- Born 8 January 1912, Cork
- Died 23 September 1994 Stamullen, Co Meath
- Educated Belvedere College, Dublin
- Debut 16 July 1938 against Scotland at Hamilton Crescent, Glasgow
- Cap Number 414
- Style Right-hand bat, wicket keeper
- Teams Civil Service, Phoenix, Halverstown
Jimmy Brophy was a good wicket keeper whose Irish career was limited to one match because he was a contemporary of two top class keepers in Charlie Cuffe and George Crothers. Brophy's cricket was nurtured at Belvedere, always an excellent nursery for Irish sportsmen and he followed near contemporaries Eddie Ingram and Jimmy Boucher into senior cricket. He also followed Boucher and other former schoolmates to Civil Service, which was then a first port of call for many Belvedere old boys, as the famous Cabra club was, as yet, three decades away from senior status.
In 1934 he again followed Boucher in moving "up the road," to join Phoenix. The great off spinner had preceded him by some 5 years. This was a wise move as Service were nearing extinction as a senior club, virtually a whole team left in the same year as Brophy. The club's well produced history "First Class Service" (1985) explains the sorry story.
He played 66 matches for Phoenix, being a respected wicket keeper though never heading the Leinster most dismissals list. He shared keeping duties at Phoenix, with BV Fox, who headed the list 5 times between 1935 and 1952. However, Jimmy did enough to gain selection for Ireland v Scotland in June 1938. This match was low scoring but resulted in a comprehensive win for Ireland. Brophy played a crucial role as a batsman in the first innings. Ireland were dismissed for 152, but Brophy, coming at 87-7 added 37 with EDR Shearer (55). This helped gain a 71 run lead. His share was 9. This was a fair performance on the international scene for one whose career record in competitive cricket were 579 runs from 55 innings. Less impressive was the fact that he allowed 10 byes in Scotland's rather first innings of 81, a rather paltry score. He also represented his native Munster at Interprovincial level.
He always retained his cricket interest, being, for some time in the 1970s and 80s, President of Balbriggan Cricket Club.