Murphy driven to get on the Ireland scoresheet again
DARYL MURPHY has been given the go-ahead by Rafa Benitez to leave Newcastle United after achieving his short-term challenge of helping the club regain Premier League status.
Murphy, 34, scored five goals in 15 first-team appearances on Tyneside last season, which was sufficient to secure the first league medal of a lengthy career, but accepts he’s not part of Benitez’s plans for the new campaign.
The parting will be amicable as Murphy knows he needs to be playing regular football next season to stay on the front-line with the Republic of Ireland when the World Cup qualification reaches the end-game in autumn.
‘I spoke to him (Benitez) last week and he said it is going to be hard for you to play next year.
‘He thanked me for what I have done and said the club were going to listen to a few offers. I said “that’s fine,”’ said Murphy.
‘I always knew what I had been brought in there to do and had no illusions that I was going to be starting for Newcastle in the Premier League if we got promoted.
‘While you never know in football, I can’t see that happening the way the club wants to go forward and the money he is going to get to spend on players. I always knew that was going to be the case but we will see what happens.
‘I have got another year and I will go back there in pre-season and just look at my options,’ he added.
‘I will need to be playing football, especially if we qualify. There can’t be any greater incentive to go out and play games and try to play in a World Cup. Hopefully, that will happen,’ he said.
Murphy has no beef with Benitez, whom he enjoyed working under since his move from Ipswich last August.
‘You see at first-hand how good he is, his attention to detail, and you realise why he has won what he has won,’ he said. ‘He wants to know everything that is going on at the club. He knows all the players; he goes to all the games. He makes time for everyone.’
‘He texted me after the Uruguay game last Sunday to say well done.’
Murphy was given half an hour against the South Americans, after leading the line against Mexico in the MetLife Stadium as Ireland manager Martin O’Neill brought him up to speed in time for today’s World Cup qualifier against Austria.
The Waterford native is unlikely to start today but will be unleashed if anything amiss happens to Jon Walters, or if a goal is needed.
So far, he has managed just 15 minutes of World Cup action but he delivered a vital cameo in Belgrade where he scored a late equaliser against Serbia.
It was Murphy’s first international goal after a cluster of near misses and he’d love to add another today, if given the opportunity.
It’s a plus that a nagging calf problem, which restricted his availability this season, has finally settled down.
‘I have had this calf injury throughout my career and it is the one which is hardest to shake off. You could be feeling fine one minute and then from nowhere it comes back to bite you. But touchwood I am feeling good,’ he said.
Murphy is the second oldest player in the squad after Wes Hoolahan. Like Hoolahan, he had to kick his heels in frustration during the Trapattoni era when he was completely ignored, before enjoying an Indian summer in green under O’Neill.
‘It was a strange one. I was third choice striker, the first sub to come on, and all of a sudden I wasn’t in the squad.
‘I will probably never know why but that is all in the past now. Under the new management they have given everybody a fresh start and if you are doing well for your club you have got a chance.’
Murphy has figured 17 times under O’Neill and his selection against Italy and France in the Euro 2016 finals illustrated his worth to the manager.
‘The manager has played me in big games and I have done alright. He knows he can trust me, he knows I am going to give everything whether I start or come off the bench.
‘He knows what he is going to get from me and he knows he can depend on me.’
Murphy is eager to continue offering his services for the remainder of the World Cup campaign, with the dream of a send-off in Russia next summer.
For that to happen, Ireland need to put points on the board at home.
Draws in Dublin against Poland and Scotland almost de-railed the Euros train before they gratefully seized the offers of a play-off by finishing third – in contrast, there is nothing for third-placed teams in the World Cup.
‘It is a massive game for us. If we can take three points it is a big step in that direction (of qualifying) and we will be in a very good position,’ he said.