Fergal Murray - youngest hero of 1995 has unique medal haul
There seems to be little or no chance in the near future of a Westmeath man replicating the unique achievements of outstanding former Athlone defender, Fergal Murray.
His medal haul will take some equalling, never mind beating – a Leinster winner as a senior, U21 and minor, and in the latter two cases Luke Dempsey’s charges went on to win All-Ireland titles. “A nice record to have,” is how Fergal modestly describes it.
A son of Rosaleen (née Noonan) and the late Bill Murray, Fergal was the youngest member of the ground-breaking Lake County minor team in 1995, only turning 17 in the days before the All-Ireland final win against Derry, the eighth match of a campaign which will, frankly, never be forgotten by those who attended every game, and many who jumped on the bandwagon throughout.
In that regard, Fergal recalls: “The crowds were ridiculous for underage games. In particular, there was an amazing atmosphere at the first and second Leinster final replays against hot favourites Laois in Tullamore.”
“Luke was great in that there was absolutely no pressure on us and we played with a freedom. We had some very, very good forwards. The first day against Wexford, who were backboned by the Good Counsel lads who had been Hogan Cup finalists, their star man was Leigh O’Brien but Kenny McKinley snuffed him out. After beating Wicklow, we defeated a very good Longford team which included Niall Sheridan and Trevor Smullen. We went through some very tough games and they stood to us. The Laois games were probably the most enjoyable games I ever played in,” he adds, in relation to Westmeath bridging a 32-year gap since his future father-in-law Paddy Buckley and his colleagues had last won the title in 1963.
“That in itself was a great achievement, and there was still no pressure on us even after we won the Leinster. Luke and the management team played off that lack of pressure, and we had players on the bench capable of doing a job,” says Fergal.
Victories over Tipperary, Declan Browne et al, and the aforementioned Derry led to an unprecedented outpouring of emotion among hitherto success-starved Westmeath fans. Fergal takes over: “When we arrived back at the Spa Hotel (in Lucan) that Sunday night, it was something a lot of Westmeath people had never experienced. The minors grabbed the imagination of Athlone people who follow a team in any sport that is going well, as the town is active in many sports. Coming down the street on the Monday evening, it took us nearly an hour to get from Millie Walsh’s to the Mullingar Town Park. It was phenomenal and it would put the hairs standing on the back of your neck.”
Only Fergal, Shane Deering and John Deehan, who was appointed captain, were underage again for the U18 grade in 1996. Deering (“he had ridiculous talent” says Fergal) only came on for the second half against Laois in the Leinster semi-final when the O’Moore County triumphed by two points in Croke Park.
A shock loss in the 1998 U21 opener to Dublin (yes, it was a shock when Dublin won certain games in Leinster then!) was more than compensated for the following year when Fergal and Shane doubled their All-Ireland medal hauls. Of course, it would have been entirely different had “a very good Kildare team featuring Dermot Earley and Johnny Doyle” not missed an ‘unmissable’ free to win a replayed first round in Cusack Park. This time it was a seven-match campaign which ended with a truly unforgettable and thoroughly deserved win in Limerick against a star-studded Kerry team.
Fergal reflects on aspects of the historic win in the Gaelic Grounds in May 1999 as follows: “The crowds outside the Davin Arms and approaching the pitch were unreal. There was a lot more expectation then because of the minor win four years earlier. We outnumbered Kerry fans ten to one. The crowd on the field afterwards made it more special than in 1995, looking down from the presentation area at a sea of maroon and white.
“In the game itself, we lost James Galvin early on and Derek Heavin came on, but he was not a natural full-back. I was switched there and was marking their star player Aodán MacGearailt. They took him out of there, so I must have been doing something right. I was four years older and more mature than in 1995, so I was able to take it in more and enjoy it more. The same with my family and that made it a bit more special. Luke was clever in both those successes as he had Eunan McCormack with the minors and Michael Lydon with the U21s. There were two very good tactical men and had big influences in those wins.”
At this stage, Fergal was already a Westmeath senior player. In 2001, the first year of the ‘back door’ saw Westmeath’s senior footballing stock rise to an all-time national high and an eight-match championship adventure was spoiled only by three unsuccessful attempts to end the Meath bogey.
However, Ollie Murphy and co apart, it was a marvellous campaign. “The team was probably a better team than in 2004, but we just didn’t get the luck. Dessie Dolan and Martin Flanagan in the full forward line alongside team captain Ger Heavin, who had a super year – there wasn’t a full back line to touch them. Rory O’Connell had a super year at midfield also. We were a very big team – huge men who were all good footballers. We could even interchange lads at midfield. It’s a struggle nowadays to find one midfielder. We don’t seem to be breeding them anymore. In the photos, I look like Peter Stringer beside Paul O’Connell and Donncha O’Callaghan!
“The run that we had in the Qualifiers was so enjoyable. The day we beat Mayo in Hyde Park, there were no medals given out but I would compare it with the two All-Ireland wins. After the game it was even better than Limerick with the crowd on the field and it took us nearly half an hour to get into the dressing room. It was a special day,” Fergal opines.
He continues: “Things petered out in 2002 and I did my cruciate in a challenge game for Athlone in St Brigid’s (Kiltoom). I was rushing to come back in 2003 and we went out in the Qualifiers to Monaghan when Tommy Freeman was in his prime. Then along came Páidí (Ó Sé) and it was exciting at the start for us to be bringing in a manager of his calibre. We didn’t think we had that sort of pulling power. If you didn’t learn from him, you’d learn from nobody. You kind of stood back in awe as he was a god of the game. When he spoke he’d put the hairs standing on the back of your neck.
“We had a disappointing league campaign in Division 1, but Tomás (Ó Flatharta) can take a lot of credit for the preparation of the team. He had us in tip-top shape. Like Mick O’Dwyer, when the cuckoo crows Páidí got tuned in. I played some of the league games and I was probably unlucky not to make the championship team. It looked like myself and Donal O’Donoghue were vying for one position but I missed out, and with the form of James Davitt and John Keane I didn’t get a look in at any stage.
“But I never considered packing it in because the training was so enjoyable and the group of lads were a great bunch. The Leinster win was bigger than the U21 and the minor. In the homecoming, we watched grown men cry. It was my third homecoming, every one of them better than the other. But there was more in the team. Winning the Leinster was like winning the All-Ireland, but 100 per cent we left that quarter-final behind us against Derry. The following year, I didn’t want to go back on the bench as I wanted to give the club a good go,” he adds.
Reflecting on his very lengthy Athlone career, Fergal states: “I was unlucky as a young lad to come up against great Garrycastle and St Loman’s, Mullingar teams, and I won no medals with the club until the 1996 U21 championship when we won the county title under ‘Dobsey’ (David Prendergast), Liam Downes and Joe Finlass.
"I started with the seniors in 1996. It was knockout then and in 1997 we lost to eventual champions Moate All Whites. I was marking Ger Heavin and he would have been on fire that year. In 1998, we won it out when I was still only 20. The late Brendan Clarke from Ferbane was the manager. He was an excellent trainer and a huge influence on my career overall. Denis O’Sullivan, an uncle of Darran, was with us all the way up. Most of my highs as a player were between 1995 and 2001," adds Fergal.
After finishing in Marist College, Fergal went to Athlone IT to study business studies on a two-year GAA scholarship, where he played in the Sigerson Cup under both Val Daly and Dessie Dolan Snr. Thereafter he followed his father’s footsteps by joining the Civil Service, initially in Dublin before moving home to Athlone.
Fergal is married to Catriona (née Buckley) and they have two children, Conal and Sadhbh, and they live in Tang. He had great respect for his late father-in-law, Maryland legend Paddy Buckley, about whom he states: “Paddy was a fountain of knowledge and I loved our Sunday afternoon chats, bouncing things off him. We’d often have a debate, but it would turn out that he was always right!”
While Westmeath fans will fervently hope that Fergal Murray’s medal haul for the Lake County will be surpassed in years to come, it seems highly improbable. One way or the other, he is assured of a special place in the annals of Westmeath GAA.
*This interview appears in a special 30th anniversary supplement commemorating Westmeath's minor football All-Ireland success published in this week's Westmeath Independent and Westmeath Examiner.