‘I had to look at myself and what is best for me’: Darren Murphy

When Darren Murphy went to work for the Irish Football Association 12 years ago, Jim Magilton had some advice.

Murphy stepped down as the manager of Dungannon Swifts in 2012 and Magilton, later appointed as the elite performance director in the IFA, drafted him into the underage system.

Having resigned as the Finn Harps manager this week, Murphy reflected on the two nuggets offered by Magilton: “The only thing that will surprise you in football are the surprises; and it’s a beautiful game, but a horrible business.”

Murphy was something of a left-field appointee as assistant manager to Dave Rogers when he was unveiled as Ollie Horgan’s successor at Harps in late 2022. Murphy picked up the pieces following Rogers’ departure in September, 2023.

Initially the caretaker manager, Harps turned to Murphy on a full-time basis for the 2024 season and, after a sixth-place finish, penned a new three-year contract in November, having noted how he had no contract at all last season. 

Yet, on Tuesday night, Murphy - having been approached by Loughgall FC about a vacancy in their dugout - stood before the Harps players and his staff to inform them that he was leaving. Just hours earlier he was named as the manager in the First Division Team of the Week in the wake of Harps’ super 5-0 win over Bray Wanderers.

“I had to look at myself and what is best for me at the time,” Murphy tells Donegal Live. “It is a job that demands enthusiasm and 100% commitment. I spoke to the players and the staff and if I am here and not 100% then I shouldn’t be here. It was extremely difficult to stand up in front of that group and explain my reasons.

“There were other opportunities that came, but nothing really official, just people throwing feelers out there. None of them ever turned my head. It was never one where I looked and went: ‘Yeah, I’d like to do that’. When I agreed a three-year deal in my head in November, I had it in my head that I would be at Finn Harps for three years.” 

Given that they have permitted him to terminate his contract, Harps will not be seeking a compensation fee should Murphy agree terms to take over as Loughgall manager - although that is something that appears some way off being finalised. 

“It shows how good the relationship was between Ian (Harkin, Harps Chairman) and myself,” he says. “It can’t have been easy because, without trying to be condescending, I had a wonderful working relationship with Ian. It wasn’t even a working relationship, it was more like a very strong personal relationship. We were two people who wanted to move the club forward and he bought into what I wanted. 

“I found this an extremely difficult decision. I know that there will be people out there who will have their own opinion, but people won’t know how much I actually wrestled with making the decision.

“As of now, I haven’t agreed anything with Loughgall. There have been conversations. I just wanted to make this decision at the other side so that I have the clear head to think about the other decision. It is very difficult to make decisions when you’re trying to juggle two things. 

“I had to be free from one to look at the other and that is just where I was at and where we sit now.”

Darren Murphy. Photo: Joe Boland (North West Newspix)

It has been no secret from the moment they parted ways with Dean Smith that Loughgall were keen on Murphy, who lives close to their Lakeview Park home.

“When I signed a contract in November, I certainly wasn’t envisaging that this would happen,” Murphy says. “There is an opportunity that has arisen and there is nothing finalised or agreed yet. It’s one of those where it might be the right time for me, but the wrong time for Finn Harps.

“There has been no fallout. There are no untold truths here and nothing that people have to dig to find out. There is nothing in it at all; it was just purely where I am in my own life. I am 50 years of age and an opportunity has presented itself which I never thought would come my way. It is an opportunity very close to where I’m from.”

Loughgall, who sit nine points off Carrick Rangers at the foot of the Irish League Premiership, next play against Ballymena United on Tuesday night. At thwart weekend, Murphy was present at the Showgrounds as Loughgall defeated Ballymena 2-1.

He insists that he will be at Finn Park on Friday-week to see Harps’ clash with Longford Town.

“Contrary to what some might say, there is no ill feeling,” he says. “In the two years plus, I built up wonderful relationships with an awful lot of people. Even though I only spent just over two years at Finn Harps, I felt really at home there. 

“It was very difficult to ask Ian and Rory (White, Harps Secretary) to allow me to walk away from a three-year contract. I know, obviously, it will be a difficult situation for Ian and Rory now, but they allowed it to happen. I admire them for what they are trying to achieve and trying to do at Finn Harps. We started something together and they are the people who will continue that work, which is very important.  

“I will be at the game against Longford on Friday-week, simply because there is no bad feeling.” 

Murphy was touched by the support he received from people at Harps following the death of his father, Bertie, last September.

“People at Finn Harps played a huge part in me getting through a very difficult time in my personal life,” he said. “I will be eternally grateful for the support that Finn Harps people gave me.”

The job at Harps is rather unique. A lack of training facilities has been inhibiting preparations, not to mention Harps’ perennial struggles meaning that long journeys for games at the other end of the country have to be made without the benefit of overnight stays. 

One evening recently, Harps’ senior team were only able to train for an hour at a rented facility. Finn Park has been in use three or four times a week lately.

“It’s too much, but the hands are tied,” Murphy says. “They will be able to use River View from next week when the clocks go back. People sometimes don’t realise what happens beyond 7.45pm on a Friday. It is extremely difficult, but it is nobody’s fault. In my couple of years at the club, facilities were definitely the most challenging part of the job. If you look at the club and take the senior team, the under-20s, under-17s, under-14s, under-14s and then the younger academy teams and girls teams; that’s a lot of teams and a lot of money. It’s a situation that an awful lot of people don’t see.

“It was a very difficult job, but I really enjoyed it. I threw myself into it completely.  I think I helped to make Finn Harps a more approachable club in the role of the head coach and that needs to continue. 

“There has been a lot of good done and I always said to Ian that we weren’t building a football team, but a football club. Harps supporters meed to be patient for that and there are some small green shoots of what can appear.”

Seven players from Harps were on a variety of international squads with the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland in the last week and Murphy says Harps should continue to have the pathway open from the academy to first team.

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He says: “I helped to crate a pathway between the academy and the senior team. I am very thankful of the people who recognised that and also very thankful of the players who have progressed through the academy. 

“I actually think Finn Harps as a football club is in a healthy place. At the minute, Harps’ Under-14s and Under-15s are up there with the best in the country and in the last week seven players from the club have been away on internationals. 

“The decision I have made was not made without the understanding of the chairman. I encourage Harps to continue on the path and I look forward to a player going to England; that will be the second step in the journey.”