Adrian Murphy loving his role with Erin's Own camogie team and being involved in the club

There are a huge number of volunteers up and down this country in GAA Clubs that do untold work and Erin’s Own camogie manager Adrian ‘Gozzy’ Murphy falls into that category.

The Glounthaune club are certainly progressing and Adrian reflected on his time with the club.

“I joined Erin’s Own at the age of six as I lived in Glounthaune since 1981 and the first person I got to know at the club was the great Tom Ahern who is a man I have grown to admire and respect over many years,” said Murphy.

Adrian openly admits that he wasn’t highly talented at hurling, but he played at various levels where he enjoyed success at juvenile level before taking a break and returning to play some Junior hurling.

Camogie has become a very important section of many clubs and Adrian’s involvement came out of the blue.

“I got a phone call in January 2025 from Sandra Dooley who is heavily involved with the club and after failing to get appointed as coach of the Minor team she asked me to get involved with clubs Junior camogie side.

“To be honest Sandra sold it to me fairly good and the most important aspect was that I was informed the team were a genuine bunch of girls and I duly accepted the job,” added Adrian.

In the words of Adrian when doing anything in life he consistently puts 100% effort into the various roles.

“This is my second season, and I am really enjoying it and look the club have Junior A, Minor and a huge underage section but I generally look after the Junior and Minor teams.” 

Having a good management team is crucial according to Adrian as he praised his fellow selectors.

“We have Emma Guest, Shirley Coleman- Morrisey and of course Sandra Dooley who are all very committed to the cause.” 

The work that is presently going on at all levels of the club is startling as Adrian praised all concerned.

“The number of kids coming through our underage section is incredible and that needs people like myself to give voluntary time and we have many great people involved with the club.” 

The facilities at Caherlag are the backbone of the club.

“Any night you go to Caherlag it is basically a full house and I have to say our club chairman P J Murphy is doing an excellent job with no team neglected all getting the best of gear and we certainly are a club that will blossom in the coming years.” 

When taking over his present role Adrian found it challenging.

“When you are doing anything for a first time it can be demanding particularly when I didn’t know any of the girls but after a couple of weeks we soon got into the swing of things.

“I can honestly say that on each occasion the teams come off the pitch following their training session I have never seen a group so appreciative and the respect shown in phenomenal.” The first season for Murphy and his selectors was a learning curve.

“We were plagued with injuries and then we lost a couple of players who went travelling as we have many college students involved but the end result was that we ended up in a relegation play- off game against St Vincent’s.

“It was a game played Pairc Ui Uinsinn and thankfully we rallied and ground out a two- point win but I told them after the game we don’t want to be in that position this season as we have the potential to compete with the best at this level.” 

Getting the younger players to aspire to play with the top team in the club is very much a priority for Adrian.

“As we are also managing the Minor team we get the two teams to train together and we also have some under 16 players so I feel there will some good talent coming through in the coming years.” 

The numbers playing camogie in Cork is increasing and Adrian feels the sport is in a good place.

“There are about 10 Junior A teams and look the Cork Senior team reached the final last year so yes I do feel the sport is in a good place.” 

The recent discussion about the conflict in interest among camogie and Ladies football is nowhere to be seen at Erin’s Own.

“I can honestly say that both codes at our club have the same players involved so for me it’s all about allowing players participate in sports they enjoy playing.”