Joe Murray carring on granddad's legacy with adopted Leitrim
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Joe Murray joins grandfather Josie Murray in captaining Leitrim teams in finals in Croke Park
There’s nothing a GAA fan loves more than seeing someone carrying on a family tradition, be it club or county, but perhaps Joe Murray is carrying that to new heights as he joins his grandfather Josie in captaining a Leitrim team in a national final in Croke Park.
Josie Murray was a true Leitrim legend, voted onto the Leitrim Team of the Millennium over a quarter-century ago, but his grandson joins him in a unique feat when he leads the County’s hurlers onto the pitch at Jones Road next Sunday, following in the footsteps of his grandfather who captained Leitrim to the 1956 All-Ireland Minor Final.
Speaking to the Observer ahead of Sunday’s Lory Meagher Cup clash with Longford, Joe admitted that the family history is a source of pride: “My granddad captained the Leitrim Minors in 1956, so I suppose 70 years later it's good to put my shoes in his boots and carry on the family tradition and captain the boys to Croke Park next Sunday.”
A Leinster Minor Championship winner with his native Dublin in 2018, Joe is embracing his Leitrim heritage so much that he has transferred from Round Towers in Clondalkin to join Carrick-on-Shannon Hurling Club, a move accelerated by how much he is enjoying his time with the Green & Gold. I've been with the Leitrim boys now five years,” recalls Joe, “There's great camaraderie there. I can't think of a better team to be joining than Carrick and keep playing away with these lads and keep pushing them on and have them push me on as well.
“The standard is very high down here. I know in other counties, they might not think that, but I’ve seen from coming down here from Dublin over the past five years, the standard has really, really improved.”
Right now, the focus is very much on Longford next Sunday and winning the Lory Meagher Cup: “It's something we've probably targeted from the start of the year. When we lost our first two league games, we started setting standards for ourselves and this is where we wanted to be, come the back end of the Championship. We're happy enough and there's a good buzz around the county now so it's all positive.”
The captain expects a tight battle with Longford and says that he and his teammates just have to concentrate on every ball that comes their way: “Longford are not a ‘put down’ team. They'll always put up a fight, we've had great battles over the years so no doubt there'll be another battle now come Sunday. It's always about the next ball, next ball, next ball and trusting the process. When things aren't going right, you've just got to keep ticking away, keep ticking away, keep the scoreboard ticking and stuff like that.”
Starting his career with Leitrim, Joe was the lightning quick corner-forward plundering scores but over the past few years, he has moved further back the field, now taking up a crucial sweeping role in defence, causing him to joke that he may yet end up in goal! “I'm kind of moving back, I'm surprised I'm not between the sticks at the minute. We always say next man up, next man up, so if there's a position that has to be filled, we have beaten every single man on that team to fill that position.”
My granddad captained the Leitrim Minors in 1956, so I suppose 70 years later it's good to put my shoes in his boots and carry on the family tradition and captain the boys to Croke Park next Sunday
With Mike Wall continually highlighting the quality in Leitrim’s ranks, Joe believes the drive within the squad has helped develop the team’s confidence and resilience: “I think it's self-driven by us players. The managers and the coaches, they're facilitators and they said it from day one, we'll be facilitators but we're the ones in the driving seats. So I think being accountable for each other and accountable whether it be training sessions and matches, first touch even on the training field, if we're accountable, we'll keep pushing each other on and keep driving this thing on.”
It is that drive that sees Joe state the victory next Sunday is the team’s ambition: “We've always set standards throughout this year and there's no point getting to the big stage and then not performing. So we're definitely targeting that Lory Meagher Cup to bring back to Carrick.”