Dublin recruit embracing his self sought county opportunity with Offaly

A TEXT out of the blue to Declan Kelly set the wheels in motion for an unexpected new addition to the Offaly senior football panel for 2026.

Hungry for intercounty action but realistic enough to know that new Dublin senior football manager Ger Brennan was unlikely to come knocking, Skerries Harps club man Ciaran Murphy was aware that he could declare for Offaly under the parentage rule as his mother, Mary was a McGovern from the Bracknagh GAA catchment area – from near Rathangan on the Kildare border “kind of in the middle of nowhere”, grinned Murphy on Wednesday evening after playing a key role in Offaly's O'Byrne Cup senior football quarter-final win over Meath.

The text in the closing months of last year understandably tweaked the Offaly joint manager's interest but he had to thread with caution. Back in the late 2000s/early 2010s, a there was a trend of Dublin players declaring for Offaly. A couple contributed very well, others proved to be less than stellar performers and the recruitment of players who were not better, and in some cases, much worse, than home grown players did not sit well with a lot of people in Offaly.

Kelly did his due diligence, speaking to a few of his many contacts on the Dublin club and county scene and the word came back that Murphy was a decent footballer, worth giving a shot. He came on board when training was allowed resume last November with both him and management keeping their options open. He had to find out if he could handle the hour and a half trek from his Drumcondra home to Faithful Fields and everything else being an intercounty footballer entails while management had to decide if he was worth the investment of their time and energy.

There was a time when it seemed that the only requirement to get a chance with Offaly was to have a parent from the county and be playing with a Dublin club. That may be a bit of an exaggeration and it is important to be very fair to the players who did give it a go for very genuine reasons and performed but there were some who were like a fish out of water in a county jersey.

The jury must remain out on Murphy but the early indications are encouragingly positive and he is certainly not in that category. Time will tell and the white hot action of a teak tough National Football League Division 2 campaign will reveal a lot more but the early indications are that Murphy will get game time and is a welcome addition to the panel - we can say at the moment that he is fitting comfortably into the Offaly style, he is fit, he can score, he can play football and he is contributing well.

He played in a pre-Christmas charity game in Mayo and has now got two O'Byrne Cup games under his belt. He was decent in the first round win over Carlow, playing for 39 minutes and scoring an excellent first half two pointer. He was much better in Wednesday's 2-13 to 0-15 win over a second string Meath, scoring three fine points and almost getting in for a goal at the start of the second half, when he hit a post. He was involved in general play a lot more, was consistently steady on the ball and a demanding Offaly support base have been happy with what they have seen so far.

“I wanted to play county football, I felt I was good enough. I wanted to come down” he explained, stating that the presence of another Dubliner, Eoin Sawyer was a factor. From the Castleknock club and the son of a Clara native, Alfie Sawyer, Eoin has been on the Offaly panel for a couple of years and had a good first half in the win over Meath, linking well with colleagues and scoring a nice point.

Castleknock is not far from Drumcondra, Murphy chatted Sawyer before declaring and the duo are able to travel up and down to Offaly and around the country together. “I was put in touch with him, I knew he was playing and I knew there was an avenue to play with Offaly. I texted Declan, got in touch and things have went well so far,” declared Murphy.

A member of the Dublin squad that was beaten by Galway in the 2020 All-Ireland U20 Football Championship final, he was involved in the Dublin set-up early last year but didn't make the final league panel.

A good year with his club Skerries Harps this year further fuelled his county ambitions. He was one of their best forwards as they won the Dublin Senior 2 Football Championship, earning promotion to the top flight – he scored a crucial 1-3 in their 3-14 to 1-17 final win over St Oliver Plunkett's/Eoin Ruadh.

“I felt like I was playing fairly well and that it was a good opportunity to come down here and play senior football.”

Describing his mother, Mary as a “proud Offaly woman”, he said he spent a nice bit of childhood time visiting relations in Bracknagh. “I would have been down a lot, every Christmas, every birthday. I did have a connection to Offaly and I am really enjoying it now. It is great to be able to put on an Offaly jersey and make my mam proud. It is a great experience so far.”

He didn't avoid the suggestion that Offaly represents his best chance of playing county football. “100%. I am 25 now so the years are going by quick. I figured that if it is going to happen, it is going to happen now.”

While his grandfather, Frank McGovern had passed away before Murphy was born, he is conscious that at least some of his football has come down the maternal line.

Frank McGovern won two Senior Football Championship medals with Walsh Island in 1942 and 1943, at the end of their first golden era. One of the early clubs in Offaly, Bracknagh spent several decades out of existence until reformation in 1973 and most players in the area played with Walsh Island in those years.

Walsh Island was only formed in 1930 but after winning junior football in 1932, they embarked on a run of fantastic success, winning the Senior Football Championship in 1933, 1934, 1937, 1938, 1942 and 1943. Frank McGovern was an effective forward for the '42/'43 side with his only brother also featuring – down as J McGovern in match reports at the time but known locally as Seamus.

There was plenty of controversy in those years and Frank McGovern was corner forward in a notorious 1942 semi-final win over St Kieran's, one of the early clubs in the Shannonbridge area. St Kieran's had been leading by five points late on in the first game when it was abandoned after a free for all in a goalmouth. Both clubs were initially turfed out of the championship after both successfully objected to the legality of opponents – both played players outside their parish boundaries, and in St Kieran's case, across the Shannon in Roscommon.

Walsh Island also argued that St Kieran's had given an incomplete team list to the referee and it took some time before the clubs agreed to a request to replay the fixture.

The bad blood between the clubs erupted spectacularly in a violent replay. Walsh Island were the better side and won a poor game but hell broke loose after the final whistle in an ugly brawl, involving supporters. Legendary Walsh Island player Bill Mulhall was upended with a box by a supporter, observing gardai had to draw batons to “beat back the mob” and the repercussions were severe with St Kieran's suspended for two years and one player banned for five years – while the game remained entrenched in Walsh Island folklore for generations.

That suspension destroyed the appetite for football in their area and it was in the 1970s before a new Shannonbridge GAA Club was formed in Clonmacnoise parish.

Walsh Island went on to beat Daingean in the final while the 1943 championship also proved to be a messy affair but this time Walsh Island were entirely innocent bystanders. There was a lengthy delay because of County Board and Leinster Councill appeals when Edenderry were thrown out of the semi-final against Tullamore for playing illegal players. It was hugely acrimonious at the time with Edenderry GAA on war footing for months and it all meant that it was in April 1944 when Walsh Island overpowered Tullamore in the final.

Walsh Island then had a lengthy spell in the doldrums before returning as a great power in the 1970s, winning a famous six in a row from 1978 to 1983.

All of that historical detail will be news to Murphy but he is aware of and proud of his grandfather's achievements. “He was a very good footballer back in his day. Unfortunately he passed away before I was born. He was meant to be a very sporty lad. My mam says it would have been great if he was around to see this but these things happen.”

He joked: “As my dad always says, the football skips a generation”. His father Tony is a native of Coolock and played football himself, though “not at a very good level”, according to his smiling son. “He was more into swimming and cycling but he is a very good coach now. He helps out in Skerries Harp and he helped out in Man O'War which is the club close to where I lived.”

Man O'War catered for players in the north county Dublin area from Balbriggan, Balrothery, Lusk and Skerries and Murphy said: “He would have been over the Skerries Harps team that won the Division 2 Minor Championship a couple of years ago and he helped out with the intermediate team in Skerries last year. He is a proud GAA man, he loves his football and his hurling as well.” Declaring for Offaly has changed life for both the Murphy and Sawyer families and you can bet your bottom euro that a couple of years ago, neither parents expected to be in Gracefield on a cold January night watching their son playing for Offaly. The newest player was in no hurry to leave the pitch after the Meath game as he first chatted with his parents for a few minutes and then took time out to speak publicly, even brushing his father off when he suggested that he should get into the dressing room and not get too cold, telling him he was “fine” - he was clearly enjoying the Offaly experience, getting to meet new people and discovering the GAA anatomy of the county.

Murphy grew up in Skerries but now lives in Drumcondra, working in the city centre. The commute to Faithful Fields is an hour and a half in favourable traffic conditions and he said: “It is a bit longer if traffic is heavy. I don't really mind. It is what I want to do. It is fairly common now in senior football and a lot of players have to travel down the country from Dublin. It is a lot easier that I have Eoin Sawyer here, it is a lot easier having someone to chat with up and down. We can share the load in terms of driving.”

He has been impressed with the standard in Offaly and is also happy to report that he has been accepted with open arms into the dressing room. Opting for a new county, meeting new players, going into a strange dressing room did represent an ordeal of sorts as he said: “Obviously it has been a small bit daunting coming into a completely new panel but everyone has been extremely welcoming and I am really enjoying it so far. I am looking forward to the year ahead.”

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Murphy is happy with the way the early games have went. “100%, I am just trying to do my best for the team. The last day (v Carlow) was a decent enough game but I am probably a bit more happy with today. I got a bit more ball. The pitch is heavy out there and in the first half, I felt a small bit leggy. I feel the way the game is going and how heavy the pitch was, it took me a little bit longer to get my second wind but I felt fine. Towards the end of the second half, I felt grand.”