Offaly U-20s left to make own decision as Murphy takes brief short term view

PLUNGED into a position he never expected to be in through desperately unfortunate and sad circumstances, Martin Murphy is taking a short term view for 2023, meeting one game at a time and focused on trying to get the Offaly senior football panel to perform to the best of the ability.

The sudden passing of manager Liam Kearns a few weeks ago catapulted Gracefield man Murphy into the hot seat. With two National Football League games left and championship looming, Murphy has not had any chance to truly stamp his own imprint on things.

However, the ship has stayed sailing smoothly under his watch. There was a bad defeat by Down in their last Division 3 game but they beat Tipperary before that and then saw off a tough Longford challenge in the first round of the Leinster Senior Football Championship.

Now they prepare for a home quarter-final against Meath on Sunday and while they are underdogs, Murphy is confident that they will give it a real run.

He hasn't made drastic changes to panel or team since taking over, though he did confirm that he spoke to three U-20 players, John Furlong, Cormac Egan and Keith O'Neill after their exit from the championship. Egan has opted to join the Offaly U-20 hurling panel and is focused on that for the coming weeks while Furlong and O'Neill are being given time to make their own decisions and have not yet come in.

Both have hip injuries while Egan missed almost all of last year after a hamstring injury. “I am not putting too much pressure on, they can make their own decisions but hopefully a couple of them will come in before the season is over,” the manager stated this week.

He is in the happy position of reporting an injury free panel. Peter Cunningham is on honeymoon in Italy after getting married in Rome recently and while his flight back was not finalised at the time of writing, Murphy is hoping he will be manning the defence at centre half back on Sunday. “We will try and give him as much time as we can. I spoke to him recently and he is in great form. If all goes according to plan, he will be home on Thursday but irrespective, Peter will have a big say.”

He is looking forward to seeing how they fare against Meath. “We are not going to fear any team in division 3 or the bottom half of disivision 2. We only lost to Cork by a solitary point in our last division 2 game last year and that is an indication we are not too far off. We are going into this game to see how we do and express ourselves and try and get the win. If we do, we will look at the next game accordingly and we won't fear either Louth or Westmeath.”

He did pour a small bit of cold water on suggestions that Offaly should be confident of winning on Sunday. “In fairness to them and ourselves, we have to play at our max and everything will have to go really well for us and hope Meath are off form a bit and not at their peak. There is always the possibility that they will have a pep in their step. They are fighting for their survival, they could be playing in the Tailteann Cup if they lose. Colm O'Rourke is also a factor in this game.”

Offaly's defeat by Down in their last league game showed that this team still retain the potential to perform very poorly. Is that a concern?

“There is always a risk that we will hit a day where everything goes flat and players don't rise to the occasion. I will be very disappointed if we don't perform and we owe it to the public after being so poor the last time in Tullamore against Down. We owe everyone who supports the team a big performance.”

Asked was he taking a long term holistic view or a short term one, he replied:
“At the moment, a short term view because I have come into a situation and no one has had to ever take over a role in similar circumstances. Every manager likes to stamp his own style on the game and team but I have not had much chanc to impose my type of philosophy on the team. That takes time. In the interim, it has been somewhat difficult but enjoyable. I have had a very good buy in from the players and management team around me. It is a bit of a quickie, it has all happened very quickly and we have not had much time. It is week in, week out, game in, game out and there is not much time to change.”

Would you like to throw more the 2021 All-Ireland U-20 champions onto the team?

“I think next year, all the fringe players will have to get more competitive game time and matches. Before Liam passed, we were being a bit conservative in that we were result driven and wanted to stay in Division 3. We did not have much chance to use outside 18-20 players. Then it was straight into championship.We know what we have and the panel is quite decent. I know not using any more than 22-23 can be seen as a minus but going forward, there is loads of talent here. You don't get away with trying much, especially with the structures the way they are and games not allowed pre-Christmas. It would be ideal if you were allowed matches in November and December. You would have a better feel for what you have and players would have a better chance of showing what they have to offer.”

The possibility of Murphy getting the job on a more permanent basis is a live one but those discussions have yet to take place.

“I would like it to some extent but I would like to be able to talk to the County Board before declaring what I will do. I only came in for the rest of the season. The full appointment is in the hands of the County Board and I will not pre-empt that. When we finish, we will reassess the whole year. I will talk to Michael (Duignan) and the County Board and we will decide what is best for them and me for next year.”