Michael Murphy’s retirement will be felt far from the hills of Donegal

Some players seem endless. Some players seem unbreakable. Michael Murphy, boy wasn’t he some player.

It is hard to fathom Michael Murphy in the rear-view mirror of Donegal football. It is hard to imagine him as a former intercounty player. But here we are, watching a man of so many summers ushering in an endless winter.

The Glenswilly clubman made his senior debut for Donegal in 2007. He was Young Footballer of the Year in 2009. He was made Donegal senior captain in 2011 and there he remained until announcing his retirement on Wednesday night, at 33 years young.

He raised the Sam Maguire in 2012 – the moment he transformed from being a son of Donegal to emperor of his people. He won three All Stars and five Ulster titles but measuring his success in silver undervalues what he actually achieved.

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He was everything to Donegal. Has there ever been a player in the history of the game so singularly important to a team as Murphy was to Donegal over the last decade?

Joe Brolly once called him a man-child. And you could see where he was coming from.

Murphy was physical and skilful, somehow having the insane ability to swing a sledgehammer without getting a blemish on his velvet gloves.

He looked like a tanker but could jink like a jet-ski – effortlessly booming balls over the bar with about as much backlift as some of us use kicking leaves off the footpath.

“Regarded by many, many people as Donegal’s greatest ever player he also captained the Ireland International Rules team and just three All Stars awards seems a scant measure of his colossal role in Gaelic Football across three decades,” read the Donegal statement announcing his retirement.

“Outside the white lines Michael is a gentleman of the highest order, always with time to speak with fans, particularly the younger ones.”

So often, long after the cameras were turned off and most of the crowd had filed out of the ground Murphy would be still on the pitch. It would be impossible to calculate the amount of Michael Murphy photos stored on iPhones across Donegal.

Over the years they grew to love Murphy as much for how he represented their county as for his footballing prowess. Off the field he has always been a bit of a gentle giant, on it he was simply a giant.

“I always knew the day would come when this chapter of my life would have to close. Now, that day has arrived,” said Murphy in his farewell statement.

“I still love Gaelic football and I still love Donegal. However, in the team I’m proud to have captained, to compete at the level which Donegal deserves requires the best I can give every day. I no longer feel I have the energy and capacity to reach the performance levels to give my best to Donegal.

“The last time we sat together in the changing rooms in Clones, I told my teammates that whatever happened in the future, Donegal will always go on. That’s still my belief.”

But he too was always meant to go on. That was our belief. And it was Donegal’s hope. For new manager Paddy Carr it is as bad a start as one can imagine, like picking up a Porsche only to discover it comes without an engine or a steering wheel. A few previous owners, fairly well road-tested, potentially knackered.

Murphy, almost certainly, will himself become Donegal manager in the future. Sure there are some up in the Hills who will tell you he has been managing the team for years.

The debate on where he should play, edge of the square or midfield, raged throughout his career. Travel from Bundoran to Malin and you’ll have no difficulty finding a soul prepared to argue the toss with you on that one. But, ultimately, they realised he was the best of them.

“To those good people who support our county team and everyone I know in Donegal: they say we are different up here. Well, we are different in the best of ways,” added Murphy.

“My family and my club are at the centre of all my plans for the future. They deserve the best of me too. Maybe in the years ahead, I’ll find new ways to offer something more to my home county.”

That signal of hope will have to be enough to sustain Donegal fans now over the years ahead.

You want to know his character. He was named TG4 man-of-the-match in Donegal’s win over Tyrone in late May 2021. Murphy finished his interview with TG4 and walked towards the cameraman, Brendan O’Donnell.

Brendan’s brother, Michael ‘Jack’ O’Donnell – a well-known Donegal photographer – had passed away at the start of May. Over the years Murphy had got to know him. The Donegal captain approached Brendan, handed over the award and told him it was for Michael Jack.

How Donegal will manage without him remains to be seen. They might yet have the statue erected in the Diamond before the McKenna Cup begins. He was their greatest.

“We will never see the likes of Michael again in the green and gold of Donegal,” ventured the Donegal statement.

Is there much more to be said? Perhaps only that his retirement is not only Donegal’s loss.

The 2023 season already looks a duller place without him.

Michael Murphy, boy wasn’t he some player?