Sport

Down's Joe Murphy isn't underestimating Longford test

Down's Joe Murphy tries to get away from Monaghan's Neil McAdam. The Ballyholland man knows Longford will pose a tough task for the Mourne men next Saturday <br />Picture Colm O'Reilly
Down's Joe Murphy tries to get away from Monaghan's Neil McAdam. The Ballyholland man knows Longford will pose a tough task for the Mourne men next Saturday
Picture Colm O'Reilly
Down's Joe Murphy tries to get away from Monaghan's Neil McAdam. The Ballyholland man knows Longford will pose a tough task for the Mourne men next Saturday
Picture Colm O'Reilly

DOWN’S Joe Murphy is aiming to take as many positives as possible out of the heavy Ulster Championship defeat to Monaghan ahead of the Mourne men’s qualifier with Longford in a fortnight’s time.

While Eamonn Burns’ men suffered a 19-point defeat at the hands of the reigning provincial champions in Clones two Sundays' ago, they were the better team for the bulk of the first period, before succumbing to the might of Malachy O’Rourke’s side after the break.

The Ballyholland Harps man, in his first season with the county, did admit their display in the second period of the 2-22 to 0-9 loss, when they conceded 2-13 and only registered three points of their own, can’t be brushed over.

“What we want to do is to take the positives out of it, but you can’t ignore the second-half. We’ll analyse it and the amount of ball we had turned over wasn’t good enough and they were opening us up. I think Monaghan scored 1-10 in the second-half from unforced turnovers,” he said.

“On the positive side of it, in the first 25 minutes, we were better and, if we had been able to pick off a couple more scores to leave us a bit more comfortable at half-time, then you never know.

“When we went in at half-time, we were still fairly confident, even though Monaghan had scored four or five on the trot. We said that we needed to come back out and get the first score of the second-half and close the gap again and just keep working at it. We did get that first score of the second-half but, when we lost Pete [Black card victim Peter Turley], we lost a bit of shape.”

Down will take on a Longford outfit at Pairc Esler on the weekend of June 25/26, who only missed out on promotion to Division Two of the National League on points difference and, while the home side will be seen as favourites to progress to round two, Murphy and his team-mates know they have to improve to get past Denis Connerton’s men.

“I know I’ve only played a handful of games in Newry in front of a Down crowd but, in the likes of he Dublin game [in the National League], you could really feel them when they were with you. They are a massive help and hopefully we can do ourselves, and the supporters’ justice against Longford and leave last Sunday behind us,” he said.

“The position we’re in, we can’t underestimate anybody at all. We might be favourites, but we certainly can’t take anything for granted. It will be a tough one and I’m glad we have home advantage. If we can get the win under our belts, then that should give us the bit of confidence we need to push on and build on a performance.”

Murphy, who has been a standout for his club in recent years, in now 27-years-of-age and the hard working Ballyholland man would be seen as a relative latecomer to the inter-county scene. He has followed in the footsteps of elder brother Paul by wearing the Down shirt and, although 2016 has been a tough one to date, he reveals he is enjoying his time with the county.

“It has been a tough year to come in. It’s been a sort of baptism of fire, but I’m really enjoying it. I’m enjoying the training and I’m enjoying the professional side of it. I feel comfortable in that environment. We just haven’t been getting the results and sometimes it can be hard to get the confidence up,” said Murphy, who admits taking on the likes of Dublin and Kerry in the league has had its benefits.

“Playing against those players week in, week out in the National League, you either get up to the pace of the game with them or else you’re going to be left behind. That has been a good learning curve for me.”