Neil Loughran catches up with former Monaghan footballer Bernie Murray...
Age: 51
Club: Scotstown
When did you play for Monaghan?
1983-1993
What do you do nowadays?
I live in Blackrock outside Dundalk and I’m a furniture agent, I sell upholstery and beds.
Are you still involved in Gaelic football?
I’m managing Kingscourt in Cavan, who were champions last year. For the last five years, I was involved with Navan O’Mahony’s, as well as with Louth for a time when Aidan O’Rourke was manager.
What do you remember about your first game for Monaghan?
I came on as sub against Wicklow in a National League game at the very end of 1983, we were in Division Three at the time. I was just after turning 19 a few weeks earlier.
Sean McCague was the manager then and he was happy with my performance.
What’s your best memory?
There are two - winning the league in 1985 and winning the Ulster Championship in 1988, beating Tyrone. It didn’t get much better than that.
The National League win was Monaghan’s first-ever national title, so that was a huge thing.
And the worst?
Losing the All-Ireland semi-final to Cork in 1988. It was a very windy day and we just didn’t perform, we didn’t do ourselves justice. We had beaten Cavan, Down and Tyrone in Ulster and had been going well. If we’d beat Cork that day, we would’ve been playing Meath in the final and we had some great battles with Meath around that time.
To go toe-to-toe with them again would have been brilliant, so that’s a big, big disappointment.
Are you glad you played in your era rather than today?
No, I’d love to be playing in the modern era. The players have fabulous opportunities now; from underage level, the organisation, the resources that are poured into teams, the opportunities are third level.
In those days, the facilities were so poor and the resources devoted to teams were so poor. The flip side of that is there doesn’t seem to be the same enjoyment today and then there’s the abuse players take on social media.
You hear people saying ‘so and so would never last in the modern game’, but players adapt to the game and the environment they’re in.
Any regrets?
I broke my leg in 1985, around May time, and missed us winning an Ulster title. That was very hard to take but, thankfully, we were lucky enough to win it again in 1988.
I always think it’s a shame too there was no backdoor then because, for five years, were in the top-five or six in the country and I’d say I speak on behalf of a lot of players who played in that time because most would have loved a second chance.
