*Barry Murphy flanked by his children Fionnan, Silín, Gearoid and Daithí.
EX CLARE hurler Barry Murphy will be outnumbered in his own house when it comes to supporting his native county in the All-Ireland SHC final but he’s confident that Brian Lohan’s side can produce their best performance of the year this weekend to quieten his Cork family.
It was in April 1992 when Barry made his first championship appearance for the county, coming on as a substitute for the minors when they lost out to Waterford on a score of 1-9 0-5. He would go on to win an All-Ireland medal in 1997 as did the full-back and centre-forward of that minor side, namely Frank Lohan and Ollie Baker.
Living in Cork since 1999, Barry is employed in timber haulage and works out of Fermoy. A father to Daithi, Fionnan, Silín and Gearoid, he is involved in the U16 Killavullen hurlers. Coaching is best described as “challenging,” he laughed. “We’d be a small club, the numbers would be tight, we’d have some good fellas, once you get a few lads out of it every year you’d be doing okay”. His son Daithí has already represented Cork at U15 level so the coaching nuggets from his father must be paying off.
As part of the victorious 1997 Clare set-up, Barry admits it is hard to believe that Clare’s next taste of All-Ireland glory would arrive in 2013. “I was only twenty when we won the All-Ireland, I had only come onto the panel the year before in 1996, you’d think at that age we’d be in the final every few years and to be honest it’s hard to believe we haven’t won a Munster title since 1998, it is unbelievable really, look at Cork they are starving of success and have won nothing at senior since 2005”.
Though success may have eluded the Rebels, the ability to garner confidence quickly has not escaped them. “The gander is up in a big way, the Munster championship win down in Páirc Uí Chaoimh over Limerick has given them a huge appetite for success. The likes of my own fellas have never seen Cork win anything or an All-Ireland so there’s huge excitement and a buzz down here at all age-groups which the girls and boys are really buying into,” he told The Clare Echo.
With the excitement making its way to the Murphy household, Barry is quick to point out he is outnumbered “big time, I am agreeing away with them, hopefully we’ll have our day on Sunday”.
Prior to Mark Rodgers, Barry was the last Scariff man to play senior championship for the county with his inter-county career coming to a close in 2004 after Clare exited the All-Ireland SHC following a replay to Kilkenny in the quarter-finals.
Seeing a fellow Scariff man play such a key role in the Clare attack is “brilliant,” Barry admitted. “He is having a great year and he is a lovely fella. I played with his father Ger at senior level for Scariff even though he’d be a few years older. It is great to see Mark and Patrick Crotty on the panel, I even played with his father Tom, they’d have been tough hurlers in their day”.
That local link makes the occasion a bit more special. “It makes a huge difference, you’ve the connection there, I had the young lads with me for the Munster championship game in Páirc Uí Chaoimh, we met Mark afterwards and had a chat with him, he gave them a sliotar and to be fair they’ve always had great time for him, they’d be imitating him a small bit when they’re playing”.
Forwards like Rodgers, Shane O’Donnell and Tony Kelly in the Clare side and the Cork danger men of Shane Barrett, Brian Hayes and Alan Connolly will have the big bearing on who prevails in the All-Ireland final, Barry outlined. “It will be down to the forwards, I’d see a few weaknesses in the Cork full-back line that Clare could expose, it will be a fierce open game, whoever does the shooting on the day will make all the difference, if Tony Kelly, Shane O’Donnell and Mark Rodgers go well you would have to say we have a great chance. The Cork threat is Shane Barrett on John Conlon, he exposed Declan Hannon the last day, they are a more physical team than Cork are normally up front with Alan Connolly and Brian Hayes, they are physical but they are very fast too. It could be a big shootout, whoever has the accuracy on the day will win”.
He is of the view that Clare have the most improving to do and is confident they will deliver in Croke Park. “My head says Clare by two or three points. If you looked at the two semi-finals, they were chalk and cheese, the Limerick game was way faster, Cork geared everything towards it, they will try lift it and it is very hard to get to that level again, I think there’s a lot more improving in Clare and they can improve a lot, Ryan Taylor made a huge difference when he came on, he is a big throw in to have, hopefully we will do the business”.
