough training regime to prepare for competition. He left his lodgings and set up what he described as a training camp in a wood, modelling his routine on a Russian boxer he had read about.
His methods were extreme by any standard: training in muddy fields while dragging a concrete block behind his bike, foraging raw hawthorn and nettles, and — in his own words — to “drink the blood from the cow.”
Beyond cycling, Murphy competed as a runner, boxer and wrestler, and he also spent time travelling with a circus, details that helped build his reputation as a singular sporting character.
Commemoration in Cahersiveen
The statue, created by Mayo-based sculptor Mark Rode, will be unveiled in Murphy’s native Cahersiveen on Saturday. It aims to recognise both his Rás Tailteann triumph and his unconventional approach to training and life.
For many in Kerry and beyond, the memorial offers a chance to remember an athlete whose story combined grit, improvisation and a touch of folklore.
