Luck Of The Irish Strikes In The Lucky Country

Image: Table Tennis Australia Facebook

BY LLOYD GORMAN

NATURALLY ENOUGH WHILE SHE WAS IN TOKYO, IRELAND’S CHEF DE MISSION PATRICIA HEBERLE CAST AN INTERESTED EYE IN THE DIRECTION OF HER FELLOW COUNTRYMEN AND WOMEN ON TEAMAUS. SHE SAW A REFLECTION OF HER OWN SITUATION AS AN AUSSIE IN THE SERVICE OF IRELAND.

“I was able to catch up with some of the Australian team and people I knew and some of the athletes I’ve worked with at different times,” she said. “But what was interesting was that the Australian team had a couple of Irish guys. One of them was there at the beginning who set up the internet, IT and communications for the Australians, and he came over and said hello. Then there was John Murphy, the coach of the Australian Table Tennis Team, which I found absolutely amazing. He came up to me and wanted to swap a pin, he had an Australian pin and he wanted an Irish pin. “They were amazed that I was working with the Irish and I said, how come you’ve got jobs with the Australians, its no different really but that’s the world we live in. There are wonderful opportunities in sport, everything is multicultural and you’ve got Irish guys working for Australia and you’ve got an Australian Chef de Mission for Ireland.” About the same time that she was made Chef de Mission for Ireland, the Irishman had news of his own. “John Murphy very recently informed Table Tennis Ireland (ITT) that he has accepted the position of National Coach of Australia from October 1st,” ITT said in a press release, dated August 2018. Murphy had just accepted a revised contract as national coach for Ireland when the Australian offer (National Head Coach Able Bodied) came up and was “an opportunity that he could not realistically refuse”. Conn Higgins, TTI Performance Director described him as a very talented and expert coach and that the organisation was very disappointed to lose him. “Over the past seven years he has brought great vision and passion to the job of national coach and raised our international profile,” Mr Higgins said. “While we regret John’s decision, we understand this is a great opportunity for him and wish him the very best as head coach of table tennis Australia and thank him for his wonderful contribution to Irish table tennis.” While they parted ways, the links were not broken and in January of this year Murphy was one of “two of

Above: Irishman John Murphy is the National Head Coach for the Australian Table Tennis Team

Ireland’s greatest TT ambassadors” to take part in an online coaching webinar for TTI. In an interview piece in October 2020, the Dubliner told Table Table Australia (TTA) how he got started in a sport that has to compete for attention with GAA, rugby and soccer. “We had 10 tables at our primary school and in third class, which is when you’re between 9 and 10, our whole class got an opportunity to play table tennis,” said Murphy, who went to school in Ballygall, Dublin 11 and showed a natural flair for the sport. “From there, I kind of just continued to play on school teams and then joined a club and before I knew it, [by the age of 12] I was on my first Irish team,” he said. “I made the Under 12 National Team in Ireland for the Six Nations, which is Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales, Isle of Man and Guernsey. That was the first major thing in table tennis for me. But it probably wasn’t really until I was 15 that I took a step up and started to take table tennis seriously.” With five National Champion titles and having represented Ireland at 10 world championships, he became its most successful domestic player.

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His first coaching gig was for the Irish Under 15 team in 2011. “At that stage I was still playing but having realised I had gone as far as I was going to in Ireland, I started coaching full time,” he added. “From 2012 onwards, I had the lead for the whole program. I started to be pretty much Head Coach from the Seniors down. It happened quite quickly.” Between 2012 and 2018 Murphy coached the Irish team and led the Northern Ireland team at the 2018 Commonwealth Games on Australia’s Gold Coast. “Probably the year leading up to the Commonwealth Games, I made a decision that I would look to work outside Ireland,” he explained. “Obviously I played for Ireland for 15 years and then being coach for seven years. So I made the decision that I was a young coach and I wanted to explore opportunity in another environment. Post Commonwealth Games, I had some opportunities in different places, and obviously I’d seen that Table Tennis Australia was looking for a Head Coach.” Murphy saw the job ad while he was still in Australia which meant he was able to introduce himself to TTA Chief Executive Scott Houston. “I had some conversations with him, applied for the job that was advertised and thankfully I was lucky enough to get it.”

THE GREATEST OF DAYS

Sky News journalist Enda Brady is a daily – twice daily, in fact – chatty contributor to early morning and evening programmes 6PR, as well as to its sister stations in other parts of Australia. His slot on 6PR might be called the ‘UK Report’ but given half a chance, the Wexford born reporter will chuck in an Irish story for good measure. Sports are another of his great passions and interests, it seems soccer and running in particular. Earlier this year he caught COVID and got a bad dose of it which knocked him for six. The hardworking and irrepressible media man was laid out for some time by the virus but even when his body was banjaxed, Enda’s mind was working overtime. He revealed on the morning show on 6PR on August 24 that during that horrible time he dreamed up his next project, to interview some of the world’s top sports people about the greatest episodes and inspirational achievements in their careers. One of those he hoped to interview was Australian Aboriginal runner Cathy Freeman on her remarkable 400m gold at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney – one of the greatest moments in Australian sporting history. Enda appealed to listeners who might have a way of contacting Freeman to pass the information along so he could interview her. Meanwhile, the gregarious Irishman – who has run many marathons – is fighting hard to overcome the effects of Covid. “I couldn’t walk that far in early July because of what the virus had done to me,” he tweeted on August 22. “On Oct 3rd I will finish @LondonMarathon for @eveappeal and it will feel like the most beautiful of victories ❤.” ☘

Enda Brady and Irish boxer Katie Taylor at the London Olympics 2012