Murphy delighted to be part and parcel of Conran’s team

HE has proved himself one of the top hurling referees of modern times, with four All-Ireland senior appointments to his credit.

Right now, Dickie Murphy's chances of getting a fifth next month are somewhere between reasonable and none. It all depends on how Wexford get on against Cork in next Sunday's semi-final, in which he will be heavily involved on the sideline as part of John Conran's management team, along with former star Martin Quigley.

Dickie, a postman in Enniscorthy, previously acted as a selector at minor level back in the 80's and more recently worked with Conran when the Rathnure man was in charge of the U21 side.

When Conran approached him late last year about getting involved at senior level he initially turned him down, realising that it would result in his refereeing career being put on hold for a year or two.

"Eventually he persuaded me to do it. Once I had decided, I thought my refereeing would suffer a good bit because working at senior level requires a much bigger commitment. For a start, it meant I would not be able to referee any National League games.

"In that sense it was a big decision. But, at the end of it all, I'm delighted that I took the job."

Ironically, he ended up handling more championship games four in all than he had over the last few years, starting off with the Leinster preliminary round game between Laois and Wicklow. The next two were replays Limerick/Waterford and Kilkenny/Dublin before he had charge of the qualifier game between Tipperary and Galway. "I really enjoyed those games and I felt they went well for me," he said.

Understandably, his approach to games involving Wexford is largely governed by his philosophy on refereeing in general.

"I'd know the referee very well. You know you have to accept his decision whether he is right or wrong the same as other teams having to accept my decisions. I'm hopeful that he will make the right decision on the day, but like us all, he's not going to get it right all the time.

"I think referees do a fair good job. My concern at the end of the day is worrying about how to beat the opposition."

Some Wexford people would question the logic of putting the county championship on hold while the team is still involved, suggesting that it was a significant factor in their Leinster final loss. Kilkenny have continued with their championship and they were obviously much sharper from the start of the game. Murphy was satisfied with the effort put in by the players and felt that the team was right for the game. It turned out that they weren't.

"With ten minutes to go we were just three points behind, but we were chasing the game the whole time. When Kilkenny shifted up a gear they could put you away. After that we re-grouped. We had a great win over Waterford and while people might say we were lucky against Antrim, we still won."

Pointing out that the Wexford county championship has yet to start, he notes that while Cork will be starting with the same team for the third consecutive match, Wexford have gone out each day with different line-ups. However, with Darragh Ryan and Adrian Fenlon both included after injury, he is convinced that they will have the best available side available for Sunday.

"I know Cork have had no game since they beat Waterford. It's like last year, Waterford were beaten by Clare and yet, while Kilkenny were waiting as long, they won their semi-final. I don't think it will make any difference to Cork because their players have been involved with their clubs.

"We have played three games since Cork last played. But, if we do lose, people might say we played too many in a short space of time.

"It will be all about which team plays best on the day."