WATCH: 'I wanted Darren Murray to stay' Tipton on bid to keep Point star
Striker joins Crusaders on transfer deadline day
Last updated 1st Feb 2018
Warrenpoint boss Matthew Tipton has revealed he had gone specifically to his Board to ensure star striker Darren Murray stayed at the club.
Murray joined Crusaders on transfer deadline day after agreeing a three-and-a-half deal.
But speaking on the latest Cool FM Football Show, Tipton said: ““Darren had maybe seen it as a move to a potential league champion in Crusaders or Coleraine - the two clubs that were chasing him.
“But I went to the Board and I said: ‘there’s a reason the top two clubs in the country are after him. He’s our player, can we keep him? To replace him would have been really difficult.”
Tipton also re-lived what he branded his worst-ever moment in the game – being sent off in last month’s Irish Cup tie with Cliftonville.
He said: “I made a mistake and I apologised for it, and that was it, it was done and dusted. There was not one bit of it that was a laughing matter. That was the lowest I've ever felt in my career, and my players knew that.”
And on appearing again as a player? “Hopefully I'll never have to play myself again. I've brought other players in now and we've filled the squad out.”
Also guesting on this week’s show is ex-Rangers versatile defender Chris Hegarty who reveals his career highlight.
According to Hegarty, who has scored at Ibrox, there will be no better feeling than walking out at Windsor with Dungannon Swifts for the final of the Bet McLean Cup.
"I think it'll be my biggest moment as a player. When it's your own club, the team you've supported from no age. For me to be going out in a Dungannon Swifts jersey, and Rodney as manager, it's going to be a massive moment, even for my own family,” he said.
And he says he wants to commit to the club for the long term.
“I'll be at Dungannon as long as they want to keep me,” he said. “It's my club and I'm very happy playing there. Unless someone comes in and hands over a lot of money - which doesn't happen for a centre half in the Irish League - then I'll be at Dungannon.