The Clonduff native would come up against his own club next weekend should the Down champions prevail over Tyrone winners Edendork in Saturday's Ulster Club opener in Newry

There will be one very interested spectator at Páirc Esler in Newry on Saturday evening.

He won’t be there as a neutral.

He will want to see his native Clonduff progress at the expense of newly-crowned Tyrone champions Edendork, even if it puts him in an unenviable position for the following weekend.

Now, they could be on a collision course in the Ulster Club SFC with the Antrim champions, who won their first senior title with a two-point defeat of O’Donovan Rossa, set to face the winners of Saturday’s Ulster preliminary round tie.

“The way I'm approaching it is, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it,” Murray remarked at the launch of the 2026 Ulster Club series in Cookstown earlier this week.

“It's not a case of hypothetical situations. Whoever we play, we play. I cannot do much about it.”

“You never want to come up against your own club that you've played a lifetime with, but listen, if it is, I’ve no control over it.”

Clonduff have had two extra weeks to prepare for the Ulster Club opener as the Tyrone final went to a replay with Niall Morgan’s two-point free giving St Malachy’s a famous win over Errigal Ciaran as they claimed the O’Neill Cup for the first time in their history.

Their celebrations have been curbed for now as they prepare to face the Down champions in Newry and Murray said it is a tough situation for Brian McGuckin’s men.

“Yeah, that's tough. I remember having something similar in Ardee in our first year in Leinster. You played one weekend and you’re out the following weekend,” added Murray, who also guided the Louth outfit to a hat-trick of county titles.

“It's very tough because you don't want to hamper the boys' celebrations. I mean, they've played, trained maybe for nine or 10 months to get to that point and you can't suddenly say to them, ‘listen, curtail this’.

“In Ardee, we got them back, I think, for training on the Tuesday, so they've got a couple of days at it.

“I know maybe some teams think you put all your eggs in one basket aiming to win your county title, but at the same time, when you're in a situation where you can do well in the provincials, I think you really have to give it a go.”