'You either sink or swim': Paudie Murray embraces Barrs' expectations

From his schooldays overlooking the Glen field to leading St Finbarr’s into a county final against their great rivals, Paudie Murray knows the expectations that come with the job

Paudie Murray: 'I've always had the feeling that, when a club was good to you, you always gave something back.' Pic: ©INPHO/Ben Brady

Paudie Murray received his second-level education at Farranferris on Cork city’s northside. Such was the school’s location, he spent his teenage years looking out across at the Glen field.

A young spectator at the 1988 county final, he became friendly after with Johnny Buckley, who was among the scorers on the beaten Glen side.

Those early connections are all green, black, and gold. And yet here stands this West Cork native as Barrs manager for the latest final collision of the storied city rivals.

A county intermediate winning captain with the Dohenys footballers in 1995, his hurling clothes were the green and gold of Cloughduv.

It was shortly after the turn of the millennium when his blue chapter began. Transfer papers were signed and successfully lodged.

“I was living two miles away from here,” he says from a quiet corner of the Barrs clubhouse, “and I was living there for ten or 12 years. I also went to school with a couple of guys here and one place I frequented a lot as a Cloughduv player was Mok’s, so I couldn't get any closer, really.

“I was coming to the end of whatever career I had, and some people would say it wasn't great. I didn't expect to get another six years - six phenomenal years. I was on my way to retiring at that time and playing out the career, so it just gave me a lift, and Kevin was no different.” 

The transition onto the sideline was not exclusively local. Ten years were spent as Cork camogie manager.

By the end of that decade-long tenure, which saw the Hogan Stand steps climbed on four occasions, he’d already immersed himself in Cork’s development squad scene. And so he went from long-time Cork camogie boss in 2021 to first-time Cork minor hurling manager in 2022.

Such sideline relentlessness speaks to his ambition, his obsession.

Straight from red to blue thereafter. No break, no thank you. Any sideline will do.

There was a stint as Barrs camogie boss. Partnering once again with younger brother Kevin, he got busy within the hurling club's juvenile wing. If he was to someday hold the top post in Togher, he was more than prepared to clock the less glamorous hours and work his way up the ladder.

“Look, I love being here in the summertime, it’s a great place to be,” he says of his sideline constancy.

“I've always had the feeling that, when a club was good to you, you always gave something back. Kevin and myself have done many age-groups here, from the street leagues up, both male and female. Our other brother [Damien] is involved here as well.

“So I always thought that – particularly if you're looking for the senior job – it's very important that you earn your crust underage. I don't think there's enough of that going on. Not so much here, but within other places, that people take a back seat and never really get involved afterwards.” 

Had Paudie taken said backseat, he’d have gone in blind and woefully underprepared for what he has faced this year in navigating topflight dual status.

The minor gig of the past two years educated him as to what a set-up exactly looks like when players are available to you on a week-on, week-off basis. It educated him on the realities of restricted access and the precious need to maximise field minutes.

The foresight provided by those two minor years didn’t initially translate and transfer. His debut championship game as Barrs senior manager ended in an eight-point defeat to Midleton.

The performances, albeit in small bursts, have belatedly started to materialise.

Timed to perfection, maybe. Sunday will tell on that front.

“[At the beginning of championship], you've got people coming back from Cork mentally and physically drained, so they're on a bit of a downer and you're trying to get them back up. You're trying to get a way of playing and your principles of play across to these guys, and it doesn't come in one or two training sessions.

“I listen to a lot of soccer managers and they talk about a player needing six games to get up to speed, and that's in a professional environment. We haven’t played six games so far.

“We get our players and we’ve one session, really, to get ready for the county final. We've got to deliver a real training session that night, that players are crystal clear on the way we want to play.

“You've got to get everything spot-on, whereas if you're non-dual, you've got four or five training sessions to get your points across. Maybe it's a small reason why we've been in and out of it match-wise at the moment, because we've had little time with the team.

“I know for people outside they'll say we have many talented players and all that, but talent doesn't guarantee you success.” 

Never mind outside voices, the array of household talent flowing through the Barrs teamsheet brings significant internal expectation. He didn’t need any sideline education to be cognisant of this blue truism when succeeding 2022 county-winning boss Ger Cunningham last winter.

“I was listening to a podcast recently and they were saying that the environment always trumps your will. So, no matter what will I had, you come in here and the environment is expectation. There's always an expectation here to win something.

“I call it the red zone. You're put into the red zone and you've got to learn. You either sink or swim. It's a great environment to be in.”