Following several years of coming up short to one of the game's most enduring and formidable forces, Katie Murray and Comeragh Rangers finally took an historic leap forward under the Fraher Field floodlights on Friday, 11 October.
For 10 of the past 11 seasons, Comeragh had reached the Waterford senior ladies football championship decider only to lose out against Ballymacarbry on each occasion.
The Rathgormack club had come so close to claiming a maiden top-tier title in 2023, but Ballymac ultimately squeezed home after extra-time and secured an astonishing 42nd consecutive Waterford SFC crown in the process.
While injury prevented her from taking part in their 2022 showpiece defeat to the reigning champions, Murray had played an active role in the vast majority of the finals that Comeragh lost between 2013 and 2023.
Having shared in a collective heartbreak with her team-mates for so long, she was both delighted and relieved that Comeragh finally brought Ballymac’s extraordinary winning run to an end in Dungarvan a little over a fortnight ago – their latest duel with the all-conquering side finishing 5-03 to 1-06 in their favour.
"Everyone is just in such a good mood to finally do it. We’ve been trying for the last 12 years to get over the line and to finally do it is just unbelievable. It’s just such a relief to finally be the ones that are celebrating at the final whistle and not being disappointed," Murray said.
"It is hard to come back every year to be up against the same team and losing to the same team, but we’ve such respect for them. They’ve set such a standard for ladies football. Not just in Waterford, but in Ireland. We were up against one of the best teams in the country and we were still only losing by small margins.
"To finally do it, and against them, was just unbelievable. Even the last three minutes of the game, we kind of knew we had won it and we were looking at each other like 'have we actually done this!’ We were just waiting and waiting for the final whistle to blow, so we could celebrate."
From an individual perspective, this year’s county final was one that couldn’t have gone much better for Murray as she was credited with four of her side’s five goals and also collected a player of the match award for her contribution to Comeragh’s breakthrough success.
Yet Murray does acknowledge that there might be a question mark over one of those three-pointers and that the green flag efforts that are definitely in her name wouldn’t have been possible without the hard work of her colleagues.
"Technically one of them was an OG! To get any score in a county final, there is so much pressure on the game, and somehow it just went that way. I had gotten three in the first half, but the girls that set them up probably did most of the work.
"I just happened to be at the end of the play and ended up being the one to take the shot. The people that set them up probably did more work than me finishing them. The opportunity just came to take on the three or four goals and I was delighted that they went in."
It is very much a family affair for Murray with both the Comeragh and Waterford senior footballers as she is joined on the club and inter-county scenes by her sisters Emma, Aoife and Cora. While Cora is slightly younger, Katie, Emma and Aoife are triplets and have enjoyed a remarkable shared journey through the ranks of their native county.
After winning a national Under-14 title together against Cavan in 2012, they were subsequently part of the Deise panel that secured the spoils in a TG4 All-Ireland Intermediate football championship final at Croke Park in 2015.
All four Murrays have gone on to become regular fixtures for Waterford in recent times and, having seen Katie earn a nomination of her own three years ago, Emma has found herself shortlisted for the TG4 All-Stars in 2024.
Additionally, whereas Ger Power has been at the helm for the past two seasons, the presence of their father Joe as team manager for the vast majority of their time on the Comeragh team helped to make their county final win all the sweeter for Katie and her sisters.
"There are four of us on the team and that makes it a bit extra special to be playing with them. Our Dad actually trained us for the last 10 years, so we’ve had new management for the last two years. He was the manager for the previous 10.
"There’s not many matches I’ve played in my life that one of them hasn’t been on the field. We would have had a very strong team coming up through the ages. We would have won the ‘A’ all the way up, from U12 up to minor. We hadn’t won anything since we were 18 with the club and we’re 26 now.
"We might have thought when we were growing up that it would have been a bit easier, because we might have been used to winning when we were younger, but it just took that bit of extra time to finally win at senior level."
Re-focusing after the high of their success over Ballymac may well have been difficult, but Comeragh nonetheless returned to training on the Thursday that followed that game in preparation for a Munster SFC quarter-final clash with Tipperary champions Moyle Rovers on Sunday afternoon.
Although the presence of a Munster Senior ‘B’ club championship means that Comeragh have some past experience of the provincial scene to call upon, Murray is looking forward to participating in the main competition for the very first time.
"The last few years we would have played in the Munster ‘B’. After losing we still had to go back training and pull ourselves together to compete in that competition. There is a different buzz about the place. People were looking forward to coming back training," Murray added.
"We’re playing Moyle Rovers and we’ll just focus on that game for now and stick to our process. Stick to the way we play, see what way the game goes and what result happens on the day."
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