Eamon McGee: Why Michael Murphy returned to Jim McGuinness' Donegal squad
Jim McGuinness has tempted Michael Murphy back into the Donegal squad at 35, after two years out of inter-county football as he looks to build on last year's Ulster title win and All-Ireland semi-final appearance.
When Michael Murphy pulled away from Donegal two years ago, I definitely felt there was a wee bit of unfinished business there.
But when I chatted to him after Donegal won this year’s Ulster Final, I thought he had made peace with it.
Maybe before that there was a wee bit of him saying he should have been there, but when they went on to win Ulster without him I just got the feeling there was a satisfaction within him and he was happy to move on.
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Jim McGuinness and Neil McGee obviously got to work in the off season.
When the Jim era started I think there was a good bit of pressure put on Michael to come back by Jim, Neil and Colm McFadden - and Murphy fended them off.
He didn’t budge, but if the backroom team were reviewing 2024 and where they could get the next extra lift, the obvious one is, ‘Michael Murphy, he’s not done and dusted. Let’s go to him.’
Michael’s return will give the whole set-up a lift, especially for young bucks going in to see him, play with him and learn from him. It is a massive positive for Donegal.
As for why he has returned, Michael loves Donegal and he loves Donegal football. That was always there.
He wasn’t finishing because his time was up. He was finishing because he thought he couldn’t give the commitment. For him it was either all in or nothing and he was at a stage where he couldn’t give it everything.
Maybe that changed. Maybe his perspective changed. Maybe it was the carrot of seeing Armagh winning the All-Ireland and Galway in a final, thinking he could add the extra few percent to get Donegal over the line.
People would have looked at this year’s final and seen that Donegal are not a million miles away. Odhrán McFadden Ferry is coming back and a few more players are being added to the squad.
And if Donegal were going on to do something next year, Murphy was probably going to be there, driving the thing on.
Whatever changed, be it the new rules perhaps, he wants to have a go again. He knows the commitment involved with a McGuinness set-up but he must be fit to take that on or he wouldn’t have.
The focus will soon shift to how Donegal deploy Michael - as it always did.
Whatever about where Donegal fell down last year, that middle eight is in decent shape with the likes of Peadar Mogan, Ryan McHugh, Jason McGee and Michael Langan going well. It’s just keeping Langan fit and getting McGee fit again.
You don’t need Michael out there. You can play him inside. He wouldn’t be fit to play out there with the type of football the lads are playing, the pace of the game, and particularly with the new rules.
You’d think Michael will be staying in that top three. For the kicking game you need a focal point and he’s going to be one of the men you can get the ball too.
He will be fit for the role, but it’s very important that someone will is in around him. Oisin Gallen will be there and then who’s the third man.
Murphy’s presence is going to free up the likes of Gallen. You are going to need to watch Michael Murphy. Paddy McBrearty is going to be knocking about too.
The next question will be is Murphy able to get up to that level, because it’s grand doing it in the Donegal Club Championship.
But the way the county game has gone and the condition of some of the lads, it’s a different ball game.
As for his game time, I can see an argument for both ways of going. I could see Donegal managing it by gradually introducing him off the bench in the League and Murphy making an impact.
The other argument is that you’ve made an investment - and Michael is making an investment - so you give him a full league where he plays every minute, to get up to the pace of it and allow his body to adapt to it.
Me, I’d throw him in there, let him find his feet and get up to the pace of it. Football is different now than two years ago and he needs to learn how the flow of the game is.
One of the reasons this move has thrown me is that Michael put a lot of commitment into the rules committee and he was up and down the road.
He had a firm focus on that. He did have a decent club championship but he wouldn’t have been there an awful lot during the League.
There was a stage where Glenswilly played Four Masters and within 10 minutes it was as if he made a decision and he more or less beat Four Masters on his own.
He still has it, if he gets that block of training and preparation in. It will be a different Michael Murphy going back in. He has developed more as a leader since he’s been away.
He has dipped his toe into coaching with Glenswilly. He has worked with Jim Gavin on the rules committee. So he is bringing all that to the table now, even though he has only been out a relatively short time.
Michael has all that to bring - and then his ability.
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