MURPHY’S LAW

Tallaght man had to battle hard to earn his place in the Dublin team and now he’s determined to keep it

CIAN Murphy relives the moment he was sent on in last year’s All-Ireland final, his team leading by a point with 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 against Cork in the All-Ireland quarter-final, followed by an injury-time entrance against Kerry in the semi-final.

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.

RELISH

On Dublin’s league panel since 2020, he had to wait until 2023 for his first championship start. But his appearance 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.

Murphy, who turns 28 this year, has had to bide his time.

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.

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. “Then they went on to do separate things. My ma is doing physical therapy now and my dad is a HR manager.”

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.

When Murphy made the Dublin panel, they had completed the five-in-arow. 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 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. 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 I 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, a couple of AllStars 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.”

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. 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. Try and leave the jersey in as good a place as you got it.”

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.”

PRESSURE

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.”

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.

‘You want to try and leave the jersey in as good a place as you got it’