Naas manager Murphy pleased to come through Athy challenge
Naas Neil Aherne and Athy Colm Moran
Joe Murphy the Naas manager was a happy and relieved manager as he gave his thoughts moments after guiding Naas into a fourth consecutive county final.
He knew the magnitude of what Athy would bring to the table and the bodies in the Naas dressing room were testament to the Athy effort.
"Fair dues to Athy. We knew they were an excellent side coming in and were going to be a huge challenge. The testament to that is the bodies there in the dressing room. There are a lot of Naas lads in there with nothing left, Athy dragged that out of them so I would have to commend Athy on such a great challenge," said the Carlow man.
Murphy said Naas were happy to have come through the test and it gave him an indication of how deep Naas could go to get the job done but was happy to know it was there going forward.
"The most positive thing for me is the guys who came on, they all made an impact, they increased the intensity of what we were doing and added great legs to what we were doing. They are a big part of why we have a county final to look forward to now," he said.
The dismissal of Alex Beirne, while not ideal didn't leave anyone pointing fingers at a man who is as Naas as you could get. Everyone rolled up their sleeves to overcome the numerical disadvantage.
"That goes back to the character aspect as well. We all took responsibility for Alex as well, he’s such a great Naas man. That gave us a bit of a spurt, to battle on his behalf. There would have been no fingers pointed but we certainly didn’t want anybody to consider pointing fingers either," said Murphy.
Naas are now looking forward to the final on October 27th and after the battle with Athy Murphy was quick to play down any hype as the players were firmly brought back down to earth.
"It’s a good place to be. If you were going without that test, maybe believing your own hype, if that is such a thing, today has brought us back down to earth and focussed the minds. It’s a big two weeks but it’s where you want to be and we are very privileged and delighted to be in it," said Murphy.
