Forged by GAA, polished by Pep — Brian Barry-Murphy ready for Cardiff job

Jimmy Barry-Murphy was a special one, but what about his son Brian? At 46, Brian reckons he has still to realise his full potential, having moved from his father's shadow into a place of relative obscurity, changing codes, countries and constantly challenging himself in order to realise his own sporting dreams.
After a perfectly respectable if unspectacular playing career, Barry-Murphy is now getting more notice as a coach. Having been appointed head coach of Cardiff City — the biggest club in Wales who were in the Premier League six years ago — Barry-Murphy is as close as he has ever been to finding out whether he is also a special one, and he is not afraid to admit it.
Cardiff, Barry-Murphy believes, is 'similar to my own situation, where there is the potential to achieve something that could be really special. That is the thing which has probably excited me the most.'
Of course what has attracted Cardiff to Barry-Murphy is not the father — the GAA legend who is famous only in Ireland — but the connection with Pep Guardiola and some of the bright young players who have come through the Manchester City ranks. Barry-Murphy is not a name dropper, but nor is he going to hide his light under a bushel and clearly Cardiff's controversial Malaysian owner Vincent Tan is hoping some of the Pep magic has rubbed off on Barry-Murphy. The Corkman had a highly successful two-year stint as lead coach of Manchester City's elite development squad, where he helped bring through the likes of Cole Palmer and Oscar Bobb.
'My association with players who have gone on to do what they have done probably didn't harm my cause,' Barry-Murphy admits with a slight laugh, but he knows that while it helped get him in the door at Cardiff, it could also hasten his departure should the owner feel let down.
Seven of the past nine managers at Cardiff — including Mick McCarthy — haven't lasted more than a season as Tan has thrashed around looking for the right man. Instead, the owner has created a climate of chaos, with Cardiff finding themselves back in League One for the first time in 22 years after finishing bottom of the Championship.
Shamrock Rovers duo Stephen Bradley and Stephen McPhail — a former Cardiff player — were linked with the job, but now was not the right time and Nathan Jones was identified as their top target, but would not leave Charlton. Barry-Murphy is prepared to take the plunge, referencing his friend and former team-mate Joe Thompson, who died in April of cancer at the age of 36.
'We spoke about this before he died, actually, and one of the things he said was, 'We don't have time to hang around or look back.' He was talking about this idea of things going wrong or what's going to happen if things don't go right. Really, it's just a waste of our time.
'We spend all of our lives proving people wrong. We have the opportunity to do something different and probably a large part of the reason I am here is a vow I made to him to do extraordinary things and fulfil what he would have wanted.'
Back in Cork, Barry-Murphy consulted his father about the move to the Welsh capital: 'He said don't think twice about it. He was speaking about the stature of this club and where it is and what an opportunity it is to put the supporters and the club on a path to something completely different.'
Brian played Gaelic games, but eventually found his niche in association football, playing for Cork City and Ireland Under-21, though he never won a senior cap at international level as the competition at the time was too fierce. Like Alan Sheehan, the Athlone man now managing at Swansea City who Brian knows well, he has had to bide his time, but the lessons learnt around the Barry-Murphy dinner table haven't been forgotten.
'A lot of how I work and how I try to bring people on this journey is down to what I witnessed from him growing up,' Barry-Murphy says of his father. 'I thought we could get away without mentioning him, but now that we have there was always an expectation in our household based on our father's exploits that we had to win and had to be winning trophies. That kind of stuff you become aware of from a very young age so I have lived with that my whole life.'
That's why, for Barry-Murphy, the Cardiff hot seat is more than bearable to sit on. In Welsh football, Cardiff are now lagging behind both Swansea and Wrexham, who have replaced them in the Championship and become the best known club in Wales internationally because of their Hollywood owners. Cardiff's huge band of supporters are feeling hurt, betrayed and left behind, and Barry-Murphy clearly feels the need to reach out to them.
Barry-Murphy does not play down the expectation of an immediate return to the Championship and is expected to work largely with what he has got in terms of the club's talented group of young players, most notably the midfielder Rubin Colwill, who played for Wales against England in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar but has since underperformed under a succession of managers.
'Everybody will be clear that we expect to be at the top of the table and looking to win the league, but the danger of that is that you don't have a clear idea of how to do it,' Barry-Murphy says. 'I have a very clear idea in my mind of how I want to do it and it involves a very clear way of playing and for the players to be super clear of what that looks like.'
There is an obvious split about the appointment, which I put to Barry-Murphy when we spoke in Cardiff on Wednesday. One media outlet called it 'obscure' while another said he was 'well-qualified'. Barry-Murphy's only other experience at the sharp end of league management was at Rochdale, when the club was very much a League One underdog trying to compete with a much smaller budget, a job he held before going to Manchester City's academy.
'We were trying to defy the odds and compete with the bigger teams and we thought the best way to do that as a club was to do something different and dominate the ball completely, but there were times when we weren't as progressive or effective as we should have been. It's like life. I wish I knew back then what I know now,' Barry-Murphy says.
'When you go somewhere like Man City you see how to turn that possession-based football into effective football where you have to serve the ball to a certain calibre of footballer who want it quicker. I always knew what I wanted to do, I didn't always know how to do it.
'That is what I got from Guardiola in terms of that training programme where you keep that ball for long periods, but for what reason? The longer you keep that ball the less effective you are at arriving at the last line of the opponents effectively.
'We have the calibre of player here who can attack quickly and if you link it back to a Cole Palmer or an Oscar Bobb, if you spend loads of time keeping the ball at the back with those players by the time it comes to the last line, the opponents are really well structured and organised and it becomes quite a sterile, negative experience. The way I want to see my teams play is to arrive much quicker and, once we have arrived, to finish attacks in a much more effective way.'
It is a message he has sold to the owner and the initial reaction of the Cardiff fans has been positive. If the players also get the message, Barry-Murphy could be on to something.

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

BBC News

18 minutes ago

• BBC News

Morton looks to England to repair damaged confidence

Tyler Morton is repairing his confidence with the England Under-21s after the toughest season of his career. The Liverpool midfielder has helped the Young Lions reach the semi-finals of Euro 2025 after Saturday's 3-1 win over Spain. Morton, though, will miss Wednesday's meeting with the Netherlands in Bratislava after collecting his second yellow card of the success would come off the back of a frustrating campaign for the 22-year-old, who did not make a Premier League appearance as Liverpool won the title. He was restricted to just five appearances in cup competitions under Arne said: "When you're not playing, your confidence gets shut down a little bit. So, it's nice to come back and play here and play with unbelievable footballers, unbelievable youngsters."It's been the toughest season mentally for me. Obviously, I've coped with it very well because I've got good people around me, but it's been very tough. I think I've coped with it as well as I possibly could."I think when you're not playing as a footballer who's as hungry as I am, it does hurt. It's tough, especially when, in my opinion, I wanted to go out and I wanted to play and I wanted to go on loan and get my game time."But having chatted with the manager, having to stay, it could have worked out a lot worse than it did. It probably could have worked out a lot better than it did."Under-21 and Liverpool team-mate Harvey Elliott made just two league starts last season - and has admitted he needs to consider his future at Anfield - while Jarell Quansah only started four league games. Liverpool opted to keep Morton after Middlesbrough had a bid rejected in February but he has kept an open mind about the campaign. "Yes, the minutes have been very limited for all of us youngsters this year," he said. "But there's different playing styles with different managers. Yes, it's been a learning season. I think you've got to have these types of seasons where you're trying to learn."

The Sun

35 minutes ago

• The Sun

Paul Pogba ‘agrees deal with next club' as ex-Man Utd star posts cryptic four-word message about return to football

PAUL POGBA appeared to drop a massive hint on his future after posting a picture wearing a REAL MADRID shirt alongside a cryptic message. Pogba, 32, is still without a team after agreeing the mutual termination of his contract at Juventus in November following his 18-month doping ban - but has now reportedly agreed terms with his next club. 7 7 The former Manchester United midfielder was slapped with an initial four-year ban for taking banned substance DHEA last year, but saw that punishment slashed to just 18 months after a successful appeal to the Court of Arbitration of Sport. Pogba has been able to return to football since March following the end of his ban. Now it looks like the World Cup winner has dropped a hint over where he could be heading next, after he posted photos of himself training in a Real Madrid shirt alongside the caption: "I think it's time". Fans are convinced that the cryptic post is confirmation that Pogba will be heading to the Bernabeu to join Madrid ahead of the new campaign. One wrote: "Pogba to Real Madrid - HERE WE GO". While another added: "Welcome to Real Madrid". 7 7 However, a switch to Madrid seems unlikely in reality - with reports suggesting that Pogba has already agreed a move to Ligue 1 club Monaco as his return to football. It's claimed by French outlet Le Parisien that Pogba will pen a two-year deal with Monaco ahead of the new campaign. The 91-time France international insisted he was still able to play at the top level in an interview in October, eyeing a return to the national team. He said: "That's what I hope [to play for France]. It's in my mind for sure but I have to be ready for that. "There's players there that deserve to be playing and deserve to be in the national team. "I have to win my place back in the team again." 7

BBC News

38 minutes ago

• BBC News

Devine wins third Donegal International Rally in a row

Callum Devine came through a demanding Donegal International Rally to win the event for a third year in a row. The 2023 Irish Tarmac Rally champion won the three-day event - one of the most famous rallies in Europe - alongside co-driver Noel O'Sullivan by 20.5 seconds ahead of Wales' Meirion Evans, while local driver David Kelly was third. Skoda driver Devine, 31, led after Friday's six stages but a gruelling Saturday saw a number of big names drop out of contention. European Rally Championship driver Jon Armstrong posted a number of fastest stage times and was challenging Devine on Saturday's first loop but a differential problem on his Ford Fiesta dropped him out of contention, and a second mechanical issue halted his recovery later in the day. Two time ERC champion Hayden Paddon, a late entry for the rally from New Zealand, was in the mix for victory but rolled out on Saturday's penultimate stage. The final stage on Saturday claimed British Rally Championship title challenger William Creighton, who slid off the road with a slow puncture and decided to retire his Toyota Yaris. The various issues for front runners took away from what could have been a titanic battle for the win in the Donegal hills as just 20 seconds separated Devine, Creighton, Evans and Paddon after 12 as his rivals faltered, Devine, who himself battled handbrake issues, kept his cool to win the rally for the third consecutive and co-driver Ger Conway were a comfortable second and, despite his issues, Armstrong and co-driver Shane Byrne had moved back into podium contention but the Fermanagh driver retired after an off on the final promoted Kelly and navigator Arthur Kierans onto the final step of the podium for the second year in a row.