Margaret Murphy became the first Irish woman to compete in the Olympic pentathlon when she finished 27th at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games with a new national record score of 3,770 points, setting a personal best in the 200 metres (24.84, 860 points) in the process.

Her journey to the Olympics was one of the most extraordinary in Irish sport. A camogie player for Old Aloysius Camogie Club and Cork, marriage in 1964 to Paud Murphy automatically ended her employment as a health-board worker under the marriage bar and ended her club camogie membership – Old Aloysius had a rule limiting membership to single women.

She and Paud settled in Ballyvourney, Co. Cork, where Paud was a teacher at Coláiste Íosagáin. In 1967, now a mother of two, she read an article about the formation of a Cork County BLE board and contacted its secretary.

Her sprinting talent had always been evident in camogie training. Danny Murphy of the Ovens Club made contact and she became a member. The De La Salle brothers at Coláiste Íosagáin constructed a long jump run and sand pit between the trees; a makeshift shot put circle was also built; the parish hall in Ovens served for high jumping; road-running built her stamina.

Her coach was her husband Paud but she also attended the annual Bears coaching courses at Gormanston College where Sean and Maeve Kyle were inspirational figures.

She won national pentathlon titles in 1969, 1971 and 1972, plus long jump, 100m hurdles and other individual titles. Olympic qualification came at a pentathlon competition organised by Fr Peter Gilfedder at Glenstal Abbey School in Limerick – though BLE initially rejected the standard as unofficial before Murphy collected the B standard at the national championships.