Murray looks for perfect start at Thomond

On Sunday evening, Cork City will walk out onto Thomond Park to do battle with Limerick on the first weekend of the new Airtricity League season, and one man in particular will be delighted to be there.

Kevin Murray has endured a tough first year back on Leeside, but is now reaping the rewards for his perseverance and mental toughness.

The 29 year-old centre half began his career with City, before returning just prior to the 2012 season following spells with Cobh Ramblers and Waterford United, but injury prevented him from making his second debut with the club until late in the summer.

“Last year was very frustrating for me – I was even considering packing it in in the summer I had such a bad run of injuries.

“I had waited six or seven years to go back to City, and to be hit by injuries so badly in my first year back was very disheartening.

“I’ve been back now since July, so touch wood I’ll stay injury free, get a chance in the team and start enjoying my football again.”

Once he did make it back onto the field of play, the Corkman excelled, making 14 league appearances in the final few months of the season, and impressing in all of them.

His good form was even enough to earn the captaincy for 2013, something that was understandably a shot in the arm for Murray, following his difficult start to life at Turner’s Cross.

“I had a tough year last year for me in that I was out, so to be told that you’re going to be the new club captain was a huge thing for me personally - I was very happy with that.

“At the same time, my main focus is to be successful with Cork City, and to try and win as many trophies this year as it is possible – and to try to get European football for next year as well.”

It is clear when speaking to the new Cork City captain that he’s focused on the future rather than dwelling on the past, a future he wants to get started on Sunday evening, when the Rebel Army travel to Limerick to get the 2013 campaign underway.

“We’re really, really excited about it now - it’s finally here. It’s been a long break, and we haven’t played a league game since October, but it’s almost here now.

We were given programmes for the off-season, and we all came back fit and in good shape. We kind of continued it throughout pre-season, we worked hard, with our main aim being to get the win on Sunday.”

At the inconvenience of many supporters hoping to make their way to Thomond Park from Cork, RTE moved the game from the usual Friday night slot to Sunday at 5:15pm – but what did the players think about the switch? Does it bother them?

“It doesn’t really. We’d prefer to be playing on a Friday night, with the preparation being a bit different because of the time of the game and the fact that it’s on a Sunday, but it doesn’t change the fact that we’ll come out fighting. We’ll be up for it, we’ll be well prepared, and we’ll be ready as soon as the game comes round.”

One real positive from City’s pre-season has been their involvement in the Setanta Cup, a competition which they are the first name in the hat for the semi-final. Murray believes that the competition was invaluable preparation for the league season.

“Looking at last year, we had a slow start really. We weren’t good enough in our start, and we need to improve on that this time round. The Setanta Cup will hopefully play a big part in that.

“We’ve already been in four competitive games against the top two teams in the North. We’ve played their first teams twice and got a win and a draw, and they were great games, so hopefully they’ll stand us in good stead for Sunday.”