Longford hurling captain Reuben Murray relishing the chance of silverware at Croke Park

The Captain of the Longford Senior Hurling team that takes on Leitrim in the Lory Meagher Cup Final at Croke Park on Sunday is Reuben Murray.

Reuben first joined the senior panel in 2014 when Longford last won the Lory Meagher Cup and he is just one of nine players with one hundred or more appearances in competitive hurling for the senior team. His one hundredth appearance was in this year’s National League match against Cavan.

Speaking ahead of Sunday's final, the Longford skipper is expecting another close contest in their third match of the year against Leitrim with both teams having won one match each by a three-point margin.

‘It’s a big local derby and ourselves and Leitrim have had many tough battles down through the years and that has continued this year with Longford winning the League encounter narrowly but Leitrim defeated us in the championship in another really close game. So, Sunday will tell the tale as to which team comes out on top for the season, and of course it is by far the biggest of our three meetings with the winners being crowned Lory Meagher Champions and earning promotion to the Nicky Rackard Cup for next year.

We have won all our other games but we started slowly in the first half of some of those matches before coming on really strong in the second half of those contests. Hopefully, we can start stronger on Sunday and finish out even stronger again. It will be about getting momentum early in the game and going in at half-time and then going again in the second half with momentum. We will have to work really hard to come out on top, so we need to play well for the entire seventy minutes.’

Four of the current panel tasted All-Ireland success in the 2014 victory over Fermanagh and Reuben along with his brother Karl, Cathal Mullane, and Johnny Casey complete that triumphant quartet. Reuben reflected back on that success.

‘It was my first year on the panel and I was an unused substitute that day but it was a brilliant day for everyone connected with hurling in the county. It’s great that the four of us are still on the panel having all played more than a hundred competitive games for Longford at senior level. There is a great mix of experience and youth in the squad. The younger lads can get good advice from the older players and the older players are kept on their toes by the younger lads. We have all bonded really well and we just can’t wait to get up to Croke Park on Sunday.’

Eight of the current panel played in the 2022 Lory Meagher Final defeat to Louth and fifteen of them played in the 2024 Meagher Final loss to Fermanagh, and Reuben acknowledged that it would be great to make up for those losses with victory on Sunday.

‘ Yes, that is very true. It is always nice to play in a final at Croke Park, but when you do get up there, you want to finish the job off and bring home the cup. You may call it third time lucky if we do win, but we are all hungry to be winners on Sunday. We had a successful league campaign earning promotion to Division Three of the Allianz National Hurling Leage for next year and that was a massive milestone for us, but to win the Lory Meagher Cup and be playing Nicky Rackard next year would bring on Longford hurling even more. We have been bringing in a lot of young players to the squad over the last few years and it would be great to see them playing at a higher level as well, which would improve hurling across the board in the county. We have a big panel this year and the clubs and the players have all made a huge effort and bought into the idea of improving the standard of Longford hurling by reaching a higher level. The hard work has paid off with promotion in the league and all thirty-three players in the squad want more success by winning on Sunday. Hopefully, we will be coming back to Longford as champions.’

Finally, Reuben made a clarion call to all Longford people to come out in big numbers to cheer on the team in Sunday’s final.

‘We are looking forward to lots of people from all over the county and to those Longford people living outside the county to come up to Croke Park to support us on Sunday, because they can play a very important part in getting us over the line. The more momentum we have from the crowd, the more momentum we will get on the pitch and that will be very important. There are buses going up for the big match for those who don’t want to drive, so we are encouraging people to come up to support us on the day and hopefully we can do everyone proud.’