![\"conor-murray-and-donie-fitzgerald-run-out\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/.JPEG\")
\n Waterford’s Conor Murray and Donie Fitzgerald before last year’s game against Tipperary. Tommy Grealy \/ INPHO<\/p>\n
ROOTED TO THE bottom of the Division 4 table when the league wound up last month, without a point to their name after seven games.<\/p>\n
A 2025 season that brought early defeat in Munster, held off by three by a Tipperary side they renew acquaintances with this Sunday as the championship commences.<\/p>\n
A Tailteann Cup run last summer that delivered three from three in the defeats column<\/p>\n
It prompts the question to Conor Murray, one of Waterford\u2019s brightest attacking talents, as to where the motivation and commitment to persist stems from?<\/p>\n
If from the outside it is judged as an unappealing pursuit, Murray offers insight into life on the inside.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want to get too philosophical about it, but I think it\u2019s one of the best things that you can do as a person. It\u2019s a serious investment in yourself. What you\u2019re doing in terms of preparation, you\u2019re trying to look after yourself in the best way possible.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople always ask the question, is it hard being an inter-county player? Yes, you do miss out on certain things. But the benefits you get from it, the friends you make that you wouldn\u2019t make otherwise, going through a lot of tough days, you learn so much about yourself in that.\u201d<\/p>\n
What has the Rathgormack man learned?<\/p>\n
\u201cJust how to bounce back. You can\u2019t just throw in the towel because you\u2019re not winning. You take that with you in any aspect of life, that there will be bad day and they make the good days that bit more sweet.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot you can take from it, just from an everyday life point of view. There\u2019s so much you can gain from being an inter-county player. Discipline is a big thing. Resilience. It\u2019s an honour really.<\/p>\n
\n Waterford’s Conor Murray and Donie Fitzgerald before last year’s game against Tipperary. Tommy Grealy \/ INPHO<\/p>\n
Tommy Grealy \/ INPHO \/ INPHO\n<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a Waterford footballer, wins are few and far between. So if you\u2019re playing to just win, you wouldn\u2019t do it. Something that I always feel strongly about is that I\u2019m from Waterford, I want to play football, so this is the best level I can possibly play at, given where I\u2019m from. I can\u2019t go back and change my birth cert. It\u2019s just about wanting to be the best you can be.\u201d<\/p>\n
Player turnover is a constant recurring issue for Waterford. In the off-season since 2025, personnel retention has been healthy, even if they lost a couple to the hurling squad and a couple drifted away.<\/p>\n
Murray looks at neighbours Wexford as an example of what can be achieved, consecutive promotions setting up glamour ties in Division 2 for them next spring against, Dublin, Tyrone, and Derry.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you look at Wexford, they\u2019re an example of what you can do if you do manage to keep the same 24, 25 players there. You can whinge and you can cry about it all you want, but it\u2019s up to the county to make the players want to stay.<\/p>\n
![\"the-waterford-team\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775804179_697_.JPEG\")
\n The Waterford football team. Tommy Grealy \/ INPHO<\/p>\n
Tommy Grealy \/ INPHO \/ INPHO\n<\/p>\n
\u201cYou just have to try and create an environment that lads are happy in, where lads know that they\u2019re improving, that there\u2019s a common goal that everyone is pulling towards. It\u2019s up to players and management to create that environment.<\/p>\n
\u201cA couple of years ago we would have been beating them (Wexford) in Division 4. But fair play to them. They got their house in order and it\u2019s easier said than done. A lot of counties down around the bottom of Division 4 and 3 will tell you that it\u2019s not easy to keep those players and to build like they have.\u201d<\/p>\n
The aim in the Waterford camp is for progression in Division 4 of the league but the recent running was a case in disappointment with a string of defeats. The regret was\u00a0immediate,\u00a0two points up entering injury-time against Longford and ultimately defeated by one. That set the tone for what was to come.<\/p>\n
No time to dwell on finishing bottom of the table and pointless. Three weeks ago they shipped 4-19 in a 13-point defeat to Tipperary. The rematch on Sunday takes place in Dungarvan, Waterford aiming to repeat their 2024 success, a game secondary school teacher Murray missed as he was in Australia then.<\/p>\n
There have been bursts of optimism recently with four Munster championship wins across minor and U20 level in the last 23 days. As WLR journalist Jordan Norris pointed out, Waterford have won four Munster senior championship games in the last 37 years.<\/p>\n
![\"ephie-fitzgerald-before-the-game\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775804179_248_.JPEG\")
\n Waterford manager Ephie Fitzgerald. Ken Sutton \/ INPHO<\/p>\n
Ken Sutton \/ INPHO \/ INPHO\n<\/p>\n
Short-term fixes are difficult, returning manager Ephie Fitzgerald is aware of that.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe knows what Waterford football is all about,\u201d says Murray of Fitzgerald.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s not coming in thinking that he can turn it around straight away. He knows that it\u2019s a two, three, four, five year job, whatever it may be. So it does give you that bit of confidence that he believes in Waterford football that if the right things are done, it can be turned around.<\/p>\n
\u201cEphie has done it all in the game, coming from Nemo, coming from Cork, he\u2019s won All-Irelands with the Cork ladies. So if he believes it, I think it should be good enough for the players to believe it too.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re very familiar with each other from playing each other in the league and also a lot of clubs in Waterford and Tipp would play each other in challenges throughout the year as well. It\u2019s a game we know that if we\u2019re on it, if we get ourselves right and if we fix a few mistakes from the league, we have every chance of beating Tipp.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
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