Murphy happy with Wicklow progress
SEAMUS MURPHY was in a very philosophical mood following Wicklow’s defeat to Carlow in the Christy Ring Cup semi-final.
It’s Tuesday afternoon and the Wicklow boss has taken stock of the semi-final played in front of a decent crowd in Netwatch Cullen Park last Saturday afternoon.
The Rathnure man has years of experience managing in Carlow so he wasn’t in the least bit surprised by the force and skill with which the Carlow men played the game.
“We always knew they were going to be strong,” said Seamus. “I would have a good knowledge of Carlow hurling having managed Myshall and the likes and it’s only a couple of years ago that Carlow were playing in Diviison 1B and Wexford were in 1B as well and Wexford had to scratch out a result one day against Carlow to survive in 1B.
“People haven’t forgotten either that they’re underage system has been very successful even without any real success.
“They’ve beaten Wexford in the Minor, came close in the under-21 and you’ve the likes of James Doyle and Marty Kavanagh there now who have come through that underage system.
“I think Wicklow need to take a look at Carlow and how they’ve entered in the Kilkenny hurling leagues. I see Naas is involved down there now as well and I see them competing in their own Senior, Intermediate and Junior finals and their under-16s were the final of the Kilkenny leagues, so that’s a great help to the promotion of the game in Carlow, especially seeing as they have so few clubs,” he added.
Seamus says that the Wicklow camp went down in a positive frame of mind and that preparations had went as well as could be expected.
“We went down to win, not just to make up the numbers but they (Carlow) were just in a different place. Our preparations were good but we could have brought a mini bus to carry our injured players. Christy (Moorehouse) was a huge loss, in terms of being captain, a leader, his scoring and his pace around the middle third of the field.
“We probably needed the start they got and they are particularly strong in the air and we would have done a lot of work on that but they seemed to have looked at that also because they were batting down the puck outs and their midfielders were running on to the breaking ball.
We needed goals but Alan Corcoran did a fine job on George (O’Brien) even though George worked hard, set up one goal and scored another. And the ball going into Andy, that slippy surface, it was hard to control it when it went in,” he added.
Seamus says that the wind dying in the secdon half didn’t help Wicklow’s cause when they were putting the pressure on the Carlow men.
“When we came out at half-time there was a nice sting in the air and for 10 or 12 minutes we had a really go spell.
“But that filtered out with the drizzling, dripping rain and when it came to 15 minutes into the second half the game just opened up again and Carlow were able to add a feww points to stay clear.
“But, fair play to the lads, they showed serious character but we just weren’t able to push on,” he said.
Seamus Murphy says that overall he’d have to be happy with how the year unfolded and that a base has been laid down for the county to build on for next year.
He said that he and Michael Neary would be scouting during the approaching championship and that he hoped any players who might consider that they have something to offer would throw their lot behind the county team in 2017.
“I want to compliment the clubs for their help all year, the spectators who turned up in big numbers in Carlow, that’s totally appreciated, and I’d like to wish all the clubs the best of luck in their championships”.