Blackrock's young guns aim to take final step

At 23, Blackrock’s Stephen Murphy is young as captains go, but he can already call upon a wealth of winning experience in green and gold, a record he hopes to extend in Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Sunday.

From 2011-15 inclusive, Blackrock won two county minor titles and then three U21 championships, with Murphy front and centre — in 201x, he won the 96FM and C103 Kieran O’Driscoll Award, annually presented to an emerging talent in Cork.

While the underage garlands gathered though, it seemed as if the Rockies couldn’t impose themselves on the latter stages of the senior championship. A bit more experience and a bit less bad luck have combined to bring them to Sunday’s clash with Imokilly.

“There would have been a lot of expectations around the young fellas coming on to the team, but it’s hard to replicate that,” Murphy says.

“Experience obviously helps, it’s a young team and you’re maturing with every year. There hasn’t been a whole lot that has changed, maybe we’ve just been a bit luckier.

“Last year, we lost by a point to Erin’s Own in the quarter-final and you look at where they got to, they were only a puck of a ball away from winning the final. We knew that we weren’t far away, but that game was very frustrating, we hit something like 18 wides and only lost by a point. You use that as extra motivation through the winter. It’s amazing how fast the years go. I’m already in my fifth year at senior level and this is the first year we’ve got past the quarter-finals. It does get more frustrating, but now that we’re there, anything can happen.”

In the semi-final against Na Piarsaigh, Blackrock found themselves being asked serious questions when Evan Sheehan came on and scored two goals immediately after half-time.

That left the northsiders 2-11 to 0-12 in front, but Blackrock would win the remainder of the game by 0-9 to 0-3, showcasing a combination of resilience and composure.

“It helped us that it was so early in the second half, we still had 25 minutes left,” Murphy says.

“To be fair, we didn’t panic, we tapped over a few points and before we knew it we were back in it. It was important for us to be there or thereabout in the last ten minutes.”

Murphy is currently ensconced in the family business, Murphy Transport. He earned a business degree in Cork IT, but unfortunately for him, a Fitzgibbon Cup medal remained elusive, coming closest in 201x, when they lost the final.

“That was my first year, and you think you’ll have more chances,” he says.

“Now you’d look at it as a lost opportunity, but overall it was a massive learning experience and it does bring you on a lot.

“The only negative is that you get absolutely no break, you’re going from the club, with U21 and senior, straight into Fitzgibbon which finishes in February and then into club and county again.”

That devotion to hurling has also prevented him from spending any summers away, but the regrets will be removed if he’s lifting the Seán Óg Murphy Cup on Sunday evening. Was he surprised to be asked to be skipper?

“I suppose I was,” he says.

“Someone has to be the captain, obviously I’m honoured. When you’re young and you’re looking up at Fergal Ryan and Wayne Sherlock captaining the senior team, you put them on a pedestal.

“We have a lot of leaders on the team, which is always a big help. I wouldn’t do anything different if I wasn’t captain, which I think is the most important thing, that you don’t leave it get to you.”