Niall Murphy: ‘We’d always have a belief in Sligo that we’ll get our day in the sun’

Leinster see Edinburgh scare as "shot across the bows" ahead of quarter-final tie

Niall Murphy has been part of Sligo panel that has beaten the best of Connacht.

A dying breed. A footballer powered by provincial ambition. League and late summer silverware are secondary among his desires.

Niall Murphy is 32. He's been a member of the Sligo dressing-room since 2012. He knows his priorities are out of kilter with the majority. He doesn’t care. He knows what he wants from his remaining years in black. 

There will be no apologies from the inside forward.

The Connacht football championship throws in this weekend. The overseas expeditions of Mayo and Roscommon will attract greatest interest, even if the Bronx and Ruislip fixtures are without an ounce of suspense.

The one Connacht fixture on home soil and one fixture guaranteed to offer a contest will be squeezed and shoved into the background. That’s the reality when fifth in Division 3 faces seventh from Division 4.

Outside of the locals on either side of the border, Sligo hosting Leitrim this Sunday is on the radar of nobody else.

For Niall Murphy, though, there are few greater prizes than that on offer at Markievicz Park this weekend. An opportunity to stand opposite a Connacht big dog. An opportunity to achieve that long-sought-after day in the sun. 

Oh how dearly he wants another day in the provincial sun.

Murphy was in his debut year and sitting among the Sligo subs when they stunned Galway at Pearse Stadium in the 2012 Connacht semi-final. He was at midfield when they similarly shocked Roscommon at the same stage three years later.

“People will probably laugh at me when I say about beating some of those teams, but I've been there when we've done it,” Murphy begins.

“I was involved in that team that beat Galway in 2012. We lost by two points then to Mayo in the Connacht final. In 2015, beat Roscommon, and then I've had a couple of close games over the last couple of years.

“So back to probably clinging on to something, and clinging on to something you've experienced helps. Probably keeps you going.” 

Since 2015, there has been no day in the sun. Until the two most recent editions of the Connacht championship, when they came within two and three points of Galway and Mayo respectively, it had been a depressing litany of hammerings. 

Sligo’s average margin of defeat against Galway, Mayo, and Roscommon from 2016-23 stands at 14 points.

If it wasn’t for the aforementioned near misses of recent years, belief in another provincial scalp would long have been pronounced dead.

Murphy’s monitor still shows a faint flicker. He’s not given up on once more upsetting the provincial pecking order and pocketing a provincial medal in the process. It is what fuels him. It is his peak.

“Look, since I've been involved with Sligo, we've always been chasing the Roscommon's, Mayo's and Galway's. I think we'll always be that underdog.

“But we'd always have a belief in Sligo that we'll get our day in the sun, and we'll be able to turn over one of those top three teams. It's been a couple of years now, but yeah, you play just to live for one of those days again.

“You do put a huge amount of emphasis on the league, but ultimately, championship is where it's at. It's trying to take down a Galway, Mayo or Roscommon. That’s where your goal is. Or to win a Connacht championship, that's where your ultimate goal would be.

“The allure of the provincial medal mightn’t be there for a Galway or Mayo, but it's there for Sligo, Leitrim, London, New York.

“A Connacht medal, it'd be our summit. Sligo winning the Sam Maguire isn’t going to happen soon. Can you win a Tailteann Cup? Yeah, 100 percent – but I wouldn’t put that above a Connacht medal.” 

If Pádraic Joyce’s Galway still harbour regrets over not being first to the line in the 2024 All-Ireland final, it equally still eats away at Sligo that they didn’t topple them in the Connacht semi-final three months earlier. 

In front in second-half injury-time, Rob Finnerty’s palmed goal shattered Sligo hearts.

It is the maroon they’ll again meet should they manage to successfully negotiate Leitrim this Sunday.

The spring form of Dessie Sloyan and Eamonn O’Hara’s side was nothing to shout about. 

Midway through the second half of their final outing in Division 3, they trailed at home to Clare and occupied a relegation berth. Reduced to 14 men for the closing 26 minutes, they eked out a one-point victory to hang on.

“Ourselves and Leitrim will both fancy taking each other out. And then the winners are away to Galway. That's the game you have pinpointed every year,” Murphy continued.

“Two years ago against Galway, that's the one that stings. It's one that still comes up in the mind. I always still reference the Roscommon game from 2015 as being one of my favourite games, and that’s 11 years ago now. So that's what I'm trying to chase all the time.”