'Fingers crossed for them'- Colm Murphy wishes Portarlington well in Leinster as he heads back Down Under

Portarlington’s Colm Murphy delivered a standout performance in the County Final, scoring 1-6 and playing a key role in his team’s triumph. Reflecting on the victory, he expressed how much it meant to him and to the club, especially after a challenging year.

“Unreal, dream come true stuff. It's our fourth championship in five years and possibly the most special out of four. The lads were written off from the start of the year. We had lads away, we had lads retired, we had lads move club due to relocation and to get over the line today was absolutely unbelievable. We were delighted,” Murphy said.

Portlaoise brought a different style of football to the Championship this year, putting up high scores and often capitalizing on goal opportunities. Murphy noted how Portarlington studied their opponents carefully and executed their game plan perfectly.

“We've been watching Portlaoise all year and they've been racking up huge scores, especially getting goals in all their games. We always tried to play a nice style of football and we felt that if we could stop Portlaoise getting goals today, then we'd have a chance, and I think our plan worked out on the day,” he added.

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Portarlington’s journey this year wasn’t easy. They were relegated from Division One of the league, but they bounced back to win their fourth County Championship in five years. Murphy highlighted the strategy laid out by manager Pat Roe to ensure the team peaked at the right time.

“I think Pat set out from the start when he came in and he said that he didn't want to go back training too early, that he wants to peak September, October, and I think you can see that in our last two performances, probably our best performances of the year in the right time when you want to be peaking,” he commented.

Murphy himself had been in Australia for much of the year and only returned to the team for the semi-finals. He spoke about the challenge of regaining fitness and fitting back into the squad.

“It was difficult. You're coming back into a team who are flying, and I hadn't been kicking football in maybe six or eight weeks, but the lads were brilliant trying to get us back up to speed. I was given a programme to get back up and I wasn't fully fit, but if I could help in any way, I was happy to,” Murphy remarked.

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At halftime, Portarlington held a three-point lead, but Murphy felt they had missed opportunities to extend that margin. He spoke about how they focused on the critical ‘Championship quarter’, the first ten minutes of the second half, where they aimed to avoid mistakes they had made earlier in the season.

“We were against the wind in the first half, and I missed a goal chance, and we had a couple of other chances go astray. We could have been seven or eight up, which was a bit worrying for us, and we were kind of panicking a bit. That Championship quarter, the first ten minutes in the second half, I think we really took hold of the game and converted our chances. Pat was saying that was kind of a downfall for us this year, so we really aimed for that at halftime. We were three points up, so if we could get a couple of scores early, we might drift away from Portlaoise,” he said.

Although Murphy is set to return to Australia on Tuesday night and won’t be part of the Leinster Championship campaign, he is confident the team will give it their all.

“On a flight Tuesday night, so that's my season done now, but the lads will go on and they'll have a great chance in Leinster, they're flying it, so fingers crossed for them,” Murphy concluded.