Murphy living the dream

Dublin star battled hard to earn his place in the team and now he’s determined to hold on to it

Aweek and a half before Dublin’s opening championship game against Meath, Cian Murphy is reliving the moment he was sent on in last year’s All-Ireland final with the match down to the serious bidding, his team leading by a point and 64 minutes played.

“I was told to warm up,” he says. “I was jogging down, to warm up [by] the Hogan Stand and Dessie looked at me and goes, ‘What are you doing? Come on, you’re going on’. So I had to try to whip the tracksuit off and get ready to go on then.”

The previous year was his first to make the championship team, with a debut appearance off the bench after 55 minutes against Cork in the All-Ireland quarter-final, followed by an injury-time entrance against Kerry in the semi-final. That season-ending cameo left a twinge of regret. “Maybe I was a bit timid when I went on the pitch that day so when I went on last year I went, ‘Right, shackles off here, let’s go for it, there is only 10 minutes left’.”

Murphy’s primary function was to mark Paudie Clifford, but he had the ball in his hands on four occasions during the remaining normal time and six minutes added on for injuries. At one stage he was in the perfect position to take a lay off from Colm Basquel which would have left him in a goal-scoring position 20 metres from the Kerry posts but he didn’t receive the pass. It was typical of a player with limitless energy and a gift for being in the right place at the right time.

On Dublin’s league panel since 2020, he had to wait until 2023 for his first championship start, in the Leinster quarter-final against Laois. He started the next day against Kildare, before making substitute appearances in the Leinster final and in all three All-Ireland group games. Unused in the quarter-final and semi-final, his re-emergence in the final against Kerry was a moment to relish, when he became the first Thomas Davis player to win an

All-Ireland on the field of play since Paul Curran in 1995.

There is almost a glow of innocence around him and this, he confesses, is his first media interview. Murphy, who turns 28 this year, has had to bide his time. Dublin have players to come back from rest and injury but Farrell’s management played him in every second of the recent national league campaign, the only one to serve full tenancy. He signed off by scoring two points in the final against Derry.

No surprise then that when the moment came to help Dublin to another All-Ireland last July, he was more than willing. For the first time he marked Clifford, the Kerry play-maker.

“Luckily enough he is after running around for 60 minutes before that and I am a bit fresher coming onto him. It was the same as any of the days in training really, when you do get a chance you try and practice in training, just kind of do your job, if it is a certain run you have to make for a kick-out, or try and play the ball forward or whatever it is, it is not something that I haven’t done before.”

Dublin sent on a player ideal in that environment where safe ball handling skills and composure were essential.

“It’s not something I really struggled with hugely in the past, getting too worried about the opposition you’re playing against,” he says calmly. “Obviously you are playing terrific players. Anyone I’ve gone marking in a match, I’ve marked equally as good players in training. It’s the way I’d look at it. Like a lot of times I’m matched up with the likes of Con [O’Callaghan] or Paddy Small or Paul Mannion in training. I think you’d struggle to find players who are going to challenge me more than them. So coming into the weekend that does give you some sort of confidence when you’re constantly up against those lads.”

Murphy’s father is from Beaufort in Kerry, while his mother is “Tallaght through and through” and her ancestors [Mullallys] were founder members of Thomas Davis. “My mother keeps telling me the football came from her side,” he jokes. “My mother was not hugely involved in the GAA, she played a small bit of camogie but was a huge Dublin fan all along.”

His parents met in college in Dublin. “They both went to DIT, to do bakery of all things. Now you would barely get a slice of toast off them,” Murphy laughs, confirming that he is still living in the family home. “Then they went on to do separate things afterwards in their 30s. My ma is doing physical therapy now and my dad is a HR manager.”

An interesting switch, it’s suggested. “Just [they] went to college the first time for love and second time for careers.”

Did his father have mixed feelings when he came on in the All-Ireland final last year?

“He is in Dublin longer now than he was in Kerry. He doesn’t have the accent yet, anyway. We can get him in the Dublin jersey on the big days.”

Murphy was an exceptional player from his early days with his juvenile coach Enda O’Toole talking of his vision and reading of the play as stand-out attributes. That talent earned him a place on Dublin’s All-Ireland under 21 title winning team under Farrell in 2017, alongside players like Eoin Murchan, O’Callaghan, Paddy Small, Brian Howard, Basquel, Seán McMahon, and Evan Comerford.

Thomas Davis reached a county senior final in 2019 that helped put him in the frame for a senior county call-up.

Paul Curran’s All-Ireland win in 1995 came a year before Murphy was born. The historical legacy is not lost on Curran’s heir.

“I can’t really remember Paul playing to be honest, at inter-county level, I saw a little bit of him in the twilight years playing some junior football. That was one thing that was brilliant actually to have, the homecoming in Thomas Davis and to bring the cup back to Tallaght. Recently, a couple of weeks ago, I did the schools, all the primary schools and it was brilliant, to try and grow the game and get more interest in the game around the local area.”

When Murphy made the Dublin panel, they had completed the five

in-a-row. Even with retirements and natural player turnover, there wasn’t a county team in Ireland tougher to break into. “It is hard to get ahead of lads on arguably one of the best teams that we have ever seen play,” he says. “Again, you are coming into a dressing room of lads who you have seen growing up, who you looked up to, so it was brilliant in one sense that you get a chance to play with those lads and learn from them but it makes it a bit more difficult to break through as well.”

One of those was Stephen Cluxton, who returned to the panel last year after a period in exile, a player who made his senior championship debut when Murphy was five.

“I think it’s nearly surreal he’s still playing with us, nearly getting younger every year at this stage. I suppose that’s part of the dream of playing for Dublin, to get to play with players like that. Now I didn’t imagine when I started watching the game that I’d be playing with the likes of Stephen. But you did get that sense of pride when I was first brought into the panel. You had

Cian O’Sullivan, Philly Mac, all those big name players were on the panel.

“While they’re there you try to be as much of a sponge as you can and learn off them. Like the likes of Cluxton with nine All-Irelands, a number of Leinsters, league medals, couple of All-Stars as well, just his knowledge of the game is unparalleled so you just try to learn as much as you can off them while they’re there.”

The suddenness of Cluxton’s comeback comes up. “Actually, a couple of weeks before he played he just arrived to training. I’d known obviously that he’d gone the year before and I was like, ’Oh what’s the crack Stephen?’, I thought he was just there to help the ’keepers out and all of a sudden he’s in training and playing and it just kind of escalated from there.”

After winning an All-Ireland

as a squad member in 2020, Murphy experienced the comparatively difficult transition of the next two seasons when doubts were cast over Dublin’s ability to recover the higher ground.

“I suppose that would maybe have been the narrative for a while, that Dublin might be falling off a little bit compared to the team we had. Obviously I don’t think, no matter what sport, everyone can win forever. But I’ve always had great belief we were going to win it again and thankfully last year we did get over the line. I think it might have motivated us as well, when you do hear whispers of maybe the new crop of players not being as good as the old. You just want to get Dublin football to where it belongs, to keep it at the highest level you can for as long [as you can]. Try and leave the jersey I suppose in as good a place as you got it.”

Shoulder injuries (“I had multiple dislocations”) also hindered his progress. He delayed surgery because he wanted to establish a place on the panel. When he had the surgery it allowed him focus more on gym work and building up strength.

“Obviously I’d be a bit smaller in stature compared to other lads so getting the chance to go after that and staying injury-free has been hugely beneficial to me for the last two years.”

The recent league final, despite the loss, was his first time to partake in a big match parade as a starting player. “It was a brilliant experience to be part of. Now, I don’t know whether an All-Ireland should be decided on penalties. I don’t know if it’s fair enough. I think everyone would have loved to come back and see that game a week later if they could have, so I don’t know if penalties or a replay is the best. I know the likes of Armagh got pipped in two games on penalties so it’s maybe quite unfair that it comes down to just the kick of a ball that way. I don’t know, to be honest. I don’t know what the answer is on it.”

Today, the All-Ireland champions start a Leinster title defence in Croke Park, raging favourites to mop up another provincial crown. Competition for places remains as brutal as ever, as Murphy is only too aware.

“Yeah, you can’t rest for a minute. I know the quality of the players around me so you can’t take your foot off the gas. You just need to keep the pressure on and play your part for the team. I have to keep performing to the best of my ability to try to keep a position and to help the team win.”

That’s the view from the inside looking out. It’s taken longer than average to get there. But you don’t need to ask him if it’s been worth the wait.

I think you’d struggle to find players who are going to challenge me more than them.