ON TAILTEANN CUP launch day, almost every one of the 15 players present were asked a variation of the same question: ‘What keeps you coming back year after year?’
For the players operating in the lower tiers of inter-county football, the carrots to represent your county are not the same as the sides with genuine aspirations of winning silverware or at least stringing some results together.
Take Waterford for instance, who’ve been a Division 4 county since Conor Murray made his debut eight years ago. In his entire inter-county career, he’s experienced a championship victory just once – a qualifier win against Wexford in 2018.
The motivation is more internal than external.
“I suppose it’s the best level of football that I can play at given where I’m from,” responded Murray to the question.
“That’s what keeps me at it, just trying to be the best I can. That’s what keeps the other lads who’ve been there. There’s four or five of us who’ve been there the last seven or eight years.
“If you don’t have that attitude you won’t stick at it. If you’re there looking to win something you’re in the wrong business.
“It comes down to mindset and it comes down to the attitude. If that’s right you’ll stick at it. When you do have your good days it is worth it. I’ve only won one championship game in six or seven years against Wexford four years ago and it was brilliant.
“Even league games that you win, it just gives you a boost and makes it that bit easier. That’s why we stick around and stick at it.”
Despite finishing bottom in Division 4, the final table wasn’t a true reflection of how the league went for Waterford. They drew with promoted side Tipperary and lost three games by a point.
Waterford travel to Aughrim to face Wicklow on Saturday in the historic first Tailteann Cup game, a southern section preliminary round clash.
Murray says manager Ephie Fitzgerald, who enjoyed great success in the women’s game with Cork, is trying to create a winning culture in the squad.
“We tend to feel a bit sorry for ourselves in Waterford,” says Waterford skipper Murray.
“That’s something he (Fitzgerald) is trying to get rid of. He’s trying to get rid of that losers mentality. When things start to go wrong, we tend to give up and revert to type.
“He’s trying to get a bit of a steely edge into us, I suppose a bit of his Cork arrogance. He’s trying to pass a bit of that onto us. That will stand us in good stead if he can get that into us.”
Retaining players remains an issue for the likes of Waterford but Murray says they’ve lost just one player since the season started.
“It’s just really important that we get the lads to stick at it because it’s easy to walk away now. You’re coming into the summer and some lads might be tempted to head off and play football in America or whatever or head off on holidays.
“You can’t make progress if you don’t have the same players there year in year out. Otherwise you’re back to square one with tactics and all of that.
“Hopefully the Tailteann Cup will make it a bit easier to get lads to stick around and buy into it.
“Of course eveyrone would love win the Sam Maguire but that’s not realistic for most teams in Ireland. So a competition like this is a step in the right direction.”
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