By John Harrington

Eoin Murchan’s goal in the 2019 All-Ireland SFC Final replay will remain an iconic score many years from now.

It was the key moment of a victory that saw Dublin become the first every county to win five All-Irelands in a row, and all the more memorable because it was such a dramatic strike.

Murchan was already a rising star, but that goal sent him supernova in the eyes of all Dublin supporters.

But even though his face is now recognisable to a lot more people, the down to earth Na Fianna man is adamant the highlight of his sporting career thus far hasn’t impacted on his day to day life.

“Has it changed me? No, to be honest,” he says. “It was one moment. No, that was one moment among a collection of moments.

“It was fortunate that it was a goal but it alone wouldn’t have won a game. It’s a new team, new management, new players even this year so we started my scratch and a complete clean slate.

“Whatever you have done previously has been thrown out the window and you start afresh in the new year.

“Outside of the team environment and I have three siblings at home and they would ensure it doesn’t let me get too big a head or anything.

“They constantly let me know how useless I am so it hasn’t really changed much!”

Because Murchan’s goal came straight from the throw-in at the start of the second half of last year’s All-Ireland Final replay, there was immediately speculation that this was a pre-rehearsed move by Dublin.

It was also said in the aftermath of the match that while the move was a pre-rehearsed one, Murchan wasn’t meant to be involved in it. Any truth in that?

“I've also heard that myself,” says Murchan. “Yeah, we do have moves for a lot of different scenarios in games. I was aware of one, but I'm not sure whether that was it or whether it was a part of it. I certainly wasn't supposed to be a part of it.

“But I suppose guys have an understanding from when someone does get the ball as to where they should go or shouldn't go and they were able to execute that. There was a move but it definitely didn't involve me.

“I had noticed in the first half that I'd found myself in a lot of space, consistently in acres and acres of space. As we were coming out of the tunnel I had a word with Jonny (Cooper) and just said, 'Look, at some point I'm going to have a go'.

“To be honest I wasn't expecting it to happen. I kind of got dragged in towards the centre and was just lucky enough that so many things went right and so many went wrong in terms of both our midfielders ran into each other essentially which caused the ball to be knocked down in front of me.

“While there may have been a set move there, I'm not quite sure that if we had of done that set-move things would have worked out the same.”

It’s one thing having an opportunity present itself, it’s quite another exploiting it as confidently and efficiently as Murchan did.

The ball might have broken somewhat fortuitiously to him from the throw-in at the start of the second-half, but the rest was all Murchan.

Kerry midfielder David Moran did his best to chase him down, but Murchan reckons he's the fastest player in the Dublin panel, speedier even than the jet-heeled Jack McCaffrey, and there was no catching him.

Many defenders suffer from a form of altitude sickness the closer they get to the opposition’s goal-posts, but Murchan backed himself all the way and then finished with aplomb from 20 yards out.

It probably helped that this was a scenario that he been drilled to exploit throughout his years playing underage football with Na Fianna.

“It would have been something from U13 up to minor and U20s that I would have done,” he says.

“My team was managed by my dad and Tom Gray and Niall Cooper, Jonny’s brother, would have been involved in that set-up as well.

“We would have tried and tried that almost exact move from when I was 13 and to be honest it didn’t come off but I was fortunate enough that it did on this occasion.

“Having team-mates like that who make it so easy and if you watch it back and see the movement of all the guys around me including the two midfielders and six forwards…without that movement it would never have happened.

“There would have been no path for me to the goal. The finish was fine and I’m happy with that but what’s more impressive is the movement, the smarts and the selflessness of the other guys on the pitch.

“Because that’s what you’re taught as a 12-year-old, 13-year-old that if somebody is coming through the middle you get out of the way but it doesn’t always happen but it did on this occasion.”

Wherever he goes and for as long as he lives, there’s a good chance that Murchan will be reminded of that goal on a near-daily basis, but he’s not the type to bask in the adulation and is instead focused on achieving even greater things in the years to come.

“No, I wouldn't be allowed at the moment both by my family and team-mates. They wouldn't allow that to be the case. Like, I'm still quite young.

“This will be my fourth championship and I would hope I have a lot more ahead of me and would be able to impact in more ways than one singular incident.

“So I haven't really thought about it in that respect, I'm more focused on trying to improve myself and contribute something to the team so the team can do something.

“We’d be a very good group at connecting in with our past and understand the responsibility that comes with the jersey and the opportunity and how privileged we are to be in that position, so I’m more focused on trying to maybe leaving the jersey in a better place, for the want of a better term, rather than focusing on a single incident or a single play.

“Maybe in the future that’s something I’ll look back on, but for now I’m more focused on trying to go out and enjoy my football, enjoy playing with my friends because that’s what I like to do and that’s what we do.”

Murchan believes that the enforced break from GAA action will ultimately benefit the Dublin footballers by the time it is safe to resume play.

Winning five All-Irelands in a row had to have taken a mental as well as a physical toll, and the relatively late appointment of Dessie Farrell as team manager in succession to Jim Gavin wasn’t ideal either.

Dublin’s longer-serving players have had an opportunity to recharge their batteries, and Murchan believes that can only be a positive.

“Yeah I definitely do. Obviously it's a horrible situation outside of football. But in a footballing sense, it's actually a great opportunity for us to use the time to work on things that we wouldn't normally get the opportunity to rest and it allows others time to catch up or put in that little extra in terms of fitness or strength work.

“I think there can be benefits to this. It depends on how we approach it. I suppose how long it goes on for as well but at the end of the day football is not really the priority at the moment.

“We have guys working on the front line with Jack, Michael Fitzsimons and the likes of Dean Rock as well. We have team doctors too so there is more to it than football at the moment but there are some positives to be taken from it, for some guys more than others.”

AIG Insurance, proud sponsor of Dublin GAA, have teamed up with Aoibheann’s Pink Tie and the Dublin Senior Football Team to send personalised messages to children and their families battling cancer throughout Ireland as well as helping to launch a fundraising drive to support the important work the charity does.

To help support Aoibheann’s Pink Tie Text ‘Pink Tie’ to 50300 to donate €2. Text costs €2. Aoibheann’s Pink Tie will receive a minimum of €1.80.