Monaghan native Emmet McAviney says that Brendan Murphy is as good as any player from around the country.
Emmet – who is living in Kilkenny – has coached Football and Hurling Teams around the county and speaking to KCLR, Emmet says that Monaghan will be well aware of his capabilities.
“Brendan Murphy is as good as anybody. If you watch him, the ground he covers and the ball he wins and his distribution, even his point taking, everything like, he is as good as any player you will see in any county panel.
“I suppose for Monaghan with him coming back on Saturday evening, he is going to be chomping at the bit, there is no doubt about that, he is going to put in a good 70 minutes, there is no doubt about that,” he said.
Meanwhile Carlow Senior Football coach Steven Poacher is concerned that the possible targeting of Carlow players and especially Brendan Murphy will have a negative effect against Monaghan in Saturday’s All-Ireland Qualifier.
Speaking exclusively to KCLR, Steven says there are several of the Monaghan team who play over the edge.
“Brendan is an absolute superstar in GAA. It’s not just Brendan that is targeted. The abuse that Sean Murphy took on Saturday was phenomenal and the amount of high tackles that Sean Murphy has had to deal with this year has been shocking and it’s something that we would be wary about on Saturday.
“I just really hope the officials call it very very strong because Monaghan will bring that physicality and that Ulster mentality where they play I would not even say on the edge, they play over the edge.
“Monaghan have 5 or 6 guys in that team who are well well versed in the dark arts of football and we just need to be careful that we don’t get sucked into those sorts of games.
We need to concentrate on what we are good at,” said Poacher.