Football

Full-back Patrick Murdock happy to grab chance with Down

Patrick Murdock has impressed during Warrenpoint's rise in recent years, and did well on his Championship debut against Fermanagh on Sunday. Picture by Cliff Donaldson
Patrick Murdock has impressed during Warrenpoint's rise in recent years, and did well on his Championship debut against Fermanagh on Sunday. Picture by Cliff Donaldson Patrick Murdock has impressed during Warrenpoint's rise in recent years, and did well on his Championship debut against Fermanagh on Sunday. Picture by Cliff Donaldson

FINDING a commanding full-back has proved a problem for Down at times over the past decade, but there was plenty of promise in Patrick Murdock’s Championship debut against Fermanagh on Sunday.

Murdock was one of the best players in the recent county championship, his forward bursts from the full-back berth in particular catching the eye as Warrenpoint defeated defending champions Kilcoo before the Magpies gained revenge at the semi-final stage.

Down boss Paddy Tally was impressed enough to throw him straight into Ulster Championship action against the Ernemen, and Murdock is likely to face a stiffer test against Cavan on Sunday provided he holds onto the number three jersey.

“There’s plenty of very good full-backs have played in the past couple of years, I’m just happy to get my chance and hopefully give myself as much of a chance as possible to stay in the team,” he said.

“Obviously the atmosphere’s a bit different but we tried to bring as much intensity to it as possible. Fermanagh brought a lot to it as well so it did feel like a Championship match.

“We felt it was going to be tight the whole way through so we were just happy to be in touching distance, and obviously the quality’s there and we’d back ourselves.

“We’re not the biggest team but we’ve boys who are good at getting up and down the pitch – you need that in any team. It’s good to be playing with those boys, they do a lot of work in front of you and make your job a bit easier.

“It’s just a win at the end of the day so we’ll take it from there.”

Murdock hasn’t had the chance to watch Cavan’s victory over Antrim on Saturday, but will learn much more about their semi-final opponents this week.

“I’m flat out with the uni work,” smiles the business management student, “the coursework’s building up so I’ve just got to stay on top of it.

“It’s Ulster Championship and even across Ireland, there’s been a lot of fierce competitive games already. We did alright today, so we’ll take it from there.”