THE ROUGH AND TUMBLE of his youth in Roscommon was good preparation for Darragh Murray’s future as a professional rugby player.
The 24-year-old Connacht second row – who got his first two Ireland caps last summer and will train with Andy Farrell’s squad again in Portugal next week before playing for the Ireland XV side – grew up near the village of Brideswell, where his family have a beef farm.
So Murray was doing hard work from an early age and still enjoys getting home to help out any weekend he doesn’t have a game, or even on Sundays after he has played for Connacht.
His coaches haven’t voiced any concerns about Murray mucking in back in Brideswell.
“Sure, Stu [Lancaster] comes from a farm himself, a dairy farm back in England,” said Murray this week, sitting in the brand-new home changing room at Connacht’s Dexcom Stadium ahead of today’s URC clash with Leinster [KO 5.30pm, Premier Sports].
As well as helping out with the family business, Murray has always had to fend for himself against two older brothers, Connor and Niall.
26-year-old Niall is also a second row for Connacht and he helped toughen Darragh up when they were kids.
“We’d be out on the trampoline, and it’d be great craic,” recalls Darragh.
“We played hurling on the trampoline. You’d be beating the crap out of each other, but it was good fun.”
Niall has proven to be a great mentor for Darragh in Connacht in more recent times.
He’s also his landlord in Galway, with Darragh and Connacht back row Oisín McCormack living in Niall’s house.
“We’re paying off his mortgage!” joked Darragh. “But he’s grand, laidback.”
Connor, the eldest brother at 28, was the first of the Murray family to take up rugby, so Niall and Darragh owe him a lot. They also have a younger sister, 21-year-old Abbie, who plays for Buccaneers.
Darragh playing in the AIL for Buccaneers. Laszlo Geczo / INPHO
Laszlo Geczo / INPHO / INPHO
Their mother, Bernie, was an all-Ireland handball champion and played camogie, while their father, Aidan, was a big GAA man, as was his own father, the late Noel.
The family are from a football stronghold, so that was number one for the Murrays growing up. St Brigid’s in nearby Kiltoom is their home club and Darragh remains a keen supporter. Connacht out-half Jack Carty is also a Brigid’s man.
St Brigid’s agonisingly lost the All-Ireland senior football club title to Kerry in extra-time last weekend at Croke Park.
“It was some game,” said Murray. “I wasn’t able to travel up because we had our own game on Saturday [against Montauban]. I would have played with most of those lads and still text them or meet up for a coffee when we can. They were so close.”
Murray might have been playing for St Brigid’s had he not got the rugby bug in his late teens.
Connor was first to venture into Buccaneers in Athlone, with Niall and Darragh soon following, playing rugby alongside their football commitments.
Darragh was an out-half for his first two or three years, while Niall played in the centre, which isn’t a huge surprise given how comfortable they look in the rare instances when they’re in open field now for Connacht.
But as he continued to shoot up towards his current 6ft 7ins height, Darragh moved into number eight and then the second row by the time he was playing at U18s level.
He captained the Connacht U18s when they won the 2018 inter-provincial championship, a big achievement that also helped Murray to win Connacht’s U18 player of the year award. Current Connacht men Cathal Forde and Eoin De Buitléar were part of that side, with Cullie Tucker coaching them.
Already at that stage, there was excitement within the province about Murray’s potential.
But giving up football to join the Connacht academy was a big decision.
“We wouldn’t have watched too much rugby growing up,” said Darragh.
“It would have been all football, so it was a change. But I would have seen Jack [Carty], he’s from Kiltoom, so that kind of inspired you.”
Murray playing for Connacht U18s. Oisin Keniry / INPHO
Oisin Keniry / INPHO / INPHO
One of the biggest jobs he had upon signing for the Connacht academy in 2020 was getting heavier.
He was under 100kg at that stage.
“I was still skinny,” he said. “As a footballer, you wouldn’t really be worried about your weight or being too heavy or anything.”
He’s 118kg now. And he’s done an awful lot of eating to get to this point.
At the start, he was putting away up to 5,000 calories a day as he worked hard in the gym. He’d plough through frozen pizzas and high-calorie ‘gainer’ drinks and anything else needed to hit his quota.
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“It was just a dirty bulk,” said Murray with a laugh. “It was tough at the time, jumping to eating so much. You’d be sick of cooking. But if you’re eating frozen pizzas, it’s not too bad.
“I wouldn’t say for young lads to do that now. There’s probably a better way and nutritionists to tell you what to do.”
Another key to preparing him for professional rugby was playing in the All-Ireland League with Buccaneers, who Murray has huge gratitude towards.
A big highlight was beating Queen’s University in Belfast to win Division 2A of the AIL in 2022, earning promotion into 1B.
“It was a great experience,” said Murray. “The exposure of that level is as good as any game you can play. The support the club gives you is unreal.”
As he developed physically, Murray made quick progress with Connacht, following Niall onto a senior Connacht contract in 2022 and making his debut that year. Playing alongside Niall for the province for the first time was a proud moment. As well as his brother, Darragh cites Ultan Dillane and Gavin Thornbury as positive influences on him as he came through.
Murray continued to gain more experience and start some big games for the province, as well as touring with Emerging Ireland when they went to South Africa in 2024 and then starting for Ireland A against England A last year.
Getting his senior debut against Georgia last summer was “surreal,” and Murray got a second start a week later as Ireland hammered Portugal. He loved the tour, enjoying the company of a young Irish group without the senior figures away on Lions duty.
The fact that Paul O’Connell stuck around for the tour was particularly helpful for Murray, who has been working hard on his lineout calling and understanding over the last few years.
“He’s a lineout expert and just guides you through it,” said Murray.
“And he’s also about your habits and what you do every day in training that leads you to perform at the weekend. There’s no point in doing something for no reason. If you do something, do it with 100% effort. You can maybe only do five reps instead of 10 wasted reps.”
Darragh with his family and girlfriend last summer in Portugal. Ben Brady / INPHO
Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO
Murray’s ever-improving ability to call lineouts is a useful trait. It’s becoming more intuitive for him.
“I’ve still got a lot to learn,” said Murray. “I don’t think I’m anywhere near where I want to be yet, but the stuff they give us makes it easy to learn, and you can see why you do it.
“You look at Southern Hemisphere teams, Northern hemisphere teams, different types of lineouts and different types of calling. Like, French teams can be funny at times with a lot of different weird shapes compared to the Irish system.”
Murray has trained with Farrell’s frontline Ireland squad twice already, joining them during last year’s Six Nations and again in the autumn Tests, so next week’s camp in Portugal won’t be a completely new challenge.
The extra bulk helps Murray to add more heft at scrum time, and while trying to nail his set-piece work, he’s keen to continue making a big impact around the pitch.
He’s not a 120kg+ heavyweight lock, but Murray is well capable of mixing it physically. Yet, he also has the mobility to bring his mobility and handling skills to the party.
“You’re always trying to be an enforcer,” he said of his approach. “I haven’t mastered that, definitely not yet, and you still want to be able to play rugby then.
“I don’t want to just be a bully type. You want to still be making linebreaks and making your tackles as well.”
As with every other player in the squad, Connacht boss Stuart Lancaster has been pushing him to step up as a leader too.
So all is going well for Murray, who is excited to get out in front of the new Clan Stand against Leinster this evening.
Now, he just needs to decide whether to bring back the glorious mullet he had when first breaking into the Connacht team.
Murray's mullet in 2022. James Crombie / INPHO
James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO
Murray eventually had it shaved off in January 2023, raising funds that went to two charities, LauraLynn and the Mayo Roscommon Hospice.
There is more than a hint of the mullet returning, but Murray isn’t sure whether to fully commit.
“It’s not going to be like the one I had, anyway!” he said. “I’ll keep it short.
“I know how women feel now, taking care of their hair. It was a pain in the arse. It got all wiry, so I’d have to be using conditioner. I wouldn’t be into all that.
“I was thinking of growing it again, but we’ll see.”
Eye-catching hairdo or not, it will be hard to ignore Murray’s continued upward trajectory.
CONNACHT: Sam Gilbert; Shane Jennings, Harry West, Cathal Forde, Finn Treacy; Josh Ioane, Caolin Blade; Billy Bohan, Dylan Tierney-Martin, Sam Illo; Darragh Murray, Josh Murphy; Cian Prendergast (captain), Paul Boyle, Sean Jansen.
Replacements: Eoin de Buitléar, Denis Buckley, Jack Aungier, Joe Joyce, Sean O’Brien, Ben Murphy, Jack Carty, Bundee Aki.
LEINSTER: Ciarán Frawley; Joshua Kenny, Garry Ringrose, Charlie Tector, James Lowe; Harry Byrne, Fintan Gunne; Jack Boyle, Gus McCarthy, Niall Smyth; RG Snyman, James Ryan; Alex Soroka, Will Connors, Caelan Doris (captain).
Replacements: Rónan Kelleher, Jerry Cahir, Andrew Sparrow, Brian Deeny, Diarmuid Mangan, Scott Penny, Luke McGrath, Ruben Moloney.
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Roscommon man Murray going places with Connacht and Ireland
THE ROUGH AND TUMBLE of his youth in Roscommon was good preparation for Darragh Murray’s future as a professional rugby player.
The 24-year-old Connacht second row – who got his first two Ireland caps last summer and will train with Andy Farrell’s squad again in Portugal next week before playing for the Ireland XV side – grew up near the village of Brideswell, where his family have a beef farm.
So Murray was doing hard work from an early age and still enjoys getting home to help out any weekend he doesn’t have a game, or even on Sundays after he has played for Connacht.
His coaches haven’t voiced any concerns about Murray mucking in back in Brideswell.
“Sure, Stu [Lancaster] comes from a farm himself, a dairy farm back in England,” said Murray this week, sitting in the brand-new home changing room at Connacht’s Dexcom Stadium ahead of today’s URC clash with Leinster [KO 5.30pm, Premier Sports].
As well as helping out with the family business, Murray has always had to fend for himself against two older brothers, Connor and Niall.
26-year-old Niall is also a second row for Connacht and he helped toughen Darragh up when they were kids.
“We’d be out on the trampoline, and it’d be great craic,” recalls Darragh.
“We played hurling on the trampoline. You’d be beating the crap out of each other, but it was good fun.”
Niall has proven to be a great mentor for Darragh in Connacht in more recent times.
He’s also his landlord in Galway, with Darragh and Connacht back row Oisín McCormack living in Niall’s house.
“We’re paying off his mortgage!” joked Darragh. “But he’s grand, laidback.”
Connor, the eldest brother at 28, was the first of the Murray family to take up rugby, so Niall and Darragh owe him a lot. They also have a younger sister, 21-year-old Abbie, who plays for Buccaneers.
Their mother, Bernie, was an all-Ireland handball champion and played camogie, while their father, Aidan, was a big GAA man, as was his own father, the late Noel.
The family are from a football stronghold, so that was number one for the Murrays growing up. St Brigid’s in nearby Kiltoom is their home club and Darragh remains a keen supporter. Connacht out-half Jack Carty is also a Brigid’s man.
St Brigid’s agonisingly lost the All-Ireland senior football club title to Kerry in extra-time last weekend at Croke Park.
“It was some game,” said Murray. “I wasn’t able to travel up because we had our own game on Saturday [against Montauban]. I would have played with most of those lads and still text them or meet up for a coffee when we can. They were so close.”
Murray might have been playing for St Brigid’s had he not got the rugby bug in his late teens.
Connor was first to venture into Buccaneers in Athlone, with Niall and Darragh soon following, playing rugby alongside their football commitments.
Darragh was an out-half for his first two or three years, while Niall played in the centre, which isn’t a huge surprise given how comfortable they look in the rare instances when they’re in open field now for Connacht.
But as he continued to shoot up towards his current 6ft 7ins height, Darragh moved into number eight and then the second row by the time he was playing at U18s level.
He captained the Connacht U18s when they won the 2018 inter-provincial championship, a big achievement that also helped Murray to win Connacht’s U18 player of the year award. Current Connacht men Cathal Forde and Eoin De Buitléar were part of that side, with Cullie Tucker coaching them.
Already at that stage, there was excitement within the province about Murray’s potential.
But giving up football to join the Connacht academy was a big decision.
“We wouldn’t have watched too much rugby growing up,” said Darragh.
“It would have been all football, so it was a change. But I would have seen Jack [Carty], he’s from Kiltoom, so that kind of inspired you.”
One of the biggest jobs he had upon signing for the Connacht academy in 2020 was getting heavier.
He was under 100kg at that stage.
“I was still skinny,” he said. “As a footballer, you wouldn’t really be worried about your weight or being too heavy or anything.”
He’s 118kg now. And he’s done an awful lot of eating to get to this point.
At the start, he was putting away up to 5,000 calories a day as he worked hard in the gym. He’d plough through frozen pizzas and high-calorie ‘gainer’ drinks and anything else needed to hit his quota.
“It was just a dirty bulk,” said Murray with a laugh. “It was tough at the time, jumping to eating so much. You’d be sick of cooking. But if you’re eating frozen pizzas, it’s not too bad.
“I wouldn’t say for young lads to do that now. There’s probably a better way and nutritionists to tell you what to do.”
Another key to preparing him for professional rugby was playing in the All-Ireland League with Buccaneers, who Murray has huge gratitude towards.
A big highlight was beating Queen’s University in Belfast to win Division 2A of the AIL in 2022, earning promotion into 1B.
“It was a great experience,” said Murray. “The exposure of that level is as good as any game you can play. The support the club gives you is unreal.”
As he developed physically, Murray made quick progress with Connacht, following Niall onto a senior Connacht contract in 2022 and making his debut that year. Playing alongside Niall for the province for the first time was a proud moment. As well as his brother, Darragh cites Ultan Dillane and Gavin Thornbury as positive influences on him as he came through.
Murray continued to gain more experience and start some big games for the province, as well as touring with Emerging Ireland when they went to South Africa in 2024 and then starting for Ireland A against England A last year.
Getting his senior debut against Georgia last summer was “surreal,” and Murray got a second start a week later as Ireland hammered Portugal. He loved the tour, enjoying the company of a young Irish group without the senior figures away on Lions duty.
The fact that Paul O’Connell stuck around for the tour was particularly helpful for Murray, who has been working hard on his lineout calling and understanding over the last few years.
“He’s a lineout expert and just guides you through it,” said Murray.
“And he’s also about your habits and what you do every day in training that leads you to perform at the weekend. There’s no point in doing something for no reason. If you do something, do it with 100% effort. You can maybe only do five reps instead of 10 wasted reps.”
Murray’s ever-improving ability to call lineouts is a useful trait. It’s becoming more intuitive for him.
“I’ve still got a lot to learn,” said Murray. “I don’t think I’m anywhere near where I want to be yet, but the stuff they give us makes it easy to learn, and you can see why you do it.
“You look at Southern Hemisphere teams, Northern hemisphere teams, different types of lineouts and different types of calling. Like, French teams can be funny at times with a lot of different weird shapes compared to the Irish system.”
Murray has trained with Farrell’s frontline Ireland squad twice already, joining them during last year’s Six Nations and again in the autumn Tests, so next week’s camp in Portugal won’t be a completely new challenge.
The extra bulk helps Murray to add more heft at scrum time, and while trying to nail his set-piece work, he’s keen to continue making a big impact around the pitch.
He’s not a 120kg+ heavyweight lock, but Murray is well capable of mixing it physically. Yet, he also has the mobility to bring his mobility and handling skills to the party.
“You’re always trying to be an enforcer,” he said of his approach. “I haven’t mastered that, definitely not yet, and you still want to be able to play rugby then.
“I don’t want to just be a bully type. You want to still be making linebreaks and making your tackles as well.”
As with every other player in the squad, Connacht boss Stuart Lancaster has been pushing him to step up as a leader too.
So all is going well for Murray, who is excited to get out in front of the new Clan Stand against Leinster this evening.
Now, he just needs to decide whether to bring back the glorious mullet he had when first breaking into the Connacht team.
Murray eventually had it shaved off in January 2023, raising funds that went to two charities, LauraLynn and the Mayo Roscommon Hospice.
There is more than a hint of the mullet returning, but Murray isn’t sure whether to fully commit.
“It’s not going to be like the one I had, anyway!” he said. “I’ll keep it short.
“I know how women feel now, taking care of their hair. It was a pain in the arse. It got all wiry, so I’d have to be using conditioner. I wouldn’t be into all that.
“I was thinking of growing it again, but we’ll see.”
Eye-catching hairdo or not, it will be hard to ignore Murray’s continued upward trajectory.
CONNACHT: Sam Gilbert; Shane Jennings, Harry West, Cathal Forde, Finn Treacy; Josh Ioane, Caolin Blade; Billy Bohan, Dylan Tierney-Martin, Sam Illo; Darragh Murray, Josh Murphy; Cian Prendergast (captain), Paul Boyle, Sean Jansen.
Replacements: Eoin de Buitléar, Denis Buckley, Jack Aungier, Joe Joyce, Sean O’Brien, Ben Murphy, Jack Carty, Bundee Aki.
LEINSTER: Ciarán Frawley; Joshua Kenny, Garry Ringrose, Charlie Tector, James Lowe; Harry Byrne, Fintan Gunne; Jack Boyle, Gus McCarthy, Niall Smyth; RG Snyman, James Ryan; Alex Soroka, Will Connors, Caelan Doris (captain).
Replacements: Rónan Kelleher, Jerry Cahir, Andrew Sparrow, Brian Deeny, Diarmuid Mangan, Scott Penny, Luke McGrath, Ruben Moloney.
Referee: Eoghan Cross [IRFU].
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Brideswell Connacht darragh murray Ireland lock Roscommon St. Brigid's