Jack Murphy looking to lay down the law at the heart of the Mercy Mounthawk defence

SATURDAY at Croke Park will be a proud occasion for everybody connected with Mercy Mounthawk. However, with two sons lining out together in the Tralee school’s half-back line, it will be extra special for the Murphy family.

While younger brother Ben made his mark, to a huge degree, last year with his exploits for the Kerry minors in their passage to the All-Ireland semi-final, sibling Jack is really showcasing his dependability, and effectiveness, over the last couple of months.

The Austin Stacks’ duo, members of the club’s expected eight representatives in the probable starting fifteen for the Hogan Cup final, have been inspirational figures at the heart of an impressive rearguard, with the number six emerging from the shadows.

“Ben would be two age groups below me but, like that, ever since he’s been six or seven, he’s always been playing up, in the same age group as me. I’m well used to playing with him. There are a lot of relationships in the team, brothers, cousins, club-mates, it makes it that bit more special,” he said.

“I suppose the main thing is about the team performance but, looking to home, he still has the bragging rights, so we’ll have to sort that out! We said at the start of the year that Mounthawk wouldn’t really be known as a football school.

“In Kerry, it’s the ‘Green and the ‘Sem. We don’t have a massive following, so we said we were going to do it for the group of fellas that were there, your family and your club, and that’s what we’ve been working on all year.”

While Ben Murphy’s buccaneering runs up the field have been commonplace to witness, for both county and school, the centre-back also enjoys a gallop when he gets the opportunity. Mature enough to understand his more important task, Jack has to rein in his natural instincts.

“Obviously it’s nice to get forward and to get involved in the attacking side of things, but when you’re on a team with the forwards that we have, you have to recognise that there’s no need, so you do have to take that defensive role a bit more seriously.

“You need to sit back and mind the house I suppose. For my own age group anyway, centre-back would be my preferred position, even though I would like to play a bit more of an attacking role. In a team like this, you just have to suck it up.

“With the club then, you have the likes of all the Kerry senior boys, so I’ll probably have to bite my tongue, and take more of a minor role. In a few years though, that’s where I would probably see myself playing. The main fella that I looked up to playing centre-back would probably be Seamus Moynihan.”

At 3pm on Saturday afternoon, Jack Murphy will get to live the dream that the majority of youngsters aspire to when they are born in Kerry. Walking out onto the hallowed Croke Park turf, on All-Ireland Final day, will be a very, very special moment. “That’s been the dream

from the get-go, not even schools football, just there since we were young. You don’t get to play in Croke Park with the minors or the 20s anymore. The only way you get there is with your school or with your club, if you’re lucky enough. We’ll take the opportunity now and run with it.

“Without a doubt, it’s the biggest stadium that any of us have ever played in, or will ever play in. Initially, in the warm-up, we’ll just try and get used to our surroundings. Once the whistle goes then, I don’t think there’s any pressure on us anymore,” he stressed.

“We’re all going to take the shackles off, we’re all going to play freely, and just see how far it gets us. For the sixth years, it’s our last game. Once we got through the group stage, we treated every game as a knock-out game, and potentially it could have been our last game playing with any of the boys.

“We’ve managed to keep that run going. Our aim at the start of the year was to play as many games as we could. When we beat Naas, we got ourselves into Croke Park, but the main thing is that we got three more weeks training with the boys. Once it’s over, it’s over.”

When the final whistle is blown on Saturday, the 18-year-old’s football journey with some of his Mercy Mounthawk team-mates will come to an end. Then it will be onto club matters with the Rock Street side, as he aims to become a cornerstone of that team, with his younger brother, for years to come.

“We pride ourselves on hard work, and nothing really fazes us at this stage. Throughout the year, that’s been our main thing. We’re confident in our abilities as a team, and we fall back on what we’ve worked on. We’ll just have

to see how things pan out.”