Murphy ready for cavalry call against Cork

LARRY MURPHY is throwing out phrases like “over the hill” and “last big hurrah” at a Wexford press night.

Some things never change. The legs may have slowed but the wit is still as speedy as every it was.

One of the survivors from Wexford’s All-Ireland winning team of 1996, and inspirational as a substitute in last season’s qualifier win over Waterford, he’s resigned to being on the bench again in Sunday’s Guinness SHC semi-final against Cork.

But all the while he will be waiting for another run out onto Croke Park.

And the glass is very much half full from his perspective.

“With injuries and everything, it’s going to be a 20-man performance. Nothing short of that will beat Cork,” he said.

“Every player wants to play, but the new guys coming into the team have added more mobility. My ould legs don’t carry me as well as they used to, especially for 70 minutes. A lot of the young lads are fearless. They got a chance and took it. It’s great to see. The pressure is off. I have never been so relaxed going into a game. You’re just waiting for the chance to come out of the traps.”

At this level, he reminds us of the importance of a depth in talent within a squad. As a result he’s confident he can fill the role of impact substitute.

“Wexford mightn’t need to use any subs if they’re playing that well. Sometimes you’ll have players who perform well, other times they’ll have an off day. And you can have injuries. You just have to be patient. There are lots of other lads in the same situation.”

Liam Dunne stresses the importance of players like Murphy. Their experience is ‘invaluable,’ he states - in terms of their input to the whole operation.

“We have had ‘open forums’ this year, about moving the thing on and it has worked very well for us. The older lads have been a tremendous help.”

What continues to motivate Larry Murphy is an undying pride in the Wexford jersey - “it’s just the greatest thrill I have ever had” - and a love of the game.

“It’s the thrill of playing for Wexford in front of big crowds - it’s not every day that you have that opportunity.

“When you get to a certain age you appreciate it more. Sometimes the older you get the more fearful you become of playing, but I think I have gone over the hill, in the sense that I am enjoying it more than I ever did. Training can be tough. It’s not easy being the last in the laps. But a lot of the lads are friends and that helps.”

Without Damien Fitzhenry’s brilliance in the first-half of the Leinster final, he agreed that Wexford would hardly be contesting this game.

“At half-time they should have been eight or nine points up. They realised they had blown their chance. We got great confidence after playing so badly. It was only a matter of time before we got on top. We found it hard to get motivated for the game. That’s no slight on Offaly, they’ve beaten us more times than we want to remember. But, the sight of a Kilkenny jersey evokes more passion and Offaly have this knack of dragging you down to a certain level. Coming from the high of playing Kilkenny, it was never going to be the same type of game.”

Wexford have had a six-week lay-off since that provincial final success. In last week’s semi-final Waterford struggled after a similar spell on the sidelines. Are there similar fears growing in the Model County? Murphy isn’t worried.As Brian Cody said, isn’t it great to be there? The GAA go from one extreme to another. You either play too many matches or you don’t play any at all.

“If you’re strong enough and good enough you’ll win anyway. Kilkenny and Cork got to the final last year and they had a long wait before their semis. Possibly the first 20 minutes of the game will be a slight culture shock for us. It won’t be the same as playing practice matches,” he added.

On a positive note, he feels Wexford will be better prepared mentally for the game than 12 months ago.

“The difference this year is we are there. We want to go further, an extra step. . There’s a huge hunger. For myself and Feno (Adrian Fenlon), Fitz (Damien Fitzhenry) and Darragh Ryan, it could be our last big hurrah.

“We’ll never get closer to a final.”