Brendan Murphy retires

[Bord na Mona man]

Brendan made 98 appearances for Offaly (45 championship, 53 league). He scored 10-58 in championship and 6-73 in the league, all from play. There was something inspirational about a Murphy point from distance, in the way he seemed to wind up for the stroke. Something that made you shout "go on Murph" on an otherwise dreary day.

Yes, Murphy specialised in the long range point.
These were extra useful as Offaly generally didn't have many players who could stick it over from middle or long distances.

Also, there were several games when Offaly were doing a lot of chasing and not getting to do much heads up hurling, so for Murphy to snap over a point out of the blue was always an extra fill up.

I've often wondered how things would have panned out had Offaly gone for a change in style around the 2003 or 2004 era.
Cork under Donal O'Grady realised they hadn't got an abundance of high ball winners, so adjusted to a more controlled and possession oriented style of hurling. Instead of banging everything hopefully out of their half, they ran it a lot more from midfield and gave shorter measured ball to their forwards.

Key to this gameplan were bullet quick ball carrying midfielders - Tom Kenny and Ben O'Connor.
Offaly had Murphy and Rory Hanniffy who could have excelled in this role. Unfortunately Offaly never seemed to move far from the 'lift and lash' style of hurling and continued to sink as the game evolved to being more possession and power oriented.

[Plain of the Herbs]

Correct on the first six, Bordy.

The others were -
2004 - 1 goal v Leix in Tellamore, and
2004 - 2 goals as part of the 2-5 haul against Dublin in Croke Park, and
2005 - 1 goal in the relegation playoff against Antrim in Croke Park.

(by his 20th championship appearance Brendan had scored ten goals)

The goal from a brilliant ground stroke against Kilkenny in Thurles in 2002 is my personal favourite Murph goal.

I'll get the ball rolling with the first 6:

2000 - 3 goals, 1 vs Wexford, 2 vs Derry
2002 - 2 goals, 1 vs Kilkenny, 1 vs Meath
2003 - 1 goal, 1 vs Limerick.

[llkj]

David Franks has now joined his fellow Ballyskenagh native Brendan Murphy on the retirement list. Another fine hurler and automatic started for Offaly over the last decade or so. Best of luck to him in his retirement.

Hopefully his loss will not have the same effect that it did when he and a couple of other key Ballyskenagh natives left the club for various reasons. Fair play to them for producing players of the calibre of Murphy, Franks, O'HAra over the last decade. If every other club did the same, we would have enjoyed more success in that period.

Question: It said in the articles that he lives in Carlow and has been doing the Carlow-Tullamore trip for 13 years. If so, how was he able to join Carrickshock in KK? Did he live there for a time or something?

Full story here.

http://hoganstand.com/ArticleForm.aspx?ID=180984

[Bord na Mona man]

Franks was a top class corner back. A great man marker.
He managed to get out on top of the likes Eoin Kelly consistently, this was when many Tipp fans were anxiously trying to tout Kelly as Christy Ring reincarnated.
He had a superb ability to clear the ball over his shoulder when under extreme pressure too. Which was vital in Offaly where the option of a short hand pass to a spare team mate is rarely available to pressured corner backs.

His point vs. Waterford in 2008, where he soloed half the length of the field to stick it over was inspirational. .

[Phoenix]

That Franks point vs Waterford was given Score of the Year by RTE in their annual review of hurling.

[Plain of the Herbs]

Howya Phoenix, keeping well?

Thanks to the Thwitterer Ciarán Kelly for unearthing this youtube gem. Features that Franks point and also my favourite point ever, the one where John Troy picked out Billy Dooley without ever looking for him.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNG97DnuTyM

[timber]

Was fortunate enough to have played against Franks and Murphy many times and know both lads through hurling. Two nice blokes to have a chat with.

Two excellent hurlers. Murphy would have benefitted from having a few more physically imposing players around him with Offaly. A hard man to stop when he took off on a run.

Franks had it all. Good wrists, and a savage strike of a ball. Pucked with him a few times and he could drive a ball some distance. I always thought he would of done a great job at midfield for Offaly but I dont think the county had a corner back that could do the same job he could. He has impressed with Carrickshock in Kilkenny which shows just how good he is.

Height came against both of them a little but they always produced the goods for the county. Very rare that you would leave a game that one if not both would not have been one of the better performers.

Best wishes to them both.