Éire Óg manager Joe Murphy.
By Cian O’Connell
Tradition is precisely what Portlaoise and Éire Óg possess so Saturday evening under the O’Moore Park lights promises to be interesting.
Two of the three most decorated outfits in the AIB Leinster Club Championship collide with the prize another appearance in a decider.
During a splendid playing career for Éire Óg Joe Murphy sampled provincial glory on five occasions, but he is now preparing to face the seven time champions Portlaoise.
“It is a unique situation in one regard; we both have a good tradition in the competition, but we have actually never played each other,” Murphy says.
“Since the beginning of the Leinster Club Championship Portlaoise and Eire Og have never clashed which is a bit unique. It is something we are really looking forward to.”
That the totemic Portloaise figure Pat Critchley was in charge of Éire Óg during Murphy’s days on the field isn’t forgotten either.
“In 1998 I was actually Pat Critchley's captain when we won the Leinster Final,” Murphy recalls. “I would always be in contact with him too, Pat left a great mark on our club for a Portlaoise man.!
Still when Murphy took charge of his native club the brief was simple: Éire Óg, who went without a Carlow triumph between 2012 and 2017, wanted to be relevant once again.
Joe Murphy won five AIB Leinster Club SFC titles with Éire Óg.
“That is a fair assessment, the initial goal was to maybe re-establish Eire Og, to put us someway on that solid footing,” Murphy acknowledges. “The last three years domestically in the county have gone pretty well. So we are happy with that progress.
“It was a long time from 2012 without even a County Final appearance. That is a long time for Éire Óg and it was what we had to address initially, to get ourselves on a firm footing in the Carlow Championship.
“We have succeeded at that end, we are training hard and preparing hard to go the next step. It is going to be a massive challenge on Saturday night.
“There is a great grá in Éire Óg for this competition, the Leinster Championship. Some of the players would probably have grown up as chaps going to them games, so to be involved in the business end of the Leinster Club Championship for a lot of them is something personally I'm delighted for them.
“It is a great buzz, but also it is great that the club is back in the conversation again after maybe for a number of years we weren't really relevant.”
Murphy steered Old Leighlin to success in Carlow and has been in charge of other club teams elsewhere, but being involved in Éire Óg brought a different challenge.
“It is impossible to park it, you have pros and cons to it,” Murphy admits. “I'm very much rooted in Éire Óg. There is a number of young men that I'm training, I would have played with their fathers.
“You are never away from it when it is your own club. If you train another club, be it another club within Carlow or outside the county you can sort of park it. There is a social aspect to Éire Óg, there is a family aspect to Éire Óg, there is a football aspect to Éire Óg, there is the familiarity with all the members.
Éire Óg impressed when defeating Sarsfields in the AIB Leinster Club SFC Quarter-Final at Netwatch Cullen Park.
“It is very hard to get away from it so it can be tough at times when things don't go well. You take it very personally, but the goal for me was always at some stage to see if I could have any impact in leaving a mark or being involved in a mark left on Éire Óg.
“That was the long term goal from when I started to actually train teams. So there is a lot of satisfaction then in the success that we have had to date.”
For Murphy there is extra joy in this journey. Éire Óg’s willingness to invest time, energy, and resources in developing young players is now being reflected on the Leinster stage once more.
“We are very fortunate in Éire Óg that our underage structures are steadfast,” Murphy states. “Every guy on the panel of 34 all came through the Éire Óg juvenile system. A huge amount of credit has to go to the underage coaches, who have developed these guys into senior footballers.
“That is pretty unusual - that there isn't a couple of players coming from other clubs, who are maybe living in Carlow.
“Even back in the 90s we had a couple of guys from different counties settled in Carlow through work or business. They added a lot to the squad back then.
"I think Éire Óg can be proud of the fact that the whole squad is all Éire Óg juveniles, who have come through.”
Relevant again, busy getting ready for Portlaoise another hugely respected force in Leinster.
