Offaly manager Martin Murphy talks about the excitement of facing neighbours Laois in the Tailteann Cup.
IN PORTARLINGTON, WHERE you live in relation to the River Barrow determines which county you come from.
Feeling confused yet? Well it’s about to get more challenging as Offaly and Laois prepare to square off in the Tailteann Cup this weekend. Murphy, who has grown up in this environment, can help with the tricky navigation. ”The fact that I live close to the town and people know me from my football involvement in Laois, I would be getting a bit of slagging and banter. It’s brilliant and it’s going back to the ’50s and ’60s when Portarlington and Gracefield would play each other three or four times a year when it was hard to travel.
“We had a good run in Leinster in 2021 and got to a Leinster semi-final against Kilmacud,” Murphy recalls. “We ran out of legs against them in Croke Park, and they got the better of us. But playing in Croke Park twice with that team has been a great achievement.Murphy lives just one mile from that Barrow bridge, meaning he came quite close to being born into Laois territory. People often mistake him as a Laois man too.
“I think every one of them to a man are delighted to be playing in an All-Ireland competition. They got a nice taste and experience from it last year. It was one of the goals set by Liam early on in the year, to do well in the Tailteann Cup and maybe go one step further than they did last year.
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