‘It means so much to be playing with Port’ - Murphy
Man of the match, Portarlington's Colm Murphy bearing down on goal with Daniel Boland (Courtwood) giving chase Photo: Denis Byrne
PORTARLINGTON’S Colm Murphy was named man of the match in this year’s senior football final and he admitted that this year’s championship was the hardest to win.
“I think the couple we've won previously, we kind of ran away easy with them, but that was by far the toughest. After going to a replay the last day, Courtwood were really good, young, attacking, and fit. It was a real battle and tough conditions out there tonight as well, but we're just delighted to get over the line,” he said.
Murphy came back out in the second half wearing something to protect his right calf. He says even on one leg, he wanted to help the team in some way.
“Absolutely, club is where your heart is, and if I was able to offer anything out there, even just take a bit of attention away, I was happy to do that, so we're just delighted to get over them,” Murphy said.
The Portarlington number 15 scored a penalty in the 45th minute, a score that proved to be the difference between the two sides on Saturday evening.
“I just picked my corner and stuck with it. Last time I took one on him, he saved it, so I didn't want to be thinking too much about that, just delighted it hit the back of the net, and we kind of kicked on from there,” he said.
Portarlington once again welcomed lads back throughout the championship who had been travelling. Murphy says the club means everything and that they’re delighted with the success they’ve had in recent years.
“Everyone is the same as me. It means so much to be playing with Port and winning championships. I know Sean was itching to get back, Robbie came back, and Jake came back. It just means everything to us, and we're just delighted to have so much success in the last six years,” Murphy added.
Portarlington will face Carlow’s Old Leighlin in next weekend’s AIB Leinster Club Senior Football Championship who are managed by former Portarlington boss Brian Lonergan.
“He'll have a plan for us. Look, we don't know how many chances we're going to get in Leinster going forward, so we need to kind of take every chance we can get. We'll definitely enjoy tonight and tomorrow, maybe Monday, and then we'll be back training on Tuesday,” he ended.
