DUBLIN defender Cian Murphy dismissed the suggestion that a bug in the camp was a fly in the ointment during their All-Ireland SFC quarter-final defeat to Galway.
Despite racing into a four-point lead at the break, the defending champions were dethroned after wilting in the second half against the Tribe.
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Rumours then emerged which claimed that several Sky Blues players had been under the weather ahead of their 0-17 to 0-16 loss at Croke Park.
Speaking 24 hours later in his role as an RTÉ pundit, Tyrone great Peter Canavan said: “We’re hearing today that the Dublin camp was struck down with illness during the week.
“Clearly their second half demise was something to do with their illness.”
The previous weekend, Cork hurling boss Pat Ryan revealed that his panel was affected by a bug.
That forced Rob Downey to miss their All-Ireland quarter-final win over Dublin.
And Dubs fans were left sickened again as their footballers crashed out of the Championship at the same stage seven days later.
However, Murphy — who was sidelined for the meeting with Galway — insists they only had themselves to blame for losing to a side whose Sam Maguire quest was ultimately scuppered by Armagh in the final.
He said: “I wouldn’t be talking about a bug or anything.
“We were well in the game and we were just beaten by a better team on the day.
“Galway were better than us and we have no excuse. It’s up to us to rectify that and come back better next year.
“We know the bar that teams like Armagh and Galway are after setting in the final. It’s up to us to get to that now.”
After easing to a FOURTEENTH straight Leinster title, Dublin advanced to the last eight of the All-Ireland race as Group 2 winners.
Nevertheless, they needed a last-gasp Cormac Costello point to salvage a draw against Mayo to spare them a detour via the preliminary quarter-finals.
Murphy added: “We need to be better next year.
“We weren’t good enough this year and we were beaten by a better team at the quarter-final stage.
“We need to be better again next year.
“We’re looking forward to getting back training, whether that be around Christmas time or whenever, and putting the foot down to try and get back to the top of the mountain.”
A Dublin debutant in 2020, Murphy had to bide his time before nailing down a place in Dessie Farrell’s defence this season.
Having played in every minute of a National League campaign that culminated in a penalty shootout loss to Derry in the decider, he made just his third Championship start in the provincial quarter-final hammering of Meath.
And the 27-year-old retained his starting position until his season was cut short by an injury sustained in the win over Connacht outfit Roscommon in the opening round of the All-Ireland series.
The Thomas Davis’ man said: “I suppose it was a successful enough season personally — at the start of the year anyway.
“I was getting played a lot more than previous years and thought the performances were decent enough as well. But then obviously it came to an abrupt end.
“I got injured against Roscommon and unfortunately I couldn’t get back for any of the other games.”
With Jim Gavin set to unveil an updated list of the Football Review Committee’s proposed rule enhancements today, the game could look quite different when Murphy and his Dublin team-mates assemble to begin preparations for another tilt at Sam next year.
The prospect of seeing the changes certainly excites Murphy.
He said: “If there are rule changes that maybe encourage more
attacking football, I know that I play as a defender but I’d be quite open to that. Everyone likes seeing more high-scoring games, more attacking football and lads kicking the ball.
“It’ll be interesting to see what way they would work when they come in.
“Obviously everyone is rowing in the same direction and they’re trying to improve the game.
“I think there have been a good few of the sandbox games played so it’ll be interesting to see how they went and what way they were viewed.”
l CIAN MURPHY was speaking at the announcement of FM104 as the official media partner of Dublin GAA.
