Qualla: Murder of Ashling Murphy

Murder of Ashling Murphy: Introduction

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit JP, CC BY-SA 2.0. Ashling Murphy was twenty-three years old. She had been a qualified primary school teacher for less than four months when she was killed. She was the youngest of three children. She played the fiddle - had played since childhood, well enough to tour with the national orchestra of Comhaltas Ceoltori Eireann, well enough to give private lessons at the family home near Blue Ball. She played camogie for Kilcormac-Killoughey GAA. She was engaged to be married to Ryan Casey, her partner of five years. On 12 January 2022, she finished work, drove to the Daingean Road car park in Tullamore, and went out for a run along the Grand Canal. She did not come home.

Read more: Murder of Ashling Murphy on Qualla

Image: JP | CC BY-SA 2.0

Murder of Ashling Murphy: The Family Around the Table

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit JP, CC BY-SA 2.0. Music ran through the Murphy household. Her father had played with The Fureys and with a local band called Best Foot Forward. Her mother. Her brother. Her sister. The fiddle case was pink. She and her sister could read each other's mind when they played together. "Music is not an...

Read more: Murder of Ashling Murphy on Qualla

Image: JP | CC BY-SA 2.0

Murder of Ashling Murphy: The Afternoon

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit JP, CC BY-SA 2.0. She finished work at 2:30pm. CCTV caught her walking to her red Seat Cordoba at 2:37pm. She drove the eight kilometers to Tullamore, parked near the canal, and set off on foot at 2:51pm wearing her Kilcormac-Killoughey camogie top under a navy jacket, a pink woolen hat with a bro...

Read more: Murder of Ashling Murphy on Qualla

Image: JP | CC BY-SA 2.0

Murder of Ashling Murphy: What Ireland Did

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit JP, CC BY-SA 2.0. Within forty-eight hours, vigils began. Tens of thousands of people stood in candlelight at the canal, in Eyre Square in Galway, on Patrick Street in Cork, on College Green in Dublin. Vigils were held in Belfast, in Limerick, Waterford, Kilkenny, Drogheda, Sligo, Derry, Omagh, an...

Read more: Murder of Ashling Murphy on Qualla

Image: JP | CC BY-SA 2.0

Murder of Ashling Murphy: The Funeral and the Music

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit JP, CC BY-SA 2.0. Her wake was held at the family home near Blue Ball on 16 and 17 January. Her Requiem Mass was at 11am on 18 January at St. Brigid's Church in Mountbolus. Schools across Ireland observed a minute of silence at exactly that hour. Her former pupils formed a guard of honour outside ...

Read more: Murder of Ashling Murphy on Qualla

Image: JP | CC BY-SA 2.0

Murder of Ashling Murphy: Justice and Aftermath

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit JP, CC BY-SA 2.0. On 14 January 2022, Jozef Puska, a 31-year-old Slovak man living in Mucklagh near Tullamore, confessed at St. James's Hospital in Dublin. He had cycled to the canal that day on a black and green Falcon Storm mountain bike that police later recovered at the scene. His DNA was unde...

Read more: Murder of Ashling Murphy on Qualla

Image: JP | CC BY-SA 2.0

Murder of Ashling Murphy: Memory and Light

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit JP, CC BY-SA 2.0. The Murphy family established the Ashling Murphy Memorial Fund in January 2023 - a registered charity supporting traditional Irish music, arts, and culture for young people. Mary Immaculate College and the Irish National Teachers' Organisation jointly created a scholarship in her...

Read more: Murder of Ashling Murphy on Qualla

Image: JP | CC BY-SA 2.0