Murphy: No title makes it a ‘waste of a year’ for Kilkenny
SOON the Kilkenny hurlers will depart for Miami, reward for a season that saw them feature in both the Leinster and All-Ireland finals.
It was a summer in which they chiselled a gritty win against Limerick in the All-Ireland semi-final, adjudged by many to be the finest of Brian Cody’s time as manager, and also beat Cork when few predicted they would.
And yet Eoin Murphy, their decorated goalkeeper, reckons 2019 was effectively “a waste of a year”.
“I always say that at Christmas time, the only team that will be remembered is the All-Ireland champions,” he stresses.
“For ourselves and Kerry, beaten in the final, there’s no use saying you’re a finalist. You get a bit of a holiday, a bit of a trip out of it as a reward. Other than that, there’s no difference between this year and other years. I was talking to somebody earlier this year, we had won the league last year and it was seen as a stepping stone.
“OK, we got to a Leinster final and an All-Ireland final, that’s a small bit of progress for our younger players to get that experience and hopefully they keep driving things on because they want to experience that again.
“But unless you win an All-Ireland, it’s really no use. It’s genuinely not. It’s a waste of a year, honestly.”
In a set-up not noted for frequent change, the past few months have been relatively revolutionary.
DJ Carey and Martin Comerford have come on board to assist Cody and the hope in Kilkenny is that they can instil some finesse to add to their trademark ferocity.
“This year, throughout the Leinster Championship, we were going in fits and spurts and we didn’t go consistently throughout games,” Murphy recalls.
“But when we got to the quarterfinal (against Cork), in the first half, we were a bit tentative about our play.
“Lads seemed to be holding back a small bit seeing if someone else would grab the game by the scruff of the neck. You can’t be waiting until a Leinster final or an All-Ireland final to have those games. Especially now the way the Leinster groups are so competitive.
“You seen the way Waterford lit up the championship in 2017. But if there is one or two games where you don’t play to the best of your ability, unfortunately you’re going to be beaten. So we just need to be hitting the ground running this year. Winning games is great. But we just need to find every little advantage we can find to keep pushing us on to another level.”