A ROOM WITH A REVIEW

Sligo legend Barnes Murphy reflects on 1975 Connacht win before facing Kerry & insists he has zero regrets

- Pat NOLAN

THERE'S an aspect to Sligo's All-Ireland semifinal defeat to Kerry, 50 years ago this weekend, that Barnes Murphy has always railed against.

In his first autobiography, and elsewhere since, Pat Spillane told of how during the pre-match parade, Sligo players waved to family and friends in the 44,455 crowd at Croke Park, suggesting they were just happy to be there after winning the Connacht title for the first time in 47 years.

A look at the final scoreline - Kerry won by 3-13 to 0-5 - would support that theory. But Murphy, who was the Sligo captain and doubled up as team trainer that year, insists that it isn't that linear. “That didn't happen at all,” he says of Sligo players cheerily greeting their people ahead of the throw-in.

“You know Pat Spillane and I know him well too. He's a lovely fella, but we'll leave it at that.”

Incidentally, Spillane’s son, also Pat, has been lining out for Sligo for a number of years now having declared for his mother's county, and so he and Murphy regularly bump into each other at games.

“I've talked to Pat several times but I haven't talked to him about ‘75 or anything like that.”

Murphy insists that Sligo were serious about beating Kerry as they went to Croke Park. Remember, this was a new-look Kerry side with a rookie manager ~ one Mick O'Dwyer. For all they achieved together afterwards, they didn’t carry such a hefty reputation on August 10, 1975.

“That was the first All-Ireland they won and I remember, David Hickey and Jimmy Keaveney and them lads were at our function that night. I think it was in Malahide, and they were 500% sure that they were going to beat Kerry that year.”

The problem for Sligo, as Murphy saw it, was that whatever ambitions they carried to Croke Park that day were fatally undermined by their preparation.