Conor Murphy has been a constant achiever in the domestic bunch; so much so, it is easy to forget how many quality races he has won. Seen here winning a stage of Kerry Group Rás Mumhan in the climbers' jersey two years ago (Photo: Pat Doherty)
By Gerard Cromwell
For almost two decades, Conor Murphy’s name has been on the top end of the results sheets when it comes to domestic racing here.
Emyvale man Murphy has five stage wins at the Tour of Ulster to his name and has finished second overall at both Ras Mumhan and the Tour of Ulster. He has won most of the big one day races in Ireland, including the prestigious Shay Elliott Memorial last year in the colours of the now defunct Eurocycles team.
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“Eurocycles said they at the start they would do three years with us and they did four,” said Murphy of the team's demise at the end of last year.
“We did really well out of it, exceptionally well. It was a really professional set-up. In 2010, 2011 and 2012 we won either the senior team prize in the national championships or the Ras and had a lot of good wins.
“Eurocycles looked after us very professionally. I couldn’t ask for any more. It was definitely a very good set-up. Herbie Monks is a gentleman, very much a genuine sports man and he was great to have behind the wheel of the car and looked after us very well. But nothing lasts forever.”
This season Murphy will ride for the nearby Caldwell Cycles team in Omagh, alongside training partner Paul Mulligan and former teammate Thomas Martin.
“The club started out last year with a few mountain bikers and this year they decided to go a bit bigger and see what happens,” says Murphy.
“Myself and Tommy were four years in the Eurocycles set-up together and we also have Paul Mulligan and Noel Collins, who is a former international runner. He’s only about 23 and looks good, so we’ll see what happens.
“We’ve got four A1s, a couple of A2s, a few A3s and a few A4s. I think there are between 20 and 25 in the club now, so it has grown a bit since last year. Philip Caldwell owns the business and has had a long term involvement in sponsoring young fellahs around Omagh with bikes and stuff for ten years or more.
“He’s been there quite a while and is the backbone of cycling around Omagh, one of the grass roots guys who has kept a lot of young fellahs on bikes over the years. Himself and his son Paul both ride the bike and would be very genuine sports people.”
While Murphy has always performed well in the early season, with the season-opening Cycleways Grand Prix, the Stamullen Grand Prix and the Meath Grand Prix all under his belt, he is one of the few riders who remain competitive all season.
He has also notched up victories in the season ending Collins-Christle Memorial races. Like most of his peers, Murphy can’t understand why the Irish domestic season is weighted so heavily towards the start of the year with races in the summer months few and far between.
“It’s very strange,” he says of the current domestic calendar.
“The first race is in February this year and boys are going flat-to-the-mat now aiming for the first three or four months of the season. Once that’s over, the season is over for them. When the sun is shining and the butterflies are out, their bikes are in the garage. It’s a very strange mentality.
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“Whether that’s the build up towards the Rás, I don’t know but I think they need to take a better look at the calendar. This year you have two races in Ulster clashing on the same day and I think one of them has to drop to a second category race.
“To me, Leinster and Ulster shouldn’t clash on the same Sunday. I think that’s just a no-no. But we seem to be doing this every year, year in, year out, and it’s not getting any better. Is it because of the Rás? I don’t honestly know but I can’t understand it at all.
“You come to... after the national championships, into July and August, and the whole thing is a complete flop. It’s dead. I think, first of all, they need to sit down and sort out the calendar properly. It’s getting ridiculous at this stage.
“There’s so much stuff crammed in there all on top of each other in the freezing cold, icy, miserable, wet part of the season and, then in the second half of the season, in the summer, there’s nothing.
“The Suir Valley Three-Day is on at the end of the year and that’s a great race but we need more of that type of thing in July and August.”
Having ridden the An Post Rás for the Irish team twice and come close to stage victory a couple of times, Murphy says it’s not on his radar for this year.
“I think my days of riding the Rás are over,” conceded last year’s Shay Elliott Memorial winner.
“I was third on a stage behind Chris Newton and Malcolm Elliott one year, into Tubercurry. But that was in 2005. The Rás has gone up a gear so much now, even from then.
“I think there’s so many of those continental pro type teams in the race now, who are riding at that level all year, that it’s a real hammering session for the domestic guys. So I think I’ll just bypass that.
“Last year was enough. I’ve ridden seven of them now and I don’t have any intentions of riding any more. I don’t see the point. It’s taking me too long to recover after the Rás and there are too many good races after it that you could be riding well in, getting up in, instead of throwing the leg off the bike and getting into the car after 20 or 30 miles.
“Last year in particular, I found myself not recovering right after it so I’ll just knock it on the head. There are very few domestic riders capable of doing anything in the Rás now. Roger Aiken was the exception last year, but there’s only one Roger Aiken.”
At 31, Murphy says that when the time comes for him he has no plans to join the elite veterans such as Greg Swinand and Joe Fenlon, who keep on beating the younger guys week in week out.
“You have to hand it to people like Greg and definitely Joe Fenlon; winning the Tour of Ulster last year was incredible. You must get magic legs when you hit 40, but I’ll not be waiting to find out.
“I’m 31 now and I just go out to ride my bike for pleasure and fun. If I can get an odd few results here and there I’d be happy enough with that. I had four great years with Eurocycles and now this year with Caldwell Cycles... I’d like to get their name up there somewhere. But it’s hard to know how it will go. This is my 20th season racing. I’m not going to make any big predictions.”
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