‘That Was Special’ – Murray Savours Dream Debut On Six Nations Stage

The magnitude of scoring a try and winning the Triple Crown on his Guinness Men’s Six Nations debut had yet to sink in when Darragh Murray spoke in the aftermath of Ireland’s 43-21 win over Scotland.

Murray had two stints on the Aviva Stadium pitch during the final round clash, amounting to 26 minutes in total. He initially came on during Tadhg Beirne’s blood injury, grabbing the bonus point score just five minutes after his introduction.

The Roscommon youngster returned to the bench on the hour mark before replacing Joe McCarthy for the closing quarter of an hour, as part of six substitutions in one go. The game was still in the balance at that stage, with five points in it (26-21), but Ireland soon found another gear.

Head coach Andy Farrell praised Murray for his impact, which also included a charge-down and a lineout take. Understandably, the 24-year-old second row was still pinching himself when he relived that try-scoring sequence afterwards.

“I don’t know how (the try) happened but it happened,” he said of his well-taken 55th-minute effort, which saw him beat Max Williamson from close range with his footwork, and ground the ball under Jack Dempsey’s challenge.

“I got there in the end, the lads got into it and big Joe had a great carry and handed the ball back to me and I just got over the line, great.

“It’s definitely up there (as the best moment of my career). It’s surreal at the moment, it has to kick in. It was class at the time, the atmosphere was unreal out there. Even after the game, just letting it all sink in.

“Taking in the crowd, unbelievable. You just look around, and the stadium is still full. Jeez, this is what you want to be part of.”

His cameo was all the more remarkable given he was not part of Ireland’s initial Six Nations squad and is yet to notch a try for Connacht. He is scoreless in 51 senior matches for his province, but did cross the whitewash for the Ireland XV against Spain earlier this season.

Having trained with Farrell’s men at their pre-Six Nations camp in Portugal, he was part of the Ireland XV squad selected for last month’s game against England ‘A’, but was instead pulled from that fixture and brought back into the senior set-up.

The former Ireland Under-20 international’s breakthrough season with Connacht in 2023/24 led to him touring with Emerging Ireland. He played for Ireland ‘A’ against England ‘A’ before winning his first two Test caps last July against Georgia and Portugal, when Paul O’Connell was at the helm for the summer tour.

He credited O’Connell and his fellow locks in camp for their help during his first Six Nations campaign, saying: “Look, I got called in as cover at the time (during the week of the first round defeat to France) and I took it as it came.

“It’s been unreal, getting to learn off James Ryan, Tadhg Beirne, Joe McCarthy, their experience is unbelievable. What they taught me is class.

“Paulie has been unbelievable. Like Irish (rugby) history, like, he is an unbelievable operator and he’s helped so much through calling and lineouts and everything.

“Just the detail he goes into for lads to get better, like, no one else could see it, but he’ll see it. He’s always encouraging you – keep going and get better. It’s just been great for me.”

It was Ryan’s calf injury which opened the door for Murray to make the matchday squad for the Triple Crown decider. McCarthy was brought back into the starting XV to partner Beirne in the engine room, with the Brideswell man earning the bench spot.

Known as a clever lineout jumper and caller, he has lined out 12 times so far this season for Connacht, showing his engine by playing the full 80 minutes on seven occasions. Coaches have praised his rugby IQ and calm presence, with O’Connell noting that ‘you don’t have to explain things much to Darragh, he just gets them straight away’.

Speaking about how he found out he would be playing against Scotland, the 6ft 7in Murray revealed: “I found out on Tuesday evening, Paulie told me. I was like, ‘Okay’, because I was running Scotland lineouts on the Monday so I had to flick over to our lineouts. It was great.

“We’ve been running our own plays for the last couple of weeks. So, the lads took me under their wing and guided me through, we had walk-throughs whenever we needed it.”

The captain of Connacht’s Under-18 Interprovincial Championship-winning team in 2018, he certainly comes from very good sporting stock, and was a source of great pride in his county last summer when he became only the third Roscommon native – after Leo Galvin and Jack Carty – to play for the Ireland senior Men’s team.

His mum Bernie was an All-Ireland handball champion and played camogie too, and dad Aidan’s side of the family are closely linked with St. Brigid’s GAA club, with his own late father Noel making a decades-long contribution to the club, both on and off the pitch.

Both former Roscommon minor footballers before rugby took hold, Darragh and his older sibling Niall became the province’s first set of brothers to form a lock partnership in the professional era in December 2022.

At the time, Darragh was famously growing a mullet which raised over 20,000 euro for LauraLynn Children’s Hospice and Mayo Roscommon Hospice, with his luscious locks donated to the Little Princess Trust, a charity that make real hair wigs for child cancer sufferers.

From a farming and GAA background in south Roscommon, the pair both came up through the ranks at Buccaneers RFC – Darragh also played in the back row at times for the Pirates – before making the cut with Connacht.

Their eldest brother, Connor, blazed the trail in terms of taking up rugby and proving to a big influence, and 21-year-old sister Abbie plays with Buccaneers and was previously involved with the Connacht Under-18s.

Paying tribute to his parents after the seven-try victory over the Scots, Darragh admitted: “That was special, that was. I think my Dad was shouting and kicking after I scored!

“Mam and Dad, (they made) a lot of sacrifices growing up. There are four of us in the family, I don’t think they had a weekday on their own.

“They would always be on the road for us. It’s got us to where we are. I’m really thankful for what they’ve done for us. It’s just a special feeling, and going out there on the pitch, it’s just class.”