James Murray is a man of few words. His answers are short and sweet. So, when he tells you that he and his Moorefield teammates are willing to die for each other, you feel that it might not be hyperbole.
At O'Connor Park on Saturday afternoon, the Kildare champions take on a formidable Corofin side in the AIB All-Ireland Club Football Championship semi-final.
Underdogs for the game they might be but there's an unshakeable belief in this Moorefield team that they can win. The man behind that belief: manager Ross Glavin.
Just 32, Glavin played with many those who will take to the pitch for Moorefield this weekend. "He treats everyone the same," says Murray. "He's quite a young manager but the trust that we have in him and management - we'd do anything for the three of them and they'd do anything for us. There's good spirit in the group."
At the start of the year, Glavin sat his players down and laid out the expectations for the year. It was no longer about being the best team in Newbridge or Kildare - it was now about becoming Leinster and All-Ireland champions.
"Corofin have a lot of household names compared to us where we probably only have Ronan Sweeney and Eanna O'Connor. I think our honesty in the group and that we're willing to die for one another, that'll come through on Saturday."
The road to becoming Leinster champions has not been without its bumps. In the Kildare SFC final against Celbridge, they were reduced to 13 players after 21 minutes when captain Daryl Flynn and vice-captain David Whyte were both shown red cards.
"I think Ross never panicked on the sideline," Murray explains.
He talked us through the whole match and we got three or four points just before half-time and when we came out in the second-half we all knew our job and what we had to do.
Everything was just calculated on the day and luckily we held out on the day.
Last month the club looked to further bolster their team spirit. Christy Moore swung round to sing a few songs and tell a few stories.
"It was brilliant, so it was. He was out at the club. Probably not a lot of people know that Christy played on the Moorefield senior team for one year.
"It's great to hear his stories about Moorefield back in 1962 when they won their first championship. It just reminded the team what they're playing for, they're playing for the town and those people who have gone before us."
Moorefield’s James Murray is pictured ahead of the AIB GAA All-Ireland Senior Football Club Championship Semi-Final taking place at O’Connor Park on Saturday, 17th of February where the Kildare club will face Galway’s Corofin. For exclusive content and behind the scenes action throughout the AIB GAA & Camogie Club Championships follow AIB GAA on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat and www.aib.ie/gaa. Photo by Sam Barnes/Sportsfile
