Murphy's homegrown Carlow crew drive history-making National League title

I can let you in on a secret now. Back in January, on the night of the Carlow GAA awards, during the course of a conversation with Joe Murphy, he told this reporter that he would be speaking with me outside the dressing rooms in Croke Park with the trophy in his hand after his team had won the Division 4 Final.

Last Saturday evening, all that played out except the trophy was left in the dressing room with the players as Murphy spoke to the assembled media.

The Carlow manager may have been slightly giddy that evening in the Talbot Hotel when he made his prediction having beaten Laois in the Walsh Shield Final earlier that afternoon but it wasn’t borne out of cockiness or arrogance. It came from a confidence, a strong confidence in his players and also in his ability as a manager to get the best out of them.

The victory over Longford came almost 12 months to the day since one of the biggest decisions in Murphy’s glittering career. Carlow were at a low ebb after Shane Curran’s departure following a disappointing National League campaign. Murphy was in one of the best club manager jobs in Leinster and plotting to help Naas win a fifth successive Kildare title and to push on and win a Leinster, or even an All-Ireland, title.

If he thought about it logically, there was no reason to leave such a big club job for a struggling Division 4 county but when it comes to matters of the heart logic doesn’t come into it and there was no way he could say no to his own county in their hour of need.

The turnaround in fortunes in 12 months has been staggering and Murphy said a love of Carlow was at the heart of the history making success.

“It's not just me. It's the year anniversary of Mick Kehoe and Barry Hayes and Christopher Bolger and James Clarke. That's the package, you know.

“I just try and keep things on the right line but the guys have been amazing. They're all Carlow men and they're bursting with pride as well today. We didn't need any outside influence to do this.

“We did this ourselves as Carlow people. And to me, that's massive. Maybe it's a lesson for the future.

“There's no manager that this could mean more to than it does to me, the same with backroom team. It's one thing that I really, really wanted to go with, a full Carlow management team. Even down to the physio and the nutritionist and the liaison officer. We're all Carlow stock. Now they can enjoy it as well and be proud of what they contributed to this win,” said Murphy Talk in the aftermath of the win centred around it being Carlow’s first win at Croke Park since 1971 but that wasn’t something on the team’s mind going into the game.

“We never thought about it. It was in the background. History is history. You can't change that. We haven't got a tradition of winning, I guess, in my lifetime, as a young man or as a child, as a player, as a manager, I've never won in Croke Park. To change that statistic from a personal point of view is amazing.

“But no, we didn't feel the weight of that. Maybe more towards the promotion, when we had that little bump. I could see in the guys' faces that they were a little bit tensed up but today wasn't about that. Today was to have Carlow people leave the stadium with smiles on their face and their chest sticking out and the flags flying rather than looking at the ground,” said Murphy.

He could have waxed lyrical about any number of Carlow players but Murphy didn’t need much prompting to speak about Eoghan Ruth.

“I was taking him off after 40 minutes and then I went to 45 and then 50 but I just couldn't take him off the field. He was immense. He’s a real leader as well and he gives the guys around him a bit of security. He's an enforcer. He's a dog of war.

“He hasn't played football in a year, he's been travelling. For him to put in that performance, for him even to come back and work as hard as he has to get out in that field today, is a measure of the man,” he said.

Murphy warmed to the topic of what it means to play for your county.

“It's like an addiction and that's what we want in Carlow. We want you to be addicted to play for your county and to do that, you have to create successful moments. Today, I think we'll, you know, we'll inspire other people to want to represent Carlow and that's a great stepping stone,” he said.

While the emotion around the Carlow squad was one of immense joy, there have been tough times this year too, particularly with the tragic passing in January of Martin Dunphy, father of Carlow goalscorer Ross. All would have dearly loved Martin to have been present at the game but Murphy said he would have been fiercely proud of Ross and the team.

“Ross is an incredible young man, like they all are, but Ross in particular. At that time, we're all from different clubs and different areas of the county but the way the players rallied in around Ross when, unfortunately Martin died, it was just amazing.

“He'll have his quiet moments tonight, I'm sure. He would love for Martin to be here. Absolutely, we all would but at the end of the day, he did his dad proud. He wore the Dunphy trademark well out there and represented his family really well.

“I'm particularly proud of Ross, like I said, for what he has been through,” said Murphy.