Q & A: Philip Clifford and Cormac Murphy

Philip Clifford

What were your expectations for this year's championship?

"Our realistic ambitions were to get to the Munster final to play Kerry. At the outset of the year maybe Waterford and Limerick wouldn't have been seen as two of the bigger powers so we fancied we'd have a crack off Kerry.

What is your earliest footballing memory?

"Probably the '89 All-Ireland final. I remember my father brought me up to that, so I remember standing behind the goal watching Steven O'Brien and them winning the All-Ireland. I remember going to hurling matches up in Thurles because my mother is from Tipp so we used go up and stay with the grandparents and make a weekend of it."

What was your most memorable match?

"A club match definitely - the county final here against Duhallow was a big thing for the town and for me personally as well because it probably gave me my chance to have a crack at the county jersey. I guess that was the turning point in my football career."

Who has been your most difficult opponent?

"Cormac Murphy of Meath is definitely one of the hardest. I marked him and was actually substituted against him in a league match in Croke Park earlier on in the year, so I suppose that shouldn't give me that much confidence going in against him again. But also in training there's our corner backs, Anthony Lynch and Mickey O'Donovan. Marking them in training is a complete disaster."

What is your view of the new Gaelic Players' Association?

"I haven't heard anything about it. It's all news to me so I wouldn't be able to comment. Maybe they're not such a good idea. Maybe they are a good idea. I really don't much about them so I won't comment."

Cormac Murphy

What were your expectations for this year's championship?

"Well, I felt that Meath had a fairly good squad of players there, but we had a big match against Offaly and knew that Dublin could well be the opposition if we got through that. Hard to say, but I suppose I felt that if we got through Leinster, we'd have a good shot at it."

What is your earliest footballing memory?

"The 1987 All-Ireland final between Cork and Meath, one of my first times to ever be in Croke Park. Watching PJ Gillic and Brian Stafford and Mick Lyons, all my childhood heroes really."

What was your most memorable match?

"The 1994 league final against Armagh and I'd have to say the Leinster final this year against Dublin."

Who has been your most difficult opponent?

"I wouldn't like to categorise or single out any particular one, any guy you meet at this level has talent and they are all difficult in their own right."

What is your view of the new Gaelic Players' Association?

"It's great to see it, about time it happened and it's been a long time coming, I think."