THESE are exciting times for Luke Murphy. Later this month, he will begin college at UCC, but before that the Barryroe teenager (18) hit top marks in his latest football test – and that’s hardly a surprise given his rising-star quality.
Back in Ibane’s opening game of this championship, Murphy rattled in 3-5 in a convincing win over Clonakilty. His semi-final return against Skibbereen was a more modest 0-3, but the former Cork dual minor saved his biggest statement for last – a second-half hat-trick that secured the Carbery U21A football title.
A total of 6-11 in three games is head-turning, yet Murphy was quick to share the credit. Ibane, after all, were a team on a mission.
‘This was a real team effort,’ the man of the match insisted.
‘The ball just came my way and I finished them off,’ he added after collecting his first winner’s medal at this grade.
‘We’ve played together from U12 up, but we haven’t won much silverware. When this team came together at the start of the year, no-one really gave us a chance before the Clon game, but we put in a savage performance and we drove it on from there.’
Momentum shifted in the second half of the final as Ibane, five points adrift at the interval, regrouped.
‘We knew we hadn’t played like we are capable of,’ captain Tomás Ó Buachalla explained.
‘We talked about who is missing from the squad, lads abroad like Diarmuid McCarthy in New Zealand. We also talked about the late Donal Holland. We spoke about what this meant to them so we dug deep.
‘We started winning ball around the middle and let our kickers do their thing. Olan (O’Donovan) kicked some lovely two-pointers off the ground, he was immense. Luke was brilliant. The two lads who came on (Donagh Flynn and Mike Collins) made a big difference, too.’
Coach Danny Murphy – Luke’s father – also kept calm at half time. He knew his side had more to give, and crucially they hadn’t allowed Bantry too many clear sights of goal.
‘I think we were about 12 points down at half time (against Bantry) last year, so the game was effectively over,’ he pointed out.
‘We came in knowing there is a slight advantage playing down the field and we went in at half time five points down, having missed three kickable frees. We knew we should have been closer. And Bantry, who are good, didn’t get those goals so that gave us some heart facing into the second half.’
When Ibane’s chances came after the restart, they took them, with heroes all over the pitch.
‘Dermot Dineen – he must be six foot five – started clawing a few balls down from the sky, like he does for Barryroe,’ Ó Buachalla noted.
Murphy added: ‘Our defenders were superb, and in the second half our forwards picked up another notch or two.’
