Lead role for Hero in Cork attack

All players claim they're happy just to get their starting place and yet Kieran Murphy must surely be a little happier than most.  Ian O'RiordanReports

Since elected 2007 Cork hurling captain by his club, Erin's Own, he'd been coming under some extra pressure to get into the starting 15 and there was probably relief all round when Murphy was named at right half forward for Sunday's Munster hurling quarter-final against Clare.

At 24 he's still a relative newcomer to the Cork panel, but having appeared as a substitute in all five games on their All-Ireland winning run of 2005, Murphy didn't feature at all last summer - although there was some inevitable confusion as his namesake Kieran Murphy, of the Sarsfields club, did make several appearances.

Both of them also play up front, and to ease the confusion, one of them is known as "Hero" Murphy (the Erin's Own one) and the other as "Fraggie" Murphy (the Sarsfields one).

Hero starts on Sunday, while Fraggie is on the bench.

"Of course there is always that bit of added pressure going out there as captain," says Murphy, "but plenty of these Cork guys have been there over 10 years now, Joe Deane and Diarmuid O'Sullivan and so on. They've helped me settle into the role, and that transition from player to captaincy hasn't really affected me too much. I've been well helped along.

"And sure Seán Óg Ó hAilpín is still a massive influence on the team, still a great voice in the dressingroom. But nailing down a starting spot, that was always the first aim. Hopefully, I'll keep my place this year. Of course, all I really want is for Cork to be winning this year, no matter what 15 it takes to win."

When Erin's Own claimed the county hurling title last year, extending their run as far as the Munster final (where they lost to Toomevara), the question arose as to who they would put forward as Cork captain, as is their right. Brian Corcoran was their only player with a regular starting place on the Cork team, but he'd just retired, and it was rumoured Erin's Own would instead nominate goalkeeper Donal Óg Cusack of Cloyne.

In the end Murphy was their choice, who was flattered by the honour and determined to make the most of it: "Well there was no one else from the club going forward who was starting with Cork last year, so someone had to take it, and that was me. It's still such a great honour that hopefully I can do the position justice.

"But I think all those extra club games I got last year have helped me, because I didn't get too many runs last year. The club pushed me on a lot. But I think the hardest part really is just getting on the Cork team in the first place, because it has been such a well settled and balanced team, and has been for the past two or three years."

That stability is reflected once again as Cork start Sunday's game in Thurles with all but three of the team that started last September's All-Ireland defeat to Kilkenny - with Murphy's introduction along with Patrick Cronin and Cian O'Connor replacing Corcoran, Pat Mulcahy and Neil Ronan.

It was anticipated new manager Gerald McCarthy would be tempted into more sweeping changes, and instead it seems Cork will be more or less the same package as last year.

"Gerald hasn't been too different," explains Murphy. "He's a new voice in the dressingroom, obviously, and that's always going to be the biggest difference.

"We've gone about training in much the same method, and I think the transition there has been very smooth, because Jerry Wallace is there again as physical trainer, so there was never going to be too much of a difference really."

And Cork, he adds, are still as driven to succeed, if anything more inspired by the defeat to Kilkenny: "You'll always look back on something like an All-Ireland defeat and try to get some motivation out of it. You'll always want to come back and prove people wrong, that sort of attitude. And I expect it will help us this year.

"The pressures of playing intecounty hurling are increasing every day, but I think if you'd seen us training in recent weeks you'd see things are good well, good hard, physical training, and this year shouldn't be any different to any other year. I think we'll be up for it alright."