Winning MHC ‘indescribable feeling’ says DCU hurler

For a decade, Mattie Murphy’s minor hurling setup has been a breeding ground for household names in Galway hurling. Having managed the county’s minors to five All-Irelands, his name is synonymous among Galway’s hurling followers.

Underage hurling in Galway has been one of the counties success stories because of Murphy, and to play under his leadership is a marking of expectation and a genuine chance of success.

This year, Galway’s pedigree in the national minor hurling championship showed again, as this year’s team - like past setups under Murphy’s tenure- demonstrated their prowess on the big stage.

After narrowly losing last year’s final to Kilkenny, Galway seized on the opportunity when the two met in Croke Park in September. The Tribesmen eventually ran out as winners with four points to spare, on a score line of 2-15 to 2-11.

DCU student Brian Flaherty is one of Galway’s victorious minor hurlers. In just two years of involvement at that level, he has played in two MHC finals against the same opposition.

Flaherty, in his second year of accounting and finance, played a pivotal role in Galway’s championship success. This season he cemented his starting place at halve-back, after appearing from the substitutes bench in last year’s final.

Flaherty said the emotion of winning Galway their eight overall minor championship– five of which have been won under Murphy’s management – was an “indescribable feeling”.

“To play in Croke Park on front of a huge crowd is any players dream, and to achieve what we [Galway minor’s] did this year is just unbelievable – I’m still floating on air.

After witnessing Kilkenny steal the title from Galway in last year’s final, Flaherty said his teammates were not out to exact revenge, but were determined to win the title.

“At training we were saying that we wouldn’t let this title slip away again, but we weren’t thinking about revenge – we were fully focused on winning and nothing else crossed our minds.

“We weren’t thinking about last year’s final. It wasn’t even in our minds, we were just focused on winning and making sure we were well prepared.

“Kilkenny have proved to be the best hurling county in history, and we knew we would have to be at our peak because you never get an easy game against them.

“We had to dig deep against them in the second halve and we were under a lot of pressure in defence, but we had promised ourselves that we wouldn’t let the title slip away this year, and we held firm,” said Flaherty.

Some of the players in the current minor setup will surely make the jump to senior inter-county level, but at only 18, Flaherty is only looking to make the step up to under-21 level.

“I don’t think I’m good enough to make the leap straight into senior inter-county. I’m just hoping to move up the ranks and maybe when I’m 22 or 23, I’ll be ready to play at senior level.”