Murphy: Our momentum was the key

UCC selector Dr Con Murphy believes that momentum was the key to a facile 20-point victory against Moyle Rovers in yesterday’s semi-final.

The students arrived in Clonmel with their tails up after scoring a hard-fought extra-time victory against Monaleen on November 6.

On that same day, Rovers lost the Tipperary decider against Thomas McDonagh’s, an amalgamation of teams from the north of the county and therefore ineligible to compete in the provincial competition.

Murphy reflected: “They (Rovers) were a bit dispirited having lost their own county final. We’re on a run and that was the difference really.

“We had momentum whereas Rovers lost their own county final and hadn’t the same feel for this game.”

Murphy also paid tribute to Kerry’s Paul Geaney, scorer of 2-5 yesterday just 24 hours after playing a county Division 1 League final for his club Dingle. Murphy revealed: “He played the full match yesterday (Saturday) and it went to extra-time; Austin Stacks beat them. But they’re young players and Sigerson is based on playing two or three days in a row. College fellas don’t think of it as a big thing. And it’s always been the case with college teams that we’d have fellas overlapping on a weekend – and they’re quite used to it.”

UCC are now looking forward to a final meeting with Kerry kingpins Dr Crokes on December 4, when Daithí Casey and Johnny Buckley will choose club before college.

Murphy explained: “We enjoy a good relationship with Crokes — they’ve supplied players to College over the years.”