Cork still playing catch-up, says Murray
They denied JJ Doyle’s side a fourth consecutive Division 1 title with a four-point win in Thurles in May only for Wexford to exact revenge in the championship a month late in Enniscorthy.
It’s that five-point defeat which Murray insists is a truer reflection of the counties’ form this season ahead of Sunday’s All-Ireland final.
“If you look at the league final, I think we were certainly six or seven weeks down the road training-wise compared to Wexford so I don’t think Wexford will read too much into that.
“I think the outing in the championship probably gave people more of an idea of where we were at against them.”
Captain Julia White’s absence through injury hampers Cork’s chances and Murray feels Wexford aren’t finished yet despite finally breaking through and winning the last two All-Ireland crowns.
“If you look back over the last four or five years Wexford have been the team setting the bar. I think we probably fell off over the last couple of years so we are trying to catch up.
“When you see the subs Wexford brought on against Offaly they are going to be there for a while more.”
Wexford manager Doyle said they aren’t speaking too much about the prospect of emulating the Tipperary team of 1999-2001 and doing the three-in-a-row.
“I’ll be 100% honest, it’s an irrelevance for us because all we can control is what happens on the field on Sunday.
“Girls will look back when they’re retired in 10 or 15 years time at what they’ve done in their careers but they’re not looking back now saying, ‘well, we’ve won two’ because if we don’t win on Sunday then the last two are irrelevant, they’re no good to us.
“We won’t sit in the dressing room after being beaten on Sunday thinking, ‘Jeez, it was great to win the last two years’.
“What we’ll be thinking is how sickened we’ll have been for leaving this one behind us. So it’s all about this Sunday.
“The last two years are a complete irrelevance other than maybe having the experience of playing in Croke Park.”
Doyle confirmed 2010 All-Ireland winning captain Una Leacy will be fit for the game despite picking up an injury in the semi-final win over Offaly.
“It would be unfortunate for her had we missed it but it would have been someone else’s opportunity.
“Like, I mean, we’ve seen it here two years ago here, Karen (Atkinson), who is the captain on Sunday, went off after 12 minutes with a knee injury and another girl came on and got her chance.
“The same thing could happen, it could happen after five minutes or 55 minutes and that’s where you need your squad.”
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