Paul Murphy: Rathmore drew belief from other Kerry breakthroughs

Now that Rathmore’s roll of honour count has been doubled and a 15-year gap successfully bridged, Paul Murphy is insistent that he always believed this second medal was possible.

Rathmore players, from left, Brendan O'Keeffe with his son Cian, Paul Murphy and his daughter Lucy, and Mark Reen and his children Ivy and Louis celebrate after the Kerry Senior Club Football Championship Final between Dr Crokes and Rathmore at Fitzgerald Stadium in Killarney, Kerry. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

Let’s park the actual final itself. It doesn’t particularly deserve priority. As Paul Murphy stated on the Fitzgerald Stadium pitch afterwards, [url=

https://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/gaa/arid-41913478.html]Sunday’s Kerry Club decider[/url] was a “funny kind of game” and it certainly wasn’t Rathmore’s best game of the campaign.

The 35-year-old Murphy was at half-back for Rathmore’s maiden Kerry Club success of 2011. He was in the same half-back line for the following year’s failed back-to-back bid against Crokes.

That 2012 final defeat represented their third season in succession reaching the concluding afternoon of Kerry’s secondary championship. A three-in-a-row of final appearances became no final appearance - either in the senior club or county championship competitions - for 14 years.

Now that Rathmore’s roll of honour count has been doubled and a 15-year gap successfully bridged, Murphy is insistent that he always believed this second medal was possible.

Definitely easier to state such when the final has been won, but this was no convenient speak on the part of the tireless half-back, whose buzzer-beating quarter-final winner against Stacks was so crucial in the overall winning run.

Murphy’s belief stemmed, in part, from what others had been doing in achieving their own respective final breakthrough in recent years. Why not us, he asked himself.

“You've seen a lot of clubs making finals the last few years. Crokes are inevitable, they're always going to be there or thereabouts. But Na Gaeil have been there, Dingle, Stacks, Rahillys, Templenoe, so a lot of clubs were getting the chance,” Murphy explained.

“And when you saw the crop of players we have there at the moment, I did think over the last year or two that we should be in contention. Look, there are no guarantees, and it doesn't always work out like that. But we're delighted that it has.” 

Rathmore players celebrate with the Michael O'Connor cup. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

That feeling of ‘why not us’ expanded within Murphy after successfully negotiating a group phase that included back-to-back Kerry Club champions Dr Crokes, All-Ireland Club champions Dingle, and Spa.

“We had a tough group with Dingle and Crokes, which is as tough as it gets in this competition. We beat Dingle the first night and probably got a huge amount of confidence from that.

“We went down to Division 2 in the League, and we had a lot of injuries earlier in the year. But once we got that win against Dingle, we backed it up against Spa, and we sort of grew from there.

“We have a lot of younger lads coming through, and they're growing into the jersey. We have a crop of fellas around 23, 24, or 25 as well. Everyone has grown through this campaign, and they're making a bigger and bigger contribution.

“Once we got a bit of momentum, we thought, 'Why not?' There was a big chance there for us and we're delighted that we've taken it.” 

Chance taken, with a sizable helping hand from the spectacularly misfiring Crokes, Rathmore move on to the county championship arena with credentials embellished.

Having delivered in the Club championship, the question they’ll now be asking of themselves is why can’t we repeat the dose in the race for Bishop Moynihan.

Even without injured Shane Ryan, William Casey has been outstanding in goals, Darragh Nagle, Murphy, and Alan Dineen comprise a half-back line that moves forward with intent, Cathal Ryan and Ciaran Collins are superb in the creating and finishing departments, while Mark Ryan is a most effective target at the tip of their spear.

“This win will definitely give us a lot of belief,” Murphy continued. “But if you go back 12 months, Crokes were in this position, they got a tough draw in the first round and Mid Kerry turned them over.

“We'll obviously enjoy this achievement, but we have two weeks then to make sure we're ready. We've been on the road six of the last seven weekends, so we just need to reset, get the bodies right, and have a crack off that. But it's straight knockout, it's a tough competition so we'll just hope for the best.”