THE 2020 GAA season has been a trying experience for all involved, but that is particularly true for Cavan attacker Niall Murray.

Two visits to the operating theatre and two extended periods of rehabilitation have been trying enough, but there was also the gut-punch of Cavan’s relegation to Division Three last week after their defeat to Roscommon. But, what better way is there to change the mood than to earn an Ulster win over rivals Monaghan on their own patch?

That’s what Murray and his teammates will be aiming to do at Clones on Saturday. He will likely have some sort of cameo after playing 29 minutes in last weekend’s league loss to the Rossies.

That was a bitter-sweet day for the Cavan Gaels man. Relegation is never to be enjoyed, but then again, he was never meant to be playing county ball this year after two major blows earlier in the season.

“I got an operation on my quad in February as I had severed a kicking muscle that impacts on sprinting and things like that. People have done it but haven’t got the operation but you wouldn’t be as fast, and it’d impact your sprinting in the forwards and taking frees as well.

“If I didn’t get that operation I probably wouldn’t have played at inter-county again. Enda King, a clubmate of mine, works in Santry and my younger brother works there too. I spoke to them and I got a lot of advice.”

Everything went better than expected. A statement at the time from Cavan GAA said that he would unlikely play again in the 2020 season but the lockdown opened up a window and he jumped through it.

After that break ended, Murray linked up with the Gaels and was training away and thinking of where his club and county season could end up.

Then, disaster struck again.

“I ruptured my hamstring in August and I had to get another operation.

“I was back training at the end of June or so. I eased myself into a few challenge matches and then it was just a league match. I normally play in the half-back or the half-forward line but I was in the full-forward line.

“It was a complete accident. It was pissing rain and I went up for a high ball and my studs got caught in the ground and a lad landed on my back. I hyper-extended the hamstring. I knew it was sore but I didn’t know it was that bad. I wasn’t going to even get a scan but we decided to get one and then we got the news. I couldn’t believe it.

“At that stage I was probably thinking that I was going to take the year out but the way it was kind of going, I knew I would have been close to making it back for the championship. I made a call, I said ‘you know what? I might as well give myself the best opportunity to get back.’

“The physio, Risteard Byrne, and Andre Quinn, the S&C coach, really guided me for that first wee while and I got back to a reasonable level. I have only been back training this last two weeks.

“I’m just trying to build up my match fitness and if I get any minutes at the weekend I’ll be happy.”

To even be back in contention for the Monaghan fixture is a brilliant achievement for Murray. He came on in the final minutes of the four-point loss to Kildare in round six and played the first 29 minutes last week against Roscommon. Murray, and his manager Mickey Graham, are aware that it’s a process that requires time.

“I am probably not where I need to be right at the moment,” he said.

“Even if I can’t give 70 minutes from the word go next week, hopefully we can progress in Ulster and I can give more the next time.

“It doesn’t feel too bad, I haven’t had any issues with it since coming back. There’s a bit to go on the fitness. I had been doing a lot on wattbikes and things like that, but you can’t beat the rough and tumble and the hits of football.

“I’m just delighted to be back and I just hope to make a contribution at the weekend.”

The mood is the county is understandably low going into the game given Cavan’s relegation, but a bit more composure in front of the posts would have seen them comfortably stay in the second tier – and maybe even push for promotion.

Murray has been around long enough now to know that putting extreme labels on teams is rarely ever justified, and he is confident that the Breffni men can bring their best to St Tiernach’s Park.

“You hear stuff, and you have family and friends asking you what is going on. Things are going really well but we’re just not getting the scores on the board.

“You are never as good as you think you are and you are never as bad as you think you are, you’re always somewhere in between.

“I feel like that we are pretty close to clicking, we just need to zone in on a few issues.

“Obviously relegation is not part of the plan, no one will tell you that it was, but it’s done now.

“We don’t have that long to turnaround. We trained Monday and it was just parked. You learn from it and you move on.

“The Armagh game at the start of the league obviously wasn’t good but then you win three games on the bounce and things look different. We probably took our eye off the ball in the Clare game and that came back to haunt us as they finished on the same points (with Clare surviving on the head-to-head rule).

“We had loads of opportunities against Kildare that we didn’t take and it was the same against Roscommon, so we just have to make sure we do against Monaghan.”

n.mccoy@gaeliclife.com