Killian Murphy fighting fit and ready for another Cork county final tilt with Sarsfields

Murphy battled back from serious injury and is preparing to take on Midleton in Leeside showpiece this weekend.

Fri, 17 Oct, 2025 - 07:04

Eoghan Cormican

Sars midfielder Killian Murphy has his own individual motivation for Sunday.

He already has a county medal to his name, but not one he won playing on the field. He wants a county medal where his involvement contributed to its winning on the concluding Sunday.

Murphy partnered Daniel Kearney on the afternoon of the 2023 county semi-final against Imokilly, as he had Sars' four championship games up to that point.

Four minutes from the hour, he was forced to depart. Cruciate rupture, season over. He’d watch the subsequent final victory - the club’s first in nine years - from the stand.

“It was a bittersweet in the final, winning but not playing,” Murphy remarked.

“But there were good fellas around me, like Cillian Roche, he'd done his cruciate that year as well, and there were all the fellas that had done it before me.

“It's a good group of lads there to come around you. I suppose it's becoming kind of the norm now. Cathal [McCarthy] did it this year, it's obviously devastating for him.

“It took me about nine to 10 months to get back. There's obviously the mental side of it too, but there's great fellas involved here to get you back from an injury like that.”

His first fixture back just so happened to be the 2024 county final. He was introduced with eight minutes remaining against Imokilly. The silverware was long gone from Sars’ grasp.

“The main goal was to try to get back before the end of the county championship. I came on in the final, obviously that didn't go our way, but it was great to get the run then in Munster,” continued the 25-year-old mechanical engineer.

Older brother Eoghan was a central defensive component throughout the 2023 and ‘24 campaigns where silverware was collected at county and provincial level. Injury landing on his doorstep has meant he is now fulfilling the bench impact role that Killian performed last winter.

“Even when I was coming into the panel, he'd been there a good few years ahead of me, so it made things easier to break into the panel too with him involved.

“He came back in June or July there, so obviously it was a short space of time between getting back and championship, but he's pushing hard there now to try and get himself in.

“Obviously the lads in the backs are playing well, but it's great to have the likes of him on the bench too as an experienced player. It's fantastic.” Sunday’s decider brings together the two most consistent teams of the past three years. Sars haven’t lost to another Cork club since 2022. Sars are the only side to better Midleton in the championship over the past three years.

“Obviously, last year we only beat them by a point, the year before, it was two points. There's nothing between the teams, really. It's kind of how the day goes. It's just trying to be the best version of ourselves.”