Twin reasons to come home

HOUSTON, WE DON’T HAVE A PROBLEM?Castlebar native Mike Murphy pictured with his twin daughters Lucy and Eva in their Mitchels gear in Houston, Texas. Mike, his wife Amber and the girls fly in on Monday in time for the All-Ireland Club Final ahead of the twins’ Christening later in the month.

Twin reasons to come home


Former Castlebar Mitchels player Mike Murphy is coming home next Monday for the first of two big occasions

Edwin McGreal

Following the Mitchels from afar in Houston, Texas in the USA last winter, Castlebar native Mike Murphy knew after their county final win over Breaffy that he might have two reasons to come home this March.
His wife, Texan native Amber, was pregnant with twins and the plan was always to have the girls Christened in Mike’s native Mayo. The girls, Lucy and Eva, were born on December 1 and they’ll touch down in Ireland at 10am on St Patrick’s Day, in time for their Dad to make the short trip from Dublin Airport to Croke Park to see his home club play in the All-Ireland Senior Club Final.
“I had a feeling after the county final that there would be a big game to attend on Paddy’s Day, so I made sure I was arriving into Ireland on March 17,” Mike told The Mayo News last week.
They’ll be home for eleven days before the Christening in Newport on March 28 so the trip home for the Murphys is one Mike and Amber cannot wait for.
“I am delighted to be able to bring home my twin baby girls to Mayo to spend time with their grandparents and meet their great-grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles! They are three months old and are such a huge blessing to us that we cannot wait any longer to show them off to their Irish family.
“They will look back and say they were home when Mitchels won the All-Ireland club title,” added a confident Mike.
Mike played with Mitchels at underage level from U-14 to Minor, winning a couple of West Mayo A titles along the way.
He played with current Castlebar Mitchels’ goalkeeper CiarΡn Naughton and forward Richie Feeney and remains good friends with both. Indeed Naughton was his Best Man when he married Amber Richards in 2008 and CiarΡn and his girlfriend Maria Padden will be Godparents for Eva.
Now aged 32, Murphy moved to Houston in 2006 where he works with BP as a pipeline engineer. He has settled well into the local scene and was one of the founding members of Houston Gaels GAA Club in 2011, the first network the Irish people in Houston had to come together.
Before the Murphys fly home, Mike will be part of a bit of American sporting history this Saturday when Houston Gaels, who he plays for and is Secretary of, become the first ever GAA club to play Gaelic football in a Major League Soccer stadium.
They take to the field right after the Houston Dynamo v Montreal Impact game where they will play an exhibition game against the San Patricios from San Antonio to celebrate St Patrick’s Day.
The club now have over 100 members, with 30 of them being Irish. They play in the Texas Championship against the San Patricios, Dallas Fionn MacCumhaills and Austin’s Celtic Cowboys.
But, even though he may have a club in Houston, Mike admits his loyalties to Mitchels remain strong as the picture of him with his twin girls kitted out in their Mitchels regalia proves. He stays in touch with their progress through The Mayo News and through the club’s Facebook and Twitter feeds and he’s hugely looking forward to seeing them run out in Croke Park on All-Ireland Club Final day next Monday.
“The current set of players have worked so hard over the past couple of seasons so they fully deserve to be in the position they are in. They have clearly been the better team in each of the games leading up to the final, even when they were pegged as the underdog. So within the players and the coaching staff there seems to be a belief that this is their year and nothing will deny them.
“All Mitchels club members past and present are proud of what the team has already achieved and look forward to watching them lift the cup in Croke Park,” he concluded.