By John Harrington

When Ireland manager Joe Kernan announced his squad for the International Rules tour to Australia, he made a point of singling out Sligo’s Niall Murphy for special praise.

According to Kernan, Murphy had done so well in the training sessions and trial matches he had effectively played himself onto the panel ahead of players with a higher profile from some more traditionally successful counties.

Murphy’s high-quality performances reflected the preparation he had put in to get himself in the best possible shape for the trials.

According to the Coolera-Strandhill club-man, he went to the National Games Development Centre in Abbotstown every Friday like a man on a mission.

“I think there's only one other Sligo lad that's ever represented Ireland, so I just saw it as a huge opportunity,” Murphy told GAA.ie.

“I found out I would be going a good while before trials actually started so I made sure I was the best shape I could have been.

“I suppose I just gave it my all, really, and thankfully it went fairly well.

“It was tough going though, there were one or two weeks I wasn't too happy with how I played and I would have been pissed off.

“You only have a couple of chances and you know if you don't play well that they'll not pick you.

“I was just thankful that couple went well for me. I was just determined to put my best foot forward and not to have any regrets.”

It means an awful lot for every player selected on the squad to have the opportunity to pull on the green jersey and represent Ireland.

But, after his call-up, Murphy quickly found out just how much it meant to his local community as well to become just the second ever Irish International from Sligo.

“When the news broke first my phone was going non-stop,” he says.

“Lads congratulating me and just loads of stuff on Facebook and Twitter. Everyone is delighted at home, the family and everyone in the club.

“It's nice to see someone from Sligo getting picked for something like this because it's not too often. I know there have been a couple of lads up before for trials but unfortunately didn't get picked.

“I think Eamonn O'Hara was the last back in the early 2000s, so it's been a long time.”

It’s easy to understand why Joe Kernan would want Murphy in his squad because the Sligo county star ticks a lot of boxes that make him a good fit for International Rules.

He’s a powerful ball winner, a natural score-taker, and a very accurate kick-passer.

Kernan has made it clear that Ireland’s strategy will be to win as many marks as possible in the scoring zone as they can.

Murphy is not just capable of winning marks, he can assist them too with accurate kick-passing to inside-forwards.

“Maybe that's something they were looking at,” he says. “My athletic ability wouldn't be of the highest degree, but I always would have worked on my ball-skills.

“Probably my game is about mostly kicking so in that sense it would have suited me, thankfully. There are some lads there and they are just freaks of athletes, I can't keep up with some of them.

“But thankfully my kicking and ball-skills wouldn't be too bad.”

If Ireland are to come out on top over the course of the two tests, the first of which takes place in Adelaide at 5am Irish time this Sunday, then playing a more skilful brand of football will be key because beating the professional AFL players for pure athleticism will be a tall order.

“It's hard to know what to expect,” says Murphy. “They'll bring huge intensity anyway and their physicality and athleticism will probably be as good as ours, to be fair.

“Hopefully our ball skills will be better and our handling and kicking will be better. That's where we will try to outsmart them in that sense.

“It'll be a different sort of experience. An interesting clash between our football skills and them with the real athleticism.

“It'll be interesting to see how that plays out, but I'm sure they're training away and their ball skills won't be too bad by the time it comes around.”

Having put his best foot forward during the trials, Murphy is now determined to make the most of his time in Australia.

He wants to play a big role for Ireland over the course of the two tests, and is excited about the thought of representing his country for the very first time.

“Even the first night we met up together it was great to put on the gear and just seeing the lads around you, players from Kerry and Tyrone,” he says.

“It's not too often lads from Sligo get to play against these lads, let alone play with them. I don't know, it'll be a funny one, I'm really looking forward to that feeling.

“Running out in those big stadiums and in that weather as well, it'll be great. I'll be flying high!”