Paul Murphy: 'Someone not from a GAA background would send you to get your head examined'

One of seven current panelists whose dads are heavily involved with their clubs, Murphy’s tale of his father’s passion for football explains part of why the 30-year-old has scaled the heights he has

Wed, 25 Aug, 2021 - 06:00

John Fogarty

Kerry captain Paul Murphy is asked to speak about his father Donal, a man who has served in almost every role in Rathmore GAA club.

“I suppose what you are exposed to when you are growing up will have a big influence on what you’ll be interested in. I suppose the other lads are the same, their dad would have played with the club and things like that, David Moran would have seen his dad playing with Kerry, the Spillanes the same.

“It would always have been in the house growing up. You weren’t forced to play but you are exposed to it and when you become interested in it, then it’s encouraged at every opportunity.

“I remember... I have an uncle who lived outside Naas there, and we were up for my cousin’s communion. I think it was on at 12, but I’d a match that night down playing Skellig Rangers — that’s Portmagee, that’s the very bottom tip of Kerry. So my father suggested anyway we’d go. We went to the communion mass, got in the car then and drove down to make the match in Portmagee at six or seven that evening.

“There’s a bit of madness in that, like. If you mention that to someone who wasn’t from a GAA background, they’d be sending you to get your head examined, maybe. If you are encouraged to do something, then it definitely helps you out.”

Donal, whose pride swelled at last January’s board meeting when he thanked East Kerry for nominating his son for the captaincy and insisted “he’ll try might and main to do his best for Kerry”, brought Paul to all eight of Kerry’s All-Ireland finals in the 2000s and semi-finals like 2003. You can try talking to Murphy about how good Kerry were against Tyrone in the Division 1 semi-final but the Ulster champions haunted Murphy’s formative years.

“2003, Tyrone were comfortably the better team. And you’d say the same about 2005 and 2008. They were closer games, but Tyrone just seemed to have the upper hand in those years. They were tough days out for Kerry supporters, and maybe that’s in the back of some Kerry supporters’ minds still. Is there a carry-over from them? I don’t think those games will have any relevance to the two groups of players that are playing the next day.”

What will be pertinent is the keenness of both goalkeepers, his Rathmore club-mate Shane Ryan and Niall Morgan, to make themselves available further out the field. Along with Rory Beggan, they haven’t been afraid to act as sweeper keepers or, in Ryan’s case, filling space in the half-back line to upset Cork’s restarts in last month’s Munster final.

“Shane would have played most of his football for Rathmore as a full forward. So I wouldn’t be nervous seeing Shane coming out with the ball at all, he’s a really good footballer. But I think he kind of controls the urges, when he’s given the number one jersey he restrains himself a little bit. I’d say Shane would love a gallop out the field and maybe try kick a few points, but he hasn’t done it yet anyway.

“Niall Morgan and Rory Beggan are two of the pioneers of it. It’s an interesting development, it’s a high risk, high reward strategy. It’s very ballsy. I think it’s great to watch. Gaelic football, every sport, is constantly evolving and developing all the time.”

Murphy applauds how Paudie Clifford has made himself such a vital player for Kerry this summer.

“He strikes me a guy who has got a jersey and is not going to give up this jersey without a fight. It’s brilliant for us, he’s putting in big performances and he’s working very hard for the team. Off the ball, he’s doing dirty work, he’s not shirking any of that so he’s playing really well and we’re all hoping he continues his form.”

After a small taste of it in Fitzgerald Stadium, Murphy says Kerry are preparing to deal with what the challenge the presence of supporters brings in Croke Park this Saturday.

“It’s brilliant to see fans back. For the last year or so, there have been empty stands and it was very easy to communicate both on the pitch and from the pitch to the sideline. But with fans coming back in the last few weeks, it has become tougher. People just aren’t hearing the messages that are going in and that is going to happen up in Croke Park again. You’ll find with big crowds in Croke Park you’re almost pointing to each other rather than speaking to each other because the message isn’t heard.”

Sons and fathers — County and club