One minute, he was setting himself up to radar in on a dropping ball, next thing he was watching the game on television in a chilly treatment room underneath the Cusack stand. Dull incessant cheering rumbled overhead.
"It was a terrible frustrating thing. I saw the ball come in and I expected it to go over Enda McNulty's head. He got a hand to it and I checked myself and heard a crunch. I knew it was gone straight away. Sure I couldn't run. I didn't even want to sit on the sideline. All you can do there is have a heart attack. But, like, 16 minutes into a game? It would have been better if it had happened at training." The sight of Murphy's enforced departure shook the Meath faithful, already chastened at having seen the bedrock defensive unit rattled by the first of Armagh's two goals. It was the first time that Meath had to operate without either Tommy Dowd or Murphy.
The days after that that semi-final victory over Armagh were devoted to an ongoing analysis of both players' pursuit of fitness as the entire country became intimately acquainted with their injuries. Last Tuesday night, as expected, Murphy was named in the corner and with Dowd at least on the bench, all was right with the world.
The Carnaross marksman had been the one truly electrifying element of an attack which appeared to play within itself for most of the summer. Against Offaly, he hit 1-4 and displayed a telepathic understanding with Tommy Dowd, the combination heightened by the fact that the players favour similar playing styles.
Against Dublin, he was again white hot, popping 1-5 and bagging his second man of the match. His injury against Armagh, therefore, could not have happened at a more inopportune time.
Although Murphy is still only 24, his arrival at this current point of high expectation has required both patience and understanding. He was quickly drafted into the senior set-up after enduring an All-Ireland minor final loss to Cork in 1993 and made his senior debut against Offaly in 1995. He was named instead of Colm O'Rourke and struggled in a fledgling team. O'Rourke replaced him and turned things around with scarcely a blink.
It was a setback and the following summer he couldn't make an impact, coming on in the last minute of the All-Ireland final replay against Mayo. This pattern developed; he hit 1-4 in the third match of the semi-final replay against Kildare but in 1998, he was a cameo man again, replacing a stricken Trevor Giles with 10 minutes remaining in the Leinster final.
Although there was unhappiness around Carnaross at the limited minutes portioned to Murphy, the player himself blithely laid the blame on his own poor form. Now that he is on song, his selection is something he half expects but he still believes that the Meath attackers can raise their game.
"I'd say Graham Geraghty has probably been the most consistent player for us in that area. Even in the game against Offaly, he made the goal. He caught the ball between two players and ran on and laid off the pass for me. It was an open goal. I remember tearing down behind him hoping I could keep up with him.
If anything, the trajectory of Murphy's career reveals something of Sean Boylan's skill for smoothly replacing personnel; although Murphy appears to have burst on the scene, his blooding was slow and based on forethought. None of this is new to him and it is why the pressure he is under - he is carrying the burden normally shouldered by Dowd - seems to wash off him. He talks of Sunday in much the same way Dowd would.
"Cork are a tough young team. I see them as very much a 15-man outfit, you know, each man with a job to do. I dunno, people are saying that because this is a Meath and Cork game, it won't be much of a spectacle. That could be based on the league semi-final, which wasn't the best. But it'll be a better game than that. Yeah, it might be bit of a better game."
Ollie MurphyAge: 24.
Height: 5'9".
Club: Carnaross.
Occupation: Electrician.
Honours: 1 All-Ireland SFC, 2 Leinster SFC, 1 Leinster Under-21, 1 Leinster MFC.
