After scoring nine points on Saturday evening, there have been fresh calls for Donegal to keep Michael Murphy at the edge of the square – but the Donegal captain says he’d be happy to play at corner-back!
You don’t get a sense that Murphy is joking, either.
Murphy started Saturday’s Super 8 tie in Roscommon at midfield, but Donegal sent him inside midway through the first-half and the Glenswilly giant tore the Rossies asunder.
His nine points, five of them from play, were crucial in a 0-20 to 0-13 win.
But his tally, and more so his overall totemic performance as an inside forward, have raged debate about his role.
“I just want to be effective for Donegal,” Murphy insisted.
“We all do. The game has got so fast and hectic that people pop up in different scenarios and different positions.
“Wherever I can be most effective is where I want to play, whether that’s inside, outside, or at corner-back, I really don’t care. It’s just important to be effective and to bring something to the team.”
Last week, after Donegal lost to Dublin at Croke Park, former Kerry star Colm Cooper questioned what Declan Bonner was getting out of Murphy at midfield.
Joe Brolly wrote that Murphy was ‘wandering around the no man’s land of the middle third in big games, giving the odd handpass and taking the frees’.
Murphy shrugged when the comments were put to him, seemingly concerned only with the brass tacks of this business.
He said: “You put yourself up there as a player. Somedays it goes for you, somedays it doesn’t. We’re experienced with that now and you just take the good with the bad.
“That’s football. There’s the old thing that you’re only as good as your last game. Individually and collectively we did fail to push on against Dublin and, with the spotlight that’s on now, you’re always open.”
On Saturday evening, the vanquished Roscommon manager Kevin McStay, even allowing for the fact that he’d been left fuming at the officials at half-time, even found time to hail the Donegal star.
“He’s a once-in-a-generation player,” McStay said.
“That size, that ability, that power; he has the whole package. He’s a marvellous player. We don’t have that type of player and Donegal should celebrate him because they don’t come around too often.
“He’s the real deal, isn’t he? Every team would love to have him. He goes about his business and does what his manager wants and what is best for the team. He knows how to manage the game perfectly.”
Murphy referred to the win at Dr Hyde Park as having ‘ticked a box’ and Donegal are now one game and one win – albeit against their fierce foes from Tyrone – away from an All-Ireland semi-final.
Murphy says his team – remarkably, including himself – have plenty to work on.
He said: “There was a lot of sloppiness and a lot of chances that were still there for me.
“Listen, coming off last week, the whole lot of us felt that we didn’t push on and play on the front foot like we did in Ulster.
“Dublin are a fantastic side, but we were disappointed and we came to Roscommon with a point to prove. We wanted to play the game how we’ve been trying to play it.
“We just wanted to get back on the horse again. We couldn’t feel sorry for ourselves and we needed a performance.
“As the first half went on, we found pockets and bits of space. In the second half, there were chances that we need to punish as the weeks go on.”
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