Murphy U-turn is seismic in All-Ireland race

It is the time of year when the GAA season takes a little bit of a breather, with the number of clubs in action dwindling by the week as the final few lucky ones still standing make their exit from county and provincial championships. In fact, many clubs have probably already turned their attention to next year with managerial searches in full flow and in some cases already sorted ahead of 2025.

And behind the scenes, counties are now starting to ramp up their preparations for the new season as the league comes into view, relatively quickly, on the final weekend in January.

Pre-season meetings where goals are set out and plans are put in place are always filled with optimism, as every team starts from virtually the same place as they try and win the ultimate prize – in football, that is Sam Maguire.

Wouldn't you love to be a fly on the wall in Donegal for their pre-season gathering, with one Michael Murphy strolling in as a player again? The energy and enthusiasm alone from news of Murphy's return last week will send shockwaves of belief through the county as they eye up next year's All-Ireland crown.

The fact that the Jim McGuinness-Michael Murphy axis has been restored propels Donegal, in my mind, to the top of the tree right now when predicting who might win the 2025 championship.

Many of you reading now, as Mayo folk, won’t need reminding of how Murphy helped inspire his county to their famous triumph 12 years ago. The question is, will his return help deliver a similar breakthrough. In my estimation, it can.

Donegal will be seething this winter as they watch Armagh bask in the glow of glory. Few will begrudge Kieran McGeeney and his team a winter of content after many of discontent following several narrow misses in the Ulster Championship and in the All-Ireland series. Yet, Donegal will remember that they downed the Orchard County twice this year, including in the Ulster final on penalties, and their other competitive fixture finished in a draw in Division Two.

So they are right there. And Murphy’s return adds plenty – both on and off the field.

His arrival back into the fold presents several opportunities and above all a storyline for us media hacks to get stuck into over the next year. The tantalising prospect of one of the members of the Football Review Committee returning to play under new rules he himself helped design is unprecedented, I think. And what a story it might be!

You can be sure that the potential changes on the way featured in discussions between Murphy and McGuinness when a return was mooted.

It’s particularly hard not to see a player like Murphy, who in his prime was such a strong and powerful presence at the best of times, benefitting from the extra space afforded to forwards in a three-on-three scenario that could well be part of next year’s rules.

Even with the inevitable loss of pace he is bound to have suffered since retiring from the inter-county scene in 2022, Murphy still possesses the strength and, more importantly, the know-how to cause untold trouble for a full-back in a congested defence, not to mind in the wide open expanses afforded in a 3 vs 3 situation.

Indeed, it is that modification that, when you think about it, may well suit Donegal best.

So well drilled defensively under McGuinness, they counter-attack at lightening quick pace with the likes of Ryan McHugh, Peadar Mogan and Eoghan Ban Gallagher having the ability to bring real speed to the transition but also provide quality ball into forwards when they hit the midfield mark. It sets up for them perfectly.

The great Brian McEniff, in a recent column for the Donegal Democrat, said as much when he wrote: “If our prayers were answered, there is no doubt managers and full-back lines up and down the country would be quaking in their boots at the thought of facing Murphy. Even more so, under the new rules, stationed on the edge of the opposition square.” And he is right in that assessment – but what Murphy brings in terms of leadership quality is arguably more important to Donegal.

Even though he was never crowned Footballer of the Year (neither was James McCarthy, who retired last week), Murphy is one of the all-time greats. Together with McGuinness, he helped drag the county from relative obscurity in the late noughties to the top of the tree by 2012. They also feel they let slip another Sam Maguire triumph in 2014.

While the mountain to the top isn’t quite as severe now as it was, it’s hard not to draw comparisons between Donegal heading into 2025 and the Donegal of yesteryear heading into 2012.

Like the team a decade or more earlier, things had taken shape under McGuinness in his first year in 2011, when they delivered a Division Two title, an Ulster title and lost in the All-Ireland semi-final to the Dubs by two points. In 2024? A Division Two title, an Ulster title and an All-Ireland semi-final loss to Galway by a point. So the similarities are striking. What was the missing link against Galway? Very little, you could say, with Paul Conroy’s goal an incredibly fortunate one from distance. In the end, that was what separated the sides.

So, Donegal are already within a whisker of being good enough to win an All-Ireland. Several other teams – Mayo included – will feel the same way. At this point, you could probably make the case for up to eight teams to be climbing the steps of the Hogan next summer.

But Murphy’s return will give Donegal that extra edge. Their efficiency against Galway was poor – five scores from 14 chances in the second-half was a bad return – and while every forward will have an off-day from time to time, they were few and far between for Murphy.

His leadership, though, will be the major factor for Donegal as he returns. And that will start as soon as he hits the training pitch with the squad as they prepare for the new season. His presence alone will give Donegal a lift and, especially with McGuinness’ relatively fresh and young squad, that will be worth its weight in gold.

In his retirement statement in 2022, Murphy wrote: ‘Maybe in the years ahead, I’ll find new ways to offer something more to my home county.’ It looks like he has figured out the best way to do it is doing what he does best – getting stuck in where it matters most.