Rebel star Fraggy reaping the benefits of positive thinking
We can go on calling them Kieran Murphy Erin’s Own, and Kieran Murphy Sars, all a bit long-winded and cumbersome, or we can keep it simple – Hero and Fraggy. Hero is the big guy from county champions Erin’s Own, Fraggy is the smaller, more compact figure in the corner.
It’s not just their names that these two have in common, however; neither were among what would be considered the untouchables on the Cork team for the past four very successful seasons (two All-Ireland titles, two runners-up spots), Hero really only joining the party in the last two years, just as Fraggy was going off the boil.
Both felt the frustration, but it was worse for the Sars man. When something for which you have fought so hard, to which you have dedicated so much of your life, is taken from you, it hurts; a non-drinker, non-smoker, fanatical trainer, Kieran struggled to come to terms with his demotion.
“It was very disappointing. I take the training very seriously, my preparation and all that. Being on the team in 2004, then being on at the start of 2005 and letting it slip…” and he pauses, considers, “Last year was very frustrating, I’d see myself as being very competitive and sitting in the stand, watching the lads going out – obviously you’re fully behind them but no-one wants to be sitting in the stand like a spectator, watching the game, hoping you might get on.
“It’s a terrible position to be in because for you to get on, someone has to injured, or not playing well, which isn’t good for the team; it might be good for you, you’re hoping to get a run, but it’s not a nice position for any athlete to be in.”
What was going wrong? “Lack of confidence, I didn’t have the same belief I had in 2004. And a forward has to have confidence; if there’s a man behind you as you race out to a ball you need to believe you’re going to control that ball with one touch, and gone. I lost a bit of that in 2006 but I’ve been working on it this year; I’ve worked on the mental preparation, visualisation, tried all that sort of stuff.
“We had a guy with LIT doing that sort of stuff with us, John Carey, I did a lot of work with him. It’s not something I’d ever really thought about before, but I couldn’t overstate the importance of it, it’s brilliant. It definitely helped, I can see it coming to fruition now.”
Speaking of LIT, under the guidance of Clare’s Davy Fitzgerald, double All-Ireland medallist and multiple Allstar, they won the Fitzgibbon Cup this year, and Davy was effusive in his praise of the Corkman afterwards. According to Fraggy, however, much of his improvement is down to Davy himself. “The All-Ireland final last year was a bad experience for me, brought on as a sub, then taken off — I was very down over that. Davy recognised that, called me in to a meeting with himself and Jimmy Browne, the team manager, and he asked me to be captain.”
‘‘It started from there, really, that gave me a bit of confidence. Davy was always onto me about self-belief, preparing yourself properly mentally for games. I did a lot of very good one-to-one work with him and it was then I fully appreciated his management skills, how he was able to deal with his players. I went from being a player who was lacking a lot of confidence to going out in the Fitzgibbon Cup final believing no-one was going to beat us as a team, no-one was going to beat me as a player. We had this saying, failure isn’t failure to score, it’s failure to shoot. If you’re in position to take a score, take it; if the right option is to pass to someone in a better position, do that.”
And if the goal is on, go for it? “Exactly. I have the highest regard for Davy, he’s an excellent manager, a players’ man; everything we asked for, he gave, so that we gave a 100% for him, he gave a 100% back to us. He’s made a big difference to me.”
In the first round of this year’s championship, the win over Clare a few weeks ago (from which arose all the tunnel controversy), Kieran lined out at full-forward, a surprise move by the Cork management, though it was forced on them in part by the injury to Neil Ronan. Nevertheless there is a definite air of change in Cork this year, a feeling even within the panel itself that under Gerald McCarthy, there isn’t as much predictability about the Cork starting 15, that there are, in fact, places up for grabs.
“I think so, yes,” says Kieran. “He made that clear to us from the start, that he wanted to bring a lot more competitiveness to the subs, to the point where they were fighting hard for starting positions.
“That competitiveness within the team has brought us on this year, brought a freshness that we needed after the last four years. You have at least nine forwards fighting for the six starting positions – you couldn’t have said that for the last few years. Everyone is under pressure now, everyone feels they’re going to get the chance.”
Though up against a very good full-back in Brian O’Connell, against Clare, Kieran performed admirably, notched two valuable points and set up Cork’s goal before being called ashore to a generous ovation. It was a reception much appreciated.
“I’ve had a good start to the season, hopefully I can get an injury-free run now. I’m training as hard as ever, people seem to have confidence in me, I have confidence in myself; hopefully I’ll hold my position against Waterford, get a good run in the team.”
On and off the pitch it’s a big weekend for Fraggy. The day after Sunday’s Munster semi-final against Waterford, he starts work as a Quantity Surveyor with Bowen Construction in Little Island, the fruits of his other labours in LIT.
Hopefully all goes well for him.
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