Longford SHC: Reuben Murray makes a major impact in Slashers success

Reuben Murray is a vastly experienced and key player not only with Slashers but also with the Longford senior hurling team for whom he became a centurion along with Wolfe Tones Cathal Mullane during 2026 as the Slashers chief marksman made his 111th appearance in in the Lory Meagher Cup win at Croke Park this year.

Not only was Reuben winning his third Jimmy Duignan Cup on Sunday, but he was also crowned man-of-the-match with a stylish display that also produced nine points.

Speaking to the Leader, Reuben expressed his delight at retaining the county championship title.

“We are absolutely delighted to have won another county title. The fact that it was 2000 & 2001 since the club’s last back-to-back titles didn’t really come up in our conversations until the last week or so and even then, it only came up a little bit about it being twenty-five years since it was last done by the club.

“Hopefully, we can now push on and get the younger generation through the ranks as well and keep them playing as without the young lads coming through, there will be no senior team for Slashers.

“It is also important that we get a lot of younger players to play with our county teams as well. If we have a thriving underage county set-up, we will have players feeding into the senior county team too.

“This year our county senior panel had over thirty players involved with a lot of younger players coming through and it is the same with the club. There are a lot of younger players involved and all clubs as well as the county teams need to keep that going because it is great to see the younger players graduating to the senior grade.

“Despite having beaten Wolfe Tones comfortably in the group stage, Reuben knew it would be a much tighter contest with the county title on the line and that proved to be the case with just three points separating the teams at half-time and again with ten minutes to go after John Mulhern’s brilliant finish from Martin Coyle’s superb set-up play.

“We were fully aware that it was going to be a tough game against them on county final day. Once they get into Pearse Park they are always a hard team to beat.

“At half-time we knew we did not move the ball quick enough or work as hard as we should have, however, we regrouped and knuckled down and the scores started going over much more and we also finished very strongly.

“The substitutes made a huge difference as well and having four or five players coming off the bench performing well had a massive impact and it demonstrated the importance of having a good squad.

“The wind didn’t really have an impact as much as you might think. It’s a funny wind that blows in Pearse Park, it often seems to be a swirling wind that does not really favour anyone.

“We just knew that if we got the ball into our full-forward line that we would do some damage and that is what happened. Now we can enjoy being back-to-back champions.”