Paul Murphy keen to atone for Kilkenny’s ‘waste of a year’

Brian Cody has tended to treat the Bord na Móna Walsh Cup like an old college friend, a show of interest every now and then, enough to keep the relationship from crumbling entirely.

Eddie Brennan’s U21s represented Kilkenny last year, received shellackings at the hands of DIT and Offaly that hardly disrupted the senior team’s efforts. Kilkenny didn’t enter the competition at all in 2015 due to the passing of Lester Ryan’s father.

The previous year, 2014, was the last time Cody showed real interest in January fare and it was no coincidence that the previous summer of 2013 had gone so badly for them.

In that first game of 2014, a 5-23 mauling of DIT, Cody pressed David Herity, Conor Fogarty, Paul Murphy, Joey Holden, Tommy Walsh, Colin Fennelly and TJ Reid into action.

The message was clear; they would start the rebuilding process in the mud and dirt and Cody would see exactly how much atonement meant to his players.

There’s something similar going on at the moment. Kilkenny returned from their team holiday to San Diego on January 6 and, at the first opportunity, Cody rolled out all his big guns last weekend against Antrim.

Eight of September’s All-Ireland final team lined out and by full-time 11 of the players who’d featured in the loss to Tipperary had got involved. Unlike 2014, they didn’t score five goals but six, winning by 26 points and laying down an obvious marker.

Paul Murphy, a member of the full-back line that was so publicly filleted by Tipp, started last weekend and is as keen as Cody to begin the purging process.

“I suppose James McGarry was the person who said it a few years ago, and it was drilled into us for the last while, that it is, in our minds, a waste of a year if you don’t (win the All-Ireland),” said Murphy. “I don’t know what way other teams picture it, everybody to their own, but that’s the way we picture it. It is a waste of a year.

“When you’re putting yourself in contention for these things then you have to see it that way because you want to be winning them. We’re training for the last 10 days and it’ll hopefully go on until September. Then, to lose one match that you want to win. That’s effectively a waste of a year because that’s what you’re training for - to win the All-Ireland.

“You’re not training to win the Walsh Cup or these things, you want to win them and you want to build but the All-Ireland is the one you want to win. So not winning it, the year is just scrapped.”

Murphy counts himself mighty lucky that since making his Championship debut in 2011 he has played in seven All-Ireland finals - including the drawn games in 2012 and 2014 - and only lost once.

“It’s such a strange feeling when it happens and it’s such an anti-climax really,” said the 27-year-old. “There’s nothing for second place, there’s nothing for the loser. It’s a total anti-climax.

“It is hard to get your head around it and as you go through the winter it just comes back to you every so often. You’re at different events or you’re just reminded of it yourself working day to day. It does stick with you and it sticks with you more than the winning ones. It would definitely affect you more than winning one.”

It seemed significant that of the seven defensive players Cody started against Antrim, five lined out against Tipp. A sixth, Robert Lennon, came on in September. Charlie Carter, the former Kilkenny attacker, has suggested that new faces are required at numbers three and six, where Holden and Kieran Joyce played. Both players featured against Antrim last weekend with Cody seemingly inclined to persist.

“Look, obviously the glaring thing was 2-21 (conceded to the Tipp full-forward line) and, of course, we have analysed it ourselves,” said the Defence Forces member. “I suppose if I was 19 or 20 and in that position, I may have taken it a lot harder from the point of view of people outside talking.

“I did take it hard on myself regarding my own performance, and the full-back line as a unit, but in terms of the outside talk... look, people are entitled to talk and do their analysis on it and have their opinions and you have to respect that. But I didn’t take it on board myself, I didn’t take it hard that this person talking is right or that person is right, I just didn’t pay any attention to it.

“I broke it down myself, we talked about it ourselves. I was in the best position myself to see what happened. I don’t need anyone else to tell me what happened that day.”