Could old Jim McGuinness words provide window to future Michael Murphy intentions?

Jim McGuinness has got his wish and so too has the rest of Donegal.

Michael Murphy will once again turn out for the county’s senior footballers in 2025.

With the Football Review Committee’s (FRC) new rules set to reshape the way Gaelic football looks, feels and plays, Murphy’s retirement u-turn means there’s a genuine fascination attached to how McGuinness will actually use him.

At 35, does the Donegal boss see him as someone to spring at a certain time or, with the rules rejig and, by his own accord, being a “full duck or no dinner” type; does Murphy come back with the full intention of finally taking up complete residence on the edge of the opposition square.

Murphy rebuked McGuinness’ advances when he first returned in late 2023 however, the FRC’s seismic intentions, which the former Donegal captain actually helped mould, had to have weighed heavily on that change of heart.

The ‘three up at all times’ element to matters means McGuinness needs a dominant and high focal point.

Rummaging through some old McGuinness Irish Times columns at the weekend, his penned efforts prior to the 2022 Ulster final, with the benefit of so much hindsight, makes for fascinating reading.

Ironically enough, as matters would transpire, that loss to Derry would turn out to be Murphy’s penultimate act in a Donegal senior jersey.

He’d turn out one more time for the side as Armagh blew Donegal away in an All-Ireland qualifier by 3-17 to 0-16.

Declan Bonner would eventually step aside but the subsequent retirement of Murphy rocked Donegal to its core.

It was a heavy domino and subsequent blows like the Academy fallout, the treatment of Karl Lacey as well as his acrimonious departure, the Paddy Carr debacle and a disastrous 2023 season left Donegal football on its knees.

But out of nowhere almost, McGuinness did the unthinkable - he made a comeback.

Promotion out of Division 2 was achieved and spirits were lifted. Ulster was conquered once more and supporters dared to believe.

But a devastating All-Ireland semi-final loss to Galway put paid to All-Ireland hopes. For 2024 at least.

But back to that McGuinness column in late May of 2022.

Just picking out snippets alone, the first thing to really catch attention is how much Murphy’s then former boss rated his influence on the training field.

“The highlights of Michael’s contributions could make for a long and spectacular reel of clips.

“But for me, the most important aspect of Michael’s influence on the Donegal group is in the training environment.

“Every night he brings ferocious focus and consistency and an appetite for learning. He drives it all to the maximum level. Standards create culture.

“That is where it starts. And Michael has been the standard-bearer for Donegal for 15 years. It is evident in how he walks about and how he carries himself.

“It’s in how he plays the game and brings the others along with him. Without those high standards you cannot be successful.”

McGuinness admits he originally wrestled with his own mind in how best to utilise Murphy’s many great qualities.

“One of the most enjoyable parts of training Donegal was watching Michael. Just watching him move.

“To see him in that environment – particularly in full flight – was a privilege.

“One word springs to mind: power. He could move at such speed and he glided over the ground.

“He didn’t bulldoze. He was agile. But that power he possessed made him unstoppable.

“And that versatility probably did play a part in my decision to play him more out the field.

“I wanted to see him in full flight. At U-21 he was an out-and-out full forward.

“But at senior I felt it was more prudent at times to have him around the middle for the kick-out, for his ball-winning prowess and to also see if we could then create a situation where he could explode on to the ball and through the opposition defence.

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“By switching position he would suck the fullback out the field and bring more versatility to his game.

“And with Colm McFadden and Patrick McBrearty inside we had a phenomenal threat even when Michael vacated the large parallelogram.”

In the end, as the years progressed, “sucking the full-back out the field” crept unnoticed towards the scenario where Derry, and Brendan Rogers in particular, turned that table.

The narrative that day, in Clones, was that Derry’s marauding No 3 showed the way. He turned Donegal’s greatest strength into some kind of weakness.

Rogers’ unique torque would see the Oak Leafers eventually switch him to midfield the very next season.

But what was a collective failure, a bad afternoon at the office for Donegal, on the whole, that day; well, Murphy seemed to take it personally.

And a few months later, mid-November 2022 to be precise, he announced he was gone. And for good.

Fast forward to November 2024, the announcement of a huge u-turn and that very significant change in direction of the rules - provided Special Congress rubber-stamp them at the end of the month - means Murphy and McGuinness are back in tandem.

‘Three up at all times’ also means that Murphy can’t and won’t be expected to chase back and he can’t be dragged into deep waters anymore.

And even though he didn’t know it at the time, McGuinness’ closing remarks on Murphy in that very same column are perhaps the best window towards what 2025 might hold.

“There’s a prevailing view out there that Michael is in the autumn of his years.

“I don’t agree. To be honest I think the best of Michael Murphy may be about to come.

“Because whenever Michael understands that he can no longer cover ground out the field as he would wish, he will find himself back on the edge of the square.

“And he will move and think, then, like he did when he was 17 and lighting it up.

“Except this time he will have a decade and a half of brilliance under his belt.

“Returning home to full-forward is still somewhere in the future for Michael Murphy. What a treat.”

The future, is seems, is now.