Murphy remains calm in search of fifth title

Joe Murphy has been through a most unusual series of events as a football player from Carlow where national recognition is rare. He has been a constant member of the Eire Og club which has won four Leinster titles and been defeated in the All-Ireland club final twice.

In those circumstances he looks calmly on the prospect of a fifth Leinster title when Eire Og take on Kilmacud Crokes of Dublin in the Leinster final at Newbridge on Sunday.

Now captain of his club and his county he realises that he and his colleagues face a very difficult task. He rates Kilmacud Crokes as joint favourites for the All-Ireland title with Crossmaglen Rangers, the side that ended Eire Og dreams in 1996. They were beaten in the 1993 All-Ireland final by Laune Rangers.

Having beaten Rathnew of Wicklow in the first round, Clanna Gael from Louth in the second and Fr Manning Gaels in the semi-final he feels that his side have come through a testing time and are ready for another stern test.

He is reluctant to get involved in the controversy which surrounded the one-point defeat of the Longford champions but says that he has total faith in the view of the Eire Og goalkeeper, John Kearns, in regard to the disallowed point which would have drawn the match for the Gaels.

"John is adamant that the ball was wide. John is the kind of guy who would be big enough to admit if the umpires were wrong but he is completely convinced that the ball went wide and that the right decision was made," says Murphy.

Having served the club and the county for a long time he is happy to be part of another Carlow attempt to lift an All-Ireland title. "We have a very well-balanced team with several newcomers to this level of competition. We have lost people like John Wynne and Darren Moore but Joe Hayden is on the bench and could play an important part if needed.

"We will be expecting great things from young lads who will be playing at this level for the first time such as Adrian Corcoran, Paul Doyle, Brian Carbery, Peter Kingston and J J Eyres," he said. Yet, he and the club will be looking to the experienced combination of Garvan Weir and Jody Morrissey at midfield. "The midfield is always a vital position in a match like this. Kilmacud have John Costello and Maurice Leahy in the centre-field positions and they are very strong players. We will have to match them there if we are to have a chance," he said. Sunday's match will be a big occasion, he feels, and is glad that it will be played in Newbridge. "It is easy to get to as far as supporters of both teams are concerned and I am sure that many Kildare and Wicklow people will be there as well as football fans from the other Leinster counties.

"All Carlow football followers will be supporting us. In spite of club rivalries they all turn out to support the Eire Og side at this stage and that will help us greatly. Kilmacud are a suburban Dublin side and will probably not have the same kind of support as a rural parish team like ours but I know there will be a great atmosphere

"Basically we are regrouping after a good run of results although we never went the whole way. Our form so far has not been all that good. We beat Rathnew, a strong team, by two points but won easily enough against Clanna Gael with eight points to spare and then there was that match against Fr Manning Gaels which caused so much controversy and we won by a disputed point.

"That suggests to me that we are very much the underdogs going into this match but I would prefer to have it that way than to be favourites. We are lucky in that we can select from a fully fit squad and the lads are really determined to advance.

"We are very conscious of how much a win will mean to our club but also to the county as a whole. We have trained really hard and with the fanatical support of our followers as well as many neutrals I believe that we have a great chance of going into the semi-final and possibly the final. After that, who knows?" he said.