Murphy and Rowland embrace the excitement

Aaron Murphy has been here before but the feeling is just the same.

Murphy made his senior bow for Lahardane MacHales in 2017 under John Maughan as the club went on to not just win a first county title when winning the junior championship but a first-ever Connacht title also.

Six years have passed and now as captain of the club, Aaron Murphy will hope to emulate Gary Naughton and lift the Connacht title also, when the North Mayo side take on Owenmore Gaels in next weekend's provincial junior decider. With a few more years under the belt, any nerves are overshadowed by excitement.

“We’ve been hard at work all year and it's good to get the rewards and to get to another final, especially after it was only six years ago since the last one. It’s nice to get another chance at it,” Murphy told the Western People this week. “I'm still feeling the excitement. Nervous? Probably a little bit less. I’ve a few more years under my belt now, a bit more experience, so it’s kind of nice to enjoy it too and to not be nervous for it, but it’s good to get up for it and get the excitement from around the community and around the parish.

“2017 will always be special in everyone's minds. It was the first time and there was a huge buzz about the place then. I think it's similar enough this year now again,” admits Murphy.

“Chatting to a few people after the game, they're saying that we've brought them on another journey and they're excited for it, you know. The flags are still flying even though it's a bit wet now and getting miserable, but everyone seems to be excited enough for it again and hopefully we'll go a step further.” 

Lahardane did not have it all their own way in MacHale Park in their Connacht semi-final with Menlough. Trailing by five points at half-time and not performing close to the level they had previously reached this year, a few frank words by players and management in the dressing-room helped refocus minds and reminded them of their strengths.

“We knew ourselves we weren't playing well but we credited them. They really pushed us hard and were playing better than us,” the captain reflects.

“Obviously we weren't good enough at all. We had our word among ourselves and the managers had said their piece as well. We just knew that we were better than we were playing and we could come out and just keep fighting for it.

“All year we were on about our work rate and at the end of the day, hard work will usually pay off so we came out fighting again. We got off to a decent start in the second-half but again Menlough kept up with us and we kept with them. It was just back and forth until extra-time and penalties.” 

Murphy added: “We knew we had the fitness, we had the legs and especially the depth on the bench. The lads that came on, they did an unreal job. The legs of Mickey (Murphy) getting the equalising point, Benny Joyce really drove us on. Keelan (Dyra) and Declan (Langan) in the backs as well and Eoin Fergus got a point.

“We knew we had the legs on the field and to come off the bench, and we just moved back to ourselves. We worked hard all year, we worked on our high press, we worked on our work-rate, our fitness and we just knew if we kept going and stayed at it, we'd have a chance.” 

Penalties to decide GAA matches still remains a divisive topic, although it appears to be the case more so when a team loses as opposed to emerging victorious. The pressure on those penalty-takers can be immense but all five thundered home.

“The pressure on all five penalty takers, I wouldn't like to be the one stepping up there,” Aaron Murphy admitted. “They were cool, calm and collected they just seemed to slot it home. The excitement was crazy, especially after such a battle of 80 minutes to come out on top of it.

“It's cruel for Menlough but you know, it's exciting for us. There’s a bit of controversy over penalties in the GAA but when you win them, you don't really mind too much.

“This time of year the pitches are heavy. I know that MacHale Park is back in great condition but the pitch is still a bit heavy and the legs are getting a bit more tired as we’re going since February. Recovery is key now at this stage and we’re trying to prepare and get the body right. You're just doing the best you can to play the best you can.” 

While Aaron Murphy is in the middle of his career, Chris Rowland has just returned from a two-year hiatus from football as a combination of work commitments and more time needed with Glenhest Rovers (of which he is captain) following their promotion to the Mayo Super League forced him to step away from commitments with Lahardane MacHales.

Rowland’s work as a buyer with Elverys for a decade has seen him on the road a lot, both in Ireland and abroad, and the difficultly in balancing a busy work life with sport can be gruelling but it is something he has become accustomed to. However, once he got a call from Lahardane manager Eddie Conroy, the wheels were set in motion to return.

“To be honest it doesn't feel like [it’s difficult to balance] because I've probably done it for so long. I guess if I was thrown into it as a newbie again, it probably would be. But you have your schedule weeks in advance whenever GAA training or soccer training is, so it's just trying to all fit it all together and see what works," Rowland told the Western People.

“Not every week is ideal, not every week is the same, but for the most part it works well. But I was lucky enough that Eddie and Stephen (McLoughlin, Glenhest manager) gave me allowances to take a training session off or do whatever is needed.” 

Rowland added: “The body was probably feeling a bit older than it had been a couple of years before that. Then I got the call earlier on the year from Eddie and I said I’d consider it. We got on well and just got back down training, and I took it from there. I'm delighted I made the choice to get back.” 

It was not a smooth sailing initially though, as Rowland tore his MCL playing rugby for Castlebar at the start of the year which ruled him out for a couple of months, compounding the challenges of coming back to a sport he had not played for two years.

“I was in conversations with Eddie. I told him I'm going to try and get back and play a bit of soccer and we'll see how it goes, but the hunger was definitely there to go back. To be honest, over the last two years I was definitely missing the craic with the lads as much as playing a bit of Gaelic. I think it was a fairly easy decision once I got the body right.

“There was a bit of adjustment to it to be honest, because even your movements in soccer are completely different to GAA. I probably hadn't soloed the ball in two years so my skill levels were probably below par I would say. But once you get back training, it doesn't take you long to pick it up again. But it certainly took a little bit of adjustment.” 

After impressing in the league, Rowland suffered a quad injury in July ahead of the county junior championship which ruled him out until the quarter-final stage, making an appearance off the bench in their win over Killala.

An injury to Jarlath Maughan in the county final against Shrule/Glencorrib saw Rowland sprung from the bench before playing the full 80 minutes against Menlough as well as scoring one of the penalties in the shootout. His experience and routines of taking penalties for Glenhest in years gone by helped greatly in terms of dealing with the pressure – even if when walking up to the spot, the goal suddenly seemed a lot smaller.

“I’m used to take penalties for thirty years for both Glenhest and Lahardane, so, you just try to block everything out and just go through whatever routine you normally go through, either kicking a free or kicking a penalty. I didn't really feel too much pressure in the situation to be honest with you.” 

Another man who didn’t feel the pressure was teammate Mickey Murphy, who also plays with Chris at Glenhest Rovers. He cooly tucked away the penalty that sent Lahardane into next weekend’s Connacht final. Rowland believes Murphy’s fearlessness is evident with the rest of the young talent coming through as well.

“He was making the rest of us lads watching him nervous, he took an absolute age walking up to the penalty spot but look, it was a great penalty. They have great belief in themselves, young guys these days, they just take everything in their stride.

“To be honest, I was fairly confident of Mickey when he was going up. He's played a bit of soccer as well with Glenhest, he's a good technique, a good strike of the ball. I'm delighted he buried it, it'll do wonders for his confidence.” 

Rowland added: “We had a great experience in terms of winning the county title and the provincial title. I think it was between seven and ten lads from the 2017 panel still involved and then you have a whole host of young guys coming up now who have absolutely no fear at all and very talented footballers as well.” 

Sligo outfit Owenmore Gaels now stand in Lahardane’s way of another Connacht title and while Aaron Murphy is expecting another tough game, he sees no reason why the bonfires cannot be lit across the North Mayo village once more.

“Obviously anyone coming to this stage of the competition, you know you're coming up against a good side. We don't know a whole pile, we obviously know their last game, you can look at the scorers or the report on the game. They came back from three points down to win by three so they obviously don't give up, just like ourselves. They're going to work hard.

“Any team at this stage of the year will fancy themselves and have a chance. We'll expect a tough game but we're not going to take anyone for granted. They have some good players, some quality players, so we'll just have to work on our own game and hopefully counteract what they bring to us,” the captain concluded