Murray insists Meath are under no pressure
For the last six weeks Meath manager Eamonn Murray has stood suspended from Ladies GAA arising out of an incident during the All-Ireland MFC semi-final against Monaghan - the last six weeks have been torture for the Boardsmill man.
Murray’s ban will expire this week in the run up to Sunday’s All-Ireland IFC final clash with Tipperary and he is itching to get going, but admits that
the last six weeks have been very difficult.
“The last few weeks have been killing me. It wasn’t easy watching an All-Ireland semi-final from the back of a stand. I’ll be back for the final and I’m really looking forward to the game, but the suspension has ruined much of the build up for me.
“I just want to put it behind me now and focus on the girls and the game,” said Murray.
Now that the ban has expired Murray’s focus is totally on Tipperary and the shot at redemption his side have after losing last year’s All-Ireland IFC final to Tyrone.
“We never really discussed getting back to an All-Ireland final. The league was everything for us, it was vital that we get up to Div 2, but with the two girls (Stacey Grimes and Niamh Gallogly) gone on J1s we didn’t really look any further than just one game at a time,” said the manager.
“We didn’t panic at any stage in the All-Ireland series. Longford gave us a great game, that game was the making of us. We struggled against them and they made us fight to the bitter end. That gave us great momentum for the Wexford game.
“Wexford thought all they had to do was to turn up and kick us out the gate, but we thought very different and produced a great performance that day.
“From that day we thought to ourselves for the first time that we might just make it to the All-Ireland final again.
“Then we played our old friends Roscommon. We knew we were a way better team, but you never know what can happen on the day, so we were delight to get through.”
The prize for getting through that test against Roscommon in Nowlan Park is a tilt at red-hot favourites Tipperary in Croke Park next Sunday for an All-Ireland title and Murray is relishing the occasion.
He is well aware of the threats the Treaty County possess, but he had a word of warning for the opposition - Meath have their threats too.
“They are a mid-table Div 1 side, we were in Div 3. They are a brilliant side and were very unfortunate to lose their senior status last year. The luck of the draw went against them, they should never have been relegated from senior,” insisted Murray.
“We played a great Tyrone team
last year and missed out. we are a better side than last year, but so are
the opposition, so it’s going to be
tough.
“I think we are going to give them a fair old skite next week, it will be a
very interesting game. Getting the
girls back from the J1s is a boost and training is going very well. Last Tuesday evening I thought we could win this game, the girls were flying in training.
“Of course we have plans for their big players, but they don’t always work out. We have pace to match them. We have played against Aisling Moloney and Tipperary a few times now, so we are well used to them, they will have a lot more worries than we will.
“We have no pressure whatsoever. They have the cup won and they are celebrating already, we have absolutely no pressure.
“They have their big players, but we have a few good ones too. Wait until Kelsey (Nesbitt) and Bridgetta (Lynch) start scoring goals, they will be our trump cards next week.
“Tipperary will be watching Emma (Duggan), Fiona (O’Neill) and Vikki (Wall), they won’t be watching Bridgetta or Kelsey, they’re the two best club players in Meath.
“They don’t have a goalkeeper like Monica McGuirk, she is the best in the country. We have two brilliant free takers as well so we have plenty of players who can cause problems, I can’t wait to get going now,” concluded the Meath manager.