Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
MAXIE SWAIN
DARREN Murray says he feels indebted to Crumlin Star for getting him back into the game – and hopes to return the favour by firing them to a first ever top flight title.
The gifted former Swindon trialist has been in scintillating form since signing for the Ardoyne outfit before Christmas, bagging 12 goals in just five games including back-to-back hat-tricks earlier in the month.
The 25-year-old striker had drifted away from the game after his career stalled following his summer switch to Cliftonville – the club many had seen as a natural home for the New Lodge man.
Prior to his move, Murray was regarded as one of the hottest properties in the Irish League whose prowess at Portadown had seen him linked with clubs across the water, including trials with Scottish clubs Inverness Caledonian Thistle and Greenock Morton.
But his stay at Solitude was injury-blighted and brief – just eight months in fact – before he requested to be released from his contract.
Once one of the deadliest strikers in the country, Murray blames no one but himself for his current situation and accepts the Amateur League is not where he envisaged spending what are traditionally recognised as a player’s peak years.
But he feels a temporary step down and out of the limelight can help him regroup, refocus and rediscover why he plays the game in the first place.
“The main thing for me after what happened at Cliftonville is I just wanted to take a wee step back,” said Murray.
“I had a chat with my family to see where I needed to go again and re-evaluate in terms of getting myself back to being happy.
“I was at Portadown before and I was happy, there was a smile on my face and I was scoring goals and going about my business without worrying about other people.
“So I just want to get back to feeling good and Chew
(Paul Trainor, Star manager, right) has given me an opportunity to come down and train and just enjoy myself, float about, do my bit and sore goals on a Saturday.”
Once his selfimposed exile from the
Irish League is over,
Murray has promised to recapture the explosive form of his Shamrock Park days, with the likes of Glentoran, Ballymena United, Warrenpoint Town and the Ports reportedly ready to offer him a route back into the Danske Bank Premiership.
“I just want to concentrate on getting myself as fit as I can and I want to get back to the Irish League,” said Murray.
“I don’t want to be one of those players that go from the Premiership into the Amateur League and stay there.
“I know myself I shouldn’t be playing where I am at the minute