Cathal Murray's Galway rebuild will go down as his greatest achievement

Irish Examiner

7 hours ago

Heading into the 2018 championship, Galway were holding a loose membership of camogie's big three. It had been five years since they'd bettered either Cork or Kilkenny in a knockout championship fixture. The latter pair had lifted themselves and their levels of preparation, Galway had been caught standing still.
In the days after Galway's 2018 League semi-final defeat to Kilkenny, the panel passed a motion of no confidence in a management team headed up by Tony O'Donovan. It was the opening sentence in Galway players rewriting the county's camogie story of heartbreak and hard luck.
The new man in was to be Galway's fourth manager in less than two and a half years. The new man in was Cathal Murray, player-manager for Sarsfields' Galway SHC final win three years earlier. The new man in brought an end to western stagnation, he raised standards, and he grew belief.
The foundation stones were laid during the rest of a 2018 season where Galway again fell at the semi-final hurdle and during the subsequent winter months.
The physical approach that so spectacularly unnerved Cork on Sunday was a card first played by Cathal Murray six years ago in the 2019 semi-final. Galway set the terms by unflinchingly getting in Cork's face. That Cork class were also going for three-in-a-row. They too were outworked and outmuscled.
The tactical acumen and match-up mastery that so disrupted Cork on Sunday was a card first played by Murray six years ago in the 2019 final. Caitriona Cormican, who struck two points in the semi-final, was redeployed at centre-back and performed a superb shadow job on Anne Dalton. Kilkenny's leading scorer from play coming into the final hardly touched the ball in the opening half.
'Just with the culture there and environment, I had a gut feeling we were going to win something under him,' Cormican said in an interview last year.
'I wouldn't have two All-Ireland medals only for him. [The set-up] was really enjoyable, really professional. It was definitely the most professional that I have ever played at.'
He took a team with an inferiority complex of the red jersey and oversaw eight consecutive victories over them between the '19 semi-final and '23 championship opener.
Sarah Dervan was Galway captain for the '19 and '21 final wins. Her verdict on the first half of Murray's tenure continues to ring true.
'He has brought Galway camogie way further than it ever was,' she said after 2021 glory at Cork's expense.
'We were always knocking around semi-final stages, struggling to get to the final. He came in and the people that he brought in around him, the likes of Robbie Lane (S&C) who has done a massive amount of work with us, have brought us so far.
'They have brought Galway camogie to elite level. Cathal always demands the best for us. We always get treated exactly the way any county hurling team would, and that's huge.'
After two O'Duffy Cups in three years, equaling the county's haul of the previous 86 years, Murray's second chapter was one of renewal and reinvigoration.
A period of transition threw in ahead of the 2023 season. From the 2022 campaign where their attempted title defence was comprehensively halted by Kilkenny at the semi-final stage, Heather Cooney, Cormican, and Niamh Kilkenny stepped away, Annmarie Starr was again absent, while goalkeeper Sarah Healy and half-forward Catherine Finnerty had gone travelling.
Ciara Hickey was still a minor when a member of Cathal's All-Ireland intermediate winning side in 2022. Hickey was second only to Aoife Donohue on Sunday. Ally Hesnan and Jennifer Hughes were also members of that intermediate side. The pair were rolled off the bench against Cork.
Sarah Healy, upon returning home, was enticed back into the set-up last year. Could you put a price on her penalty save from Katrina Mackey?
Niamh Kilkenny was similarly enticed back last year after giving birth. Ditto Annmarie Starr. Shauna Healy returned this year after missing 2024 to start a family. He made sure they all returned. Would they have returned for anyone else? The latter Healy and Starr performed superb suffocating jobs on Orlaith Cahalane and Amy O'Connor.
Seven of the 2021 All-Ireland winning team were absent on Sunday, including the McGrath sisters Orlaith and Siobhan. An eighth member of the 2021 starting team, Emma Helebert, didn't start.
His success in rebuilding Galway and returning them to the summit when not everyone who could have been on board was on board will go down as his greatest achievement.
He once again outsmarted Cork. He once again nullified key performers with spot-on match-up calls. Siobhan Gardiner didn't start the semi-final and yet she was entrusted to shadow Cork's semi-final player of the match Saoirse McCarthy. The Ardrahan woman relished the gig.
The manager himself grew and learned. Too slow to make changes in last year's final, he did not repeat that mistake on Sunday.
'We were probably guilty ourselves last year of not using our bench enough. I thought the bench made a massive impact today,' he said.
Three All-Irelands in seven seasons. Three Leagues in the same period. Six wins out of 11 final appearances. Add in the 2022 intermediate and the inaugural U23 All-Ireland of recent weeks.
Murray almost walked 12 months ago. Should he go now, his latest act of service to Galway camogie has further cemented his legacy.