Murphy and Clara defying all the odds

Austin Murphy recalls the cold November morning spent at the home of Mullingar rugby back in 2008.

Every detail is frighteningly laid out. Every nook and cranny vividly portrayed, his memory of that Saturday still as fresh as ever. Little wonder really, given the Clara captain spent almost three and a half years wondering had the trip to the midlands ended a hurling career very much in its infancy.

Aside from donning the maroon of his native parish, Murphy was a keen rugby enthusiast and when the GAA season entered hibernation he would make the short sojourn into the city to throw his lot in with the Kilkenny junior rugby set-up.