Kildare GAA's next chairman - meet the candidates, Bryan Murphy

Kildare GAA delegates will elect a new chairman at convention next month with current incumbent Mick Gorman completing his five year tenure. Either Celbridge’s Mick Mullen or Clane’s Bryan Murphy will be next in the hotseat. Pat Costello spoke with both to get their views on a wide range of subjects, you can read about Bryan Murphy below and also read about Mick Mullen here. 

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Bryan Murphy will be forever known as the player who put the ball in the Meath net to help clinch the 1998 Leinster title for Kildare, their first Leinster title for the county since 1956. There is more to the man known as “Murph” than that historic score as he played with Clane and has been coach and manager with Kildare underage teams as well as being a selector with the senior team during his 31 years living in Lilywhite country.

Originally from Bishopstown in Cork where he played hurling and football and idolised All Ireland winner from the club, Johnny Crowley, Bryan Murphy won an All-Ireland minor hurling title with Cork in 1985 but lost the minor football Final in the same year to Mayo, playing centre half back on both teams. He played Fitzgibbon and Sigerson Cups with UCC, winning the Fitzgibbon in 1990. Murphy also played senior hurling with Cork and he won an All-Ireland Junior Football medals with them in 1993.

That was also the year in which the Murphy moved to Kildare to work for Dawn Farms and he is now one of the top Executives with the company.

Through the influence of Pat McCarthy, who was then a selector with Mick O’Dwyer in Kildare, Bryan Murphy joined the Lilywhites. “As a kid all I ever wanted to do was to play for Cork, play in Croke Park but Kildare gave me an opportunity in football for which I will forever be entirely grateful. The support for Kildare at that time was incredible and like the rest of the fellas I still have people coming up to me and nearly thanking me for the memories. That’s very humbling. I’ve no doubt there is great support there still and people are craving success so for me the challenge is how do you unlock the potential of Kildare and what does that look like,” he opines.

Explaining his decision to contest the Chairperson position at County Convention in December, Bryan Murphy says, “this isn’t about me trying to go into the County Board and shake things up or be in any way antagonistic to the people there. I have nothing but respect for the people that have brought Kildare to where they are. The stakeholders involved in Kildare GAA are the supporters, the clubs, those who play and volunteer every day and then those who are lucky to step up to the next level, administrators, referees. All of those stakeholders have done a powerful job but the challenge for us is when you put it down on paper and when you sum up the parts, we are not delivering in performance on the pitch at the top level that matches the aspirations of where we think we need to be.” 

Continuing Murphy said, “We are only three years out from 2028, 100 years since Kildare won an All-Ireland and 30 years since the Leinster title in 1998. I was privileged to be given an opportunity with Syl (Merrins) in 2007 to look at the Development Squads and what we could do in that space. Syl, myself, Noel Mooney and others looked at the structures and we put a plan in place that said we got to be competing for Leinster titles and subsequently for All Ireland titles.” 

“I think from 2007 onwards we have been competing in Leinster at underage and in 2018 we won our first All-Ireland U20 title, eleven years after we put the plan in place. Brian (Flanagan) then went on to win two Leinsters and an All-Ireland. That shows that we are competitive and that we have players coming through the system so the question we are all asking ourselves is what’s happening between there and senior level.” One of the first players that Murphy put through his hands was Eoin Doyle and decision of the Naas man to retire from intercounty during the summer got the former Clane player thinking. “Eoin retired during the summer and it just occurred to me there was a generation gone through the system and left the intercounty scene totally unfulfilled and I said to myself something has got to change,” he explained. “Tommy Moolick and Paul Cribbin were others.” 

“I have no GAA administration experience,” Bryan Murphy admitted, “but I have huge experience in terms of working with people and for Kildare to succeed it’s going to have to be through people and a vision for what we want to achieve and how to achieve it. That does not mean that I’m going to railroad what I think is achievable, you have got to take on board what people think and go with what is best.” 

“I recognise that the guys have done a great job in getting Cedral St Conleth’s open and that would not have happened unless Mick (Gorman), Colm (Farrell) and back to Syl and Ger Donnelly and all the guys involved delivered it and that’s only a small bit of what they do.” Explaining his hope for the role, Bryan Murphy said, “If I was lucky enough to get across the line with Colm Nolan as Vice Chairman, and Colm is an important element of what I’m trying to do here, I believe that there has to be a guiding policy that our senior teams have to be competing at the highest level on a consistent basis. I’m not going to say we’re going to win an All-Ireland in ten years time, but that should be our ambition and our clubs have a huge part to play in this because we’re all in this together.” 

“If our top teams are successful then all the challenges we have to face can be helped, volunteerism, supporters, sponsorship, getting young people playing, but we have to manage expectations as well and be patient with Brian (Flanagan) and the players,” he continued.

Addressing the fact that he had not previously served at Co Board level, Bryan Murphy said, “It has been levelled at me that I haven’t come through the system and a part of me can see that, but I look at it and I say to myself, I spent my whole life involved in hurling and football and at coaching level so is that saying that experience isn’t relevant to what I’m trying to bring to the role of Chairperson? This is not about Bryan Murphy, this is about bringing the right people, including people that are there currently, and bring about a cultural change. If Bryan Murphy is involved in everything that is involved in Kildare County Board, then we have a problem.” 

“People need to be let do their jobs, the right people in the right jobs, with the guiding principle that everything we do feeds into delivering success at the top end of the table. If the top two teams are performing at the highest level that we aspire to then the finances and sponsorships should be more readily available and more supporters involved.”