Brendan Murphy set for Carlow return

Carlow football has been given a major boost with the news that star midfielder Brendan Murphy has decided to return to inter-county duty for 2015.

Murphy opted off the panel last year when, as a member of the Defence Forces, he was placed on a waiting list for a tour of duty in the Lebanon.

The tour never materialised but the Rathvilly man decided not to return to the Carlow fold for the championship. The Barrowsiders subsequently suffered dispiriting defeats to Meath and Clare.

He has since left the army and is studying in IT Carlow, whom he lined out for in their O'Byrne Cup clash with Wicklow on Sunday.

While he was included in a 35-man Carlow panel named before Christmas, Murphy is ineligible to play for the county side in the O'Byrne Cup.

New Carlow manager Turlough O'Brien is quoted in the Irish Times as saying that the 25-year-old former AFL recruit has his "appetite back".

Meanwhile, the Irish Times also reports that Brendan Quigley has rejoined the Laois panel after playing for New York last year.

Quigley returned to Ireland from the US in the autumn, and while he missed last Sunday's O'Byrne Cup defeat to Offaly, the Timaohoe clubman is part of the O'Moore County squad for 2015.

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