Eudie Coughlan

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Eugene 'Eudie' Coughlan was an Irish sportsperson who played hurling with Blackrock and Cork in the 1920s and 1930s.

Eugene “Eudie” Coughlan was born in Blackrock, just outside Cork in 1900. He was educated locally and later worked as a fisherman with his father, before working with Ford and the Cork Harbour Board. The Coughlan’s (pronounced Cawlan) were a famous hurling family in Cork. Eudie’s father, Pat Coughlan, won All-Ireland medals in 1893 and 1894 and was regarded as one of the great defenders of his era. His four brothers also claimed six All-Ireland medals between them at the turn of the 20th century. Eudie Coughlan first came to the attention of the Cork hurling selectors when Blackrock played a Cork selection in a game in aid of Republican prisoners in 1919. Later that same year Coughlan was a sub on the Cork team that won the All-Ireland final.

In 1920 Cork reached yet another final but lost out to Dublin. There was some consolation in this defeat, as Coughlan went on to win his first Cork Senior Hurling Championship medal with Blackrock. Further Cork Hurling Championship titles came his way in 1924 and 1925. By 1926 Coughlan was a full member of the team and deservedly won his second All-Ireland medal, along with his brother, John, who was the goalkeeper. Earlier that same year he had won his first National Hurling League medal. In 1927 Cork reached the All-Ireland final but were once again beaten by Dublin. Coughlan once again finished off the year by claiming his fourth Cork County title with “the Rockies.” Cork continued there dominance in the Munster Championship for the next two years, subsequently defeating Galway in the All-Ireland finals of 1928 and 1929.

In 1929 Coughlan won his fifth Cork Hurling Championship title. It was the first of three-in-a-row and allowed Coughlan to become the Cork senior hurling captain for the next two years. In 1930 Coughlan Cork failed to reach a fifth All-Ireland final in-a-row, however, Coughlan led the side to another National League. In 1931 Coughlan won his fifth All-Ireland medal. The final against Kilkenny had to be replayed twice with Coughlan, as captain, scoring a point from his knees to level the first game. He gave his best-ever performance in the third game of the series, however, it turned out to be his last game for Cork. By this stage he had also claimed three Railway Cup medals with Munster. At the beginning of 1932 Coughlan took umbrage at the actions of the Cork County Board in taking from his club, Blackrock, the selection of the Cork senior hurling team for the upcoming year. Coughlan, although in line to retain the captaincy, retired from inter-county hurling in protest.

In retirement from the game Coughlan came to be recognised as one of the greatest players of all-time. In 1961 he was selected by popular opinion as a wing-forward on a Gael-Linn “Best Ever Team”. At the 1984 All-Ireland Hurling Final he received a great welcome during the celebrations to mark the centenary of the Gaelic Athletic Association. At the time Coughlan was the oldest-living captain of an All-Ireland-winning senior hurling team. Just before the game he was presented to the crowd along with such hurling greats as Jack Lynch, Eddie Keher and Jimmy Doyle. Coughlan died shortly after in the mid 1980s.

Preceded by Dinny Barry-Murphy	Cork Senior Hurling Captain 1930-1931	Succeeded by Edward O’Connell
Preceded by John Joe Callinan (Tipperary)	All-Ireland Hurling Final winning captain 1931	Succeeded by Jimmy Walsh (Kilkenny)

	Cork - All-Ireland Hurling Champions 1926 (8th title)
1 J. Coughlan | 2 Mick Murphy | 3 E. 'Marie' O'Connell | 4 D. Barry-Murphy | 5 Maurice Murphy | 6 S. Óg Murphy (Capt.) | 7 J. O'Regan | 8 E. Coughlan | 9 J. Hurley | 10 B. Higgins | 11 P. Delea | 12 Mattie Murphy | 13 D.J. Kearney | 14 M. 'Gah' Ahern | 15 P. 'Balty' Ahern |

	Cork - All-Ireland Hurling Champions 1928 (9th title)
1 M. Leahy | 2 E. 'Marie' O'Connell | 3 S. Óg Murphy (Capt.) | 4 P. 'Balty' Ahern | 5 M. Burke | 6 J. Hurley | 7 M. Madden | 8 E. Coughlan | 9 D. Barry-Murphy | 10 P. Delea | 11 J. O'Regan | 12 T. Barry | 13 M. 'Gah' Ahern | 14 P. O'Grady | 15 M. O'Connell |

	Cork - All-Ireland Hurling Champions 1929 (10th title)
1 M. Burke | 2 M. Madden | 3 E. 'Marie' O'Connell | 4 J. Kenneally | 5 P. 'Balty' Ahern | 6 J. Hurley | 7 P. 'Fox' Collins | 8 T. Barry | 9 D. Barry-Murphy (Capt.) | 10 P. Delea | 11 E. Coughlan | 12 M. 'Gah' Ahern | 13 J. O'Regan | 14 P. O'Grady | 15 M. O'Connell |

	Cork - All-Ireland Hurling Champions 1931 (11th title)
1 J. Coughlan | 2 M. Madden | 3 E. 'Marie' O'Connell | 4 P. 'Fox' Collins | 5 J. O'Regan | 6 D. Barry-Murphy | 7 T. Barry | 8 J. Hurley | 9 M. O'Connell | 10 M. 'Gah' Ahern | 11 E. Coughlan (Capt.) | 12 P. Delea | 13 P. 'Balty' Ahern | 14 P. O'Grady | 15 W. Clancy |