“It’s kind of a chance for me to say I’m still here,” Sean Murray tellsThe Athletic.
The 27-year old — yes he’s still only 27 — is living proof that there’s more than one way to skin a cat when it comes to a football career. From “one of our own” admiration at Watford to a journey down the divisions, before being caught in a Danish snowdrift not knowing what was next. Not only does he now have “Europa League footballer” on his CV, he’s a goalscorer too and with two matches against Arsenal included in the package.
“I’ve noticed it a lot recently, with a lot of Watford fans just writing things on Twitter like ‘Sean Murray’s playing in the Europa League, he’s scoring, and it’s brilliant to see a Watford player do that’,” he explains. “So that’s kind of nice to know that they still speak about me because it’s been 10 years since I got my debut for Watford.”
Murray’s career could have gone either way, so it perhaps fitting that he has found a footballing home, Dundalk, that sits on Ireland’s dividing line. It’s a location that represents happiness and hope for Murray. He openly acknowledges that contentment in his personal life is bringing out his best football. This may not be the bright lights of the English Premier League but his journey — with a few bumps in the road — has given him perspective.
“I think people need to realise sometimes there are more important things than just football,” he says from his hotel room in Waterford. “I’ve played at a high level, played in the Championship and that, but this is the happiest I’ve been playing football. And people would say, ‘It’s Ireland, it’s probably not earning a lot of money’, but I’m getting experiences I’ve never had before at any other club. I feel settled here, at the club and I’ve got my girlfriend over here. I think once you’re in a happy place, everything kind of works together. Especially on the field.”
Being pitted against a Premier League team reminds Murray of what might have been. “It’s weird saying that but this is probably the level I always thought I could have made in my early years,” says Murray. “For whatever reason, my career has not gone that way. Most of the players in the team might not be able to get this opportunity again.”
Murray had been part of the Watford squad that was promoted from the Championship in 2014-15 but a serious knee injury meant he’d missed the second half of the season. He’d played against Chelsea in the FA Cup in January of that campaign, but it would prove to be his last game for the club. Once in a position to play again that summer, the team, under a new head coach Quique Sanchez Flores, was being tailored for the top division. Unfortunately for Murray, he’d been out of sight and therefore wasn’t at the forefront of minds. Gino Pozzo had moved Slavisa Jokanovic on and some of the players appeared to be in that bracket too.
“From there it just didn’t feel right. I didn’t feel like I was wanted,” he says. “It didn’t really help with the changeover to being a Premier League player. But that’s fair enough. Maybe I wasn’t at that level at the time.”
It was a jolt in his career and his life. Born at Vicarage Road’s neighbouring Watford General in October 1993, he grew up with his parents and four sisters in Abbots Langley, 15 minutes away. “I’m the second youngest, so I’m kind of a favourite child to my mum which was great. My sisters are still jealous about that,” he says. “I’ve always always been a Watford boy. Now it makes me happy (when they do well) just because it is my local team and I was there for such a long time as well. Like with everything, it had to come to an end and the years I had there were brilliant.”
Murray is (second from left, back row) during his time as a Watford youth player
From his Sunday league team Evergreen located at the bottom of his road (he still knows the manager Mickey), he moved into Watford’s youth system aged seven, training at the town’s grammar school in the evenings. He went to Queen’s School for two years before being part of the initial intake of the club’s Harefield Academy programme.
“It was just a quiet life really. I was a happy kid, always out playing football until God knows when, with a few of the neighbours that were older than me,” he recalls. “I think that helped me grow up very quickly in the footballing world because they were much bigger than me.”
By 16, the midfielder was attracting attention from outside of Watford. Manchester City were later successful in taking Jadon Sancho from the club but Watford had been more resilient in Murray’s case. Despite Premier League interest, he signed a three-year contract when he was just 16 that would come into force when he turned 17, his age when he made his first-team debut. He signed his contract alongside manager Malky Mackay, who played him in the final two matches of the season against QPR and Preston in 2010-11. His performances during the FA Youth Cup run that year had highlighted his qualities.
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Two goals stood out during the run: a 30-yard free kick that arrowed into the top corner against Fulham at Craven Cottage and a composed strike against a Chelsea side that included Nathaniel Chalobah in the quarter-finals in front of Carlo Ancelotti.
It wasn’t until the following season’s senior FA Cup that he got another chance in Watford’s first team. His assured performance against Tottenham, in which he almost curled in an equaliser, convinced Sean Dyche to stick with him until the end of the season. It was a shrewd decision. Murray, an energetic, skilful midfielder who would also represent the Republic of Ireland from under-17 to under-21 level, scored seven goals in his 19 appearances and was handed the club’s young player of the year award. Despite the Pozzo takeover that summer, Murray still managed to maintain a presence in the side the following season but, with the Udinese influx, it was tougher to make a mark. There was a connection built with Gianfranco Zola, though.
(Photo: Andrew Matthews – PA Images via Getty Images)
“I really enjoyed working with him just because of the guy he was and the things he taught you,” says Murray. “Even if he wasn’t playing you or starting you every week, he treated you the same and would stay out with you taking free kicks, working on what needed to be worked on. And that shows how good a man he is. I also really enjoyed Beppe Sannino, just because of the type of player I am. He was all in your face, running around, getting into things and I think that suited me. That’s why I had a good spell under him as well.”
As Zola was replaced by Sannino, Murray enjoyed his most settled period in the team, making 39 appearances and scoring six goals. The following season saw Oscar Garcia and Billy McKinlay bridge the gap to the next head coach Jokanovic. “It’s always hard for any player if a load of new managers are coming in and you’ve got to impress again,” Murray explains. “At some point, you’re always going to be out of favour and then it’s hard to get back in. But I still enjoyed every minute of it.”
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His subsequent knee ligament injury contributed to his move to the periphery with a loan switch to Wigan and then a permanent exit to Swindon at the end of the 2015-16 season. It wasn’t an acrimonious exit, it was never going to be.
“I’m quite quiet and I go with the flow so if I’m not in favour then they won’t hear me shouting at them or knocking on their door. I kind of go with it and try to just do my best rather than have any big arguments,” he says.
After new Swindon director of football Tim Sherwood’s shake-up had again seen Murray’s path disrupted, another more helpful former Watford connection Iain Moody (the former operations manager at Vicarage Road) paved the way for him to sign at Colchester. The move came with an additional reunion too. “Me and Lloyd Doyley played together at Colchester,” he says with a smile, it wasn’t just a fleeting reconnection either. “We spoke pretty much all the time, we’d meet up all the time, especially when I was living in Watford, he’s just down the road. He’s a friend for life, because he’s a great guy, as everyone knows.”
After his contract expired at the end of the 2017-18 season, Murray found himself without a club, but another former colleague offered him a more far-flung opportunity. “Dodo (Adolfo) Sormani, Zola’s assistant manager, called me and said, ‘How’s football? What’s going on, what are you doing?’ I was like, ‘I’m out of contract at the moment. So I’m just looking to find a club’. And he asked me to come over to Denmark and train with Vejle Boldklub where he was head coach.”
It was a partial success. “I loved the country,” he says. “The team was struggling a bit, we were dead bottom of the league for the whole season and the football wasn’t great, but the country was brilliant.” The departure from Watford had been tough, the slip down the divisions with Swindon and Colchester hard to take. This challenge was different though.
“I think I was definitely lost there,” Murray says. “I was kind of thinking, ‘Where do I actually go from here?’ I’ve come from a League Two team to a Danish team, where no-one’s really watching me over in England. It was a bit of a worry and I was just thinking about trying to get my houses sorted and stuff paid off and alternatives really. Not jacking it in, I would never have done that, but just thinking maybe I’ve got to go to the National League here and work my way up.”
During a difficult season which included the departure of Sormani and another injury setback, a potential route out was arranged via an agent who organised a trial with Dundalk. The short trip to Ireland, including a goalscoring appearance, was a breath of fresh air. “I loved the team, the coaches, just everyone around Dundalk, I enjoyed it so much,” he recalls. But completing the transfer wasn’t straightforward and a return to Denmark was required. “I wanted to go but they had to agree something and then it was in the middle of winter in Denmark, I was training on my own with one of the fitness coaches on a pitch covered in snow, just running. So it was a bit of a bad time. But thankfully Dundalk got it sorted in the end and I got to go over there just before the start of the season, which was perfect timing really.”
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His start to the campaign — three goals in his first six league appearances — helped his integration into the heart of a team that went on to win the league-and-cup double. Although they didn’t advance to either European group stage in 2019, the next year saw them go one step further with Murray playing a pivotal role. He scored against Sheriff Tiraspol and Klaksvik in qualification and again in the group opener against Molde. “I think this is my biggest achievement in my career,” he says. “I did good things with Watford, but I was young then and I couldn’t really enjoy it. I didn’t really know how well I was doing or what an achievement it was.” In addition to personal growth, there’s been an evolution of his role with Dundalk too.
“I play a lot higher up the pitch now. So you’d probably say I’m an out-and-out 10 now, when before I was more of an 8, or sometimes in my early career I played on the left wing for Watford. I’ve got smarter with my runs into the box and runs down the channels.”
Murray has connected with new head coach Filippo Giovagnoli, who arrived at the club calling it a “kamikaze” mission when he replaced former manager Vinny Perth but managed to land them safely in Europe, even if domestically things didn’t go all their own way. Having experience of working with Italian head coaches before came in handy.
“A few of the lads, the first few weeks, saw how intense the training sessions were and they were shocked and they didn’t get it,” says Murray, whose return from a groin injury coincided with the appointment. “But I kind of felt like it was normal. Sometimes they’ll be training without a football, we will be pressing mannequins, and I’ve done this before for two hours on a Tuesday morning and they weren’t used to it.”
Having moved around a lot since his departure from Watford, Murray says he is happy to have found a “happy middle” in his career. Enjoying the moment, on and off the field, is the main priority.
“I’m planning to stay with Dundalk for as long as possible,” he says. “I’ve been places and earned a lot of money and earned a little money and this is where I’m happy. I’m still ambitious, of course, but I think I’d rather just be happy. And my girlfriend here has got a kid and he’s changing schools. So there’s lots of things you’ve got to think about as well. Not just yourself now. So I think that’s just part of growing up.”
(Top photo: by Ian Walton/Getty Images)
