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GUESS WHAT I DO LAURA FITZGERALD 34 | AUTUMN 2022 | www.ladiesgaelic.ie CHAMPIONSHIP REFLECTION 34 | AUTUMN 2022 | www.ladiesgaelic.ie then recently regraded intermediate Meath team from the depths of the Ladies football barrel. After winning an All-Ireland U16 title in 2009 with a team that included Máire O'Shaughnessy, Bridgetta Lynch and Kate Byrne, Murray went on to take charge of Meath minor teams that won Leinster C crowns before winning the All-Ireland Minor Football Championship B title in 2016 with a team that hinted at a brighter future ahead. Players like Vikki Wall, Aoibhín Cleary, Megan Thynne, Kelsey Nesbitt and Emma White all played key roles in securing that minor title in 2016 and in 2019, with Murray doubling as a selector for the minors along with his job as manager of the seniors, Meath won a first Leinster Minor Football Championship A title in 17 years, with Emma Duggan, Orlagh Lally, Mary Kate Lynch and Sarah Wall central to that success. There was very obviously something special brewing in Meath and Murray was the master craftsman, charged with bringing it all together. When approached in 2017 to take on the 'big job', Murray knew there was a mammoth task ahead, but he set about building a management team that he felt would get the best out of what was proving to be a golden generation of outstanding footballers. Murray approached Paul Garrigan, who in turn brought Paddy Dowling and Shane Wall with him, and the journey began. Disappointment in a couple of TG4 All-IrelandIntermediate Football Championship finals against Tyrone and Tipperary led to a shift of focus to improving the fitness necessary to implement the hard-working game plan and the arrival of strength and conditioning expert Eugene Eivers and highly regarded coach Mark Brennan brought a rise in Meath's fortunes. Senior status was secured with a All-Ireland Intermediate Football Championship win over Westmeath in the week before Christmas 2020. Then the unthinkable happened and even greater riches quickly arrived. A Lidl National Football League Division 2 title was annexed with victory over Kerry, but the ultimate success, the most sensational of all underdog stories, was told when Murray's side won the TG4 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship with an almost unbelievable final victory over the reddest of hot favourites Dublin in 2021. And as if to prove they were no 'one hit wonders', Meath and Murray went and did it all again