Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
MAXIE SWAIN We all have a prove in this but I believe have the pla to do more t battle for su
TJ MURRAY says he’s fired up and determined to silence the doubters after taking up arms with his old team-mate Matthew Tipton at Warrenpoint Town this season.
The 22-year-old midfielder, who hails from Ballybeen in East Belfast, got the response he and his team-mates were looking for on Saturday as they registered the first points of the season with a 1-0 win over Ards – a muchneeded shot in the arm after the Premiership new boys were walloped 5-0 last week on their travels at Crusaders, three days after losing their opening game at home to Glenavon.
With a host of new players recruited over the close season by a rookie boss with no experience of top flight management, plenty of people have been quick to write off the border men.
But Murray says he and his new colleagues have taken the criticism on the chin.
The former Linfield schemer is convinced Tipton (circled) has been clever in the transfer market, prising players to the club who have a point to prove – the likes of himself after his release from the Blues and namesake Darren, the matchwinner on Saturday and once one of the most feared strikers in the
Premiership.
So he’s looking forward to the new campaign with confidence as he looks to confound those who seem all too eager to bracket the Point among the relegation battlers.
“We had a very good pre-season and we’re getting there,” said Murray. “We feel we have the players, especially going forward with the likes of wee Marty Murray and Darren Murray and Conor Mcmenamin, to do well this season.
“We’re not just looking to stay up, we want to do more than that – a relegation battle is not in our minds at all, it’s not something we even speak about, we just want to win as many games as possible and see where that takes us really.
“This means a lot to all the boys here and we feel we have a point to prove – the fight and the hunger is there throughout the whole dressing room, the coaches and Tippy himself.”
Murray spent his formative years with Linfield, joining from Dungoyne when he was just 12 years old.
He admits it was a wrench to sever ties with the club at the end of last season after a decade with the champions, but is equally excited about the new lease of life he’s been handed at Milltown.
“It was something I could see coming, it wasn’t a shock that I was going to be leaving,” said Murray.
“I had gone out on a seasonlong loan so I had a rough idea, especially with the team (Linfield) doing so well. But it’s always going to be hard leaving somewhere like Linfield.
“I was there from I was 12 years old but that’s part and parcel of football, I have a lot of good memories and made a lot of good friends but it’s just one of those things.
“This is a new chapter in my career, and I’m just looking forward and being positive.”
While he first came to prominence at Linfield after forcing his way into the first team, with game so limited at Windsor Park arguably his real Irish League education came last season when he was sent on loan to Carrick.
Murray made 31 appearances for the Taylor’s Avenue outfit and was instrumental as the club reached the League Cup final and avoided the drop – albeit narrowly – for the second season running, with Murray equalising from the spot in the first of two relegation play-offs against Institute last May. Murray says he thoroughly enjoyed his time at Carrick and feels his experiences there will stand him in good stead for his new challenge at Warrenpoint.
“I was happy for the opportunity that Carrick gave me and the amount of playing time I got – I played regularly for most of the season,” said Murray, who spent a few weeks with Rangers on trial as a 16-year-old.
“I really enjoyed my time there and scored a few league goals. We also had a great cup run and playtime ing in the final of the League Cup was a great experience, on Sky Sports as well, and it ended dramatically with the play-offs and with our manager (Aaron Callaghan) resigning.
“We had a great changing room there and we are all mates and that’s what got us through, the togetherness.
“That was our aim, to stay in the Premier League which we did, but I’ve moved on now and have bigger personal ambitions and