Kevin McStay: Murphy and O’Shea the key men in defining Castlebar showdown

When Páraic Duffy sat down a few years ago with his design team to dream up the Super 8s, nights like next Saturday in Castlebar may have represented the the measure of his dreams.

The concept still needs work; there have been dead rubbers and the seagulls echoing in Croke Park for some of those ‘neutral games’ and several unsatisfying days but there is also this scenario: a heavyweight rumble between two huge football counties on home ground.

Tyrone and Dublin in Omagh is also a fantastic game. But both of those teams are already through. Also, they will be forearmed with the knowledge of who has won the other group on Saturday evening. Technically, they could engineer who they play against in the All-Ireland semi-final. They won’t, I am sure. But they should not be given the opportunity!

The GAA is bowing to television schedules here. And they shouldn’t. It is another example of the issue of unfairness which has followed this championship.

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Then there is the Stephen Rochford factor. I feel he will get an excellent reception in MacHale Park. He is a son of the county

But in MacHale Park on Saturday, all of that will become immaterial to Donegal and Mayo. They will exist in their own private universe for those few hours. We are four weeks out from the final and undoubtedly we have the five best teams in Ireland left. That is how it was supposed to be. Dublin, Tyrone and, in all probability, Kerry are through. So Donegal and Mayo will essentially go toe-to-toe for the last spot.

You can imagine the atmosphere in training this week. Both teams are three games away from glory. That will tailor their approach and mindset. They will both be hell bent on smashing through this stone wall they face. I think it’s true to state that these squads are not mad about each other. No Christmas texts.

This rivalry goes back to the 2012 All-Ireland final. Donegal won. Mayo lost. Memories are long. We have the Allianz League Division Two champions, Donegal, away to the Division One champions, Mayo and the Division Two side are keen favourites. Against that, we have the two-time Ulster champions facing a team who hasn’t won its province since 2015.

The fortnight break was, I am sure, welcome to both teams but I suspect that Mayo needed it more.

Four long hard weekends on the run culminating in a game in which they did enough – and just that – to beat Meath in Croke Park; they needed a chance to take stock for this last charge. We are hearing that players are returning from injury in both camps. Grand: great to see them back. But are they ready to play?

Are they championship ready or rusty for a game of this magnitude?

We don’t know about Paddy Durcan or Keith Higgins. We know Diarmuid O’Connor might be back. From Donegal, we know Eoghan Bán Gallagher is out and we don’t fully know about Paddy McGrath, Neil McGee or Odhrán McFadden-Ferry.

Bold plays

Neither manager issues teams we can believe in. So it is hard to say with any degree of accuracy how this match might fall because we don’t know who will be on the field. We can say that both teams are well known to each other.

Then there is the Stephen Rochford factor. I feel he will get an excellent reception in MacHale Park. He is a son of the county. I managed Stephen at under-21 grade and I found him an excellent fella; really a top class person. This will be personal for him – he will wish he didn’t have to be here. But he is and, by God, he will use all of his knowledge and his experience to help Donegal.

He is a smart guy. I know when we were getting ready for Mayo in Roscommon, we went through a lot of contingencies for Enda Smith. What would Rochford do? We would cover so many angles. Then, after the parade, there was Lee Keegan waiting for him at midfield.

It was completely left field from our perspective. We did everything to shake him: we even pushed Smith into full forward and Keegan went in there with him. So Stephen is not afraid of big bold plays. Essentially, he was rejected by the Mayo County Board and, to a certain degree, by his players. Their silence was deafening at that time and he will be motivated to prove his worth here.

So there are many variables. But for me, the big inescapable issue comes down to this. Who are the players who will dictate and decide the flow of the game?

There is a notion that in big games, it is always the unexpected outlier who storms into the equation and edges the contest with his unexpected influence. Fine, that can happen. But on balance, it is the marquee player who dictates the fate of his team.

And it so happens that in Aidan O’Shea and Michael Murphy, Mayo and Donegal have two ocean liners dominating the horizon. Both men have defined this era for their teams. They are gargantuan players. They are of inestimable worth to their respective counties.

I remember when I first saw them both properly. O’Shea got man of the match on a losing Mayo team at under-21 level. And I saw the emergence of Murphy at under-21 level in Donegal that same year.

I remember he cracked the ball against the crossbar late in the All-Ireland under-21 final against Jim Gavin’s Dublin in 2010. Donegal could have won the game with that kick. And I was thinking: wow that is going to be a tough moment for that young lad. Will he bounce back? Two years later Michael lifted the Sam Maguire after scoring a goal for the ages in an All-Ireland senior final.

Big deal

I have to say, I think Michael Murphy is extraordinary. In his range of abilities and influence, has there been a better footballer in the past 20 years? Not for me. I went through the Kerry tape again. He was unreal.

In so many areas of the field, wherever he was needed he pops up and he is always, always deciding what needs to be done. I know there that is this criticism because he didn’t perform in the 2014 All-Ireland final against Kerry when Aidan O’Mahony did a number on him and he was blotted out by Vinny Corey in an Ulster final loss to Monaghan. Against those two games stands a litany of days when he has dominated for Donegal.

Against Kerry, he took the possibilities of individual performance to a level the public has rarely witnessed. He did the same thing against Meath in the league final. But competing with Kerry remains a national measure. If you do well against them, it is a big deal. Michael scored 1-7 in that game: three frees, four from play and the penalty. Catches; tackles; hits; passes, composure and play making; he had the full package. He scores from both feet.

I struggle to think of any player who can do so many things as well as Murphy does them.

He can play the two midfield roles, he plays No 11 exceptionally well and, of course, he may be the best full forward in Ireland. He is sometimes criticised for being a bit sloppy and robust in the tackle but I wonder if he gets so much physical attention that he is leaving a message in those tackles? I think he learned after the O’Mahony experience that he is going to look after himself because he took a lot of punishment off the ball that day.

He is so calm now. Look at his demeanour for the penalty against Kerry. I was in the studio behind the goal for RTÉ and I felt Donegal were slipping a little bit at that moment. It was 1-13 to 0-14 in the 53rd minute. He took the ball and my sense was that he would score it.

Bizarrely, then, a posse of stewards started walking behind the goal. I felt he would wait for the parade to pass by. He never broke stride or focus and just slotted it home as the stewards walked on. And now Donegal are leading and he is leading that charge and he did that right until the end. In the excitement of that late free, he bought himself a lovely few metres and floated it over the bar and got the equaliser.

He sort of refused to allow Kerry to win that game. I feel Michael has gotten better game by game. He is a unique force, someone the game hasn’t really seen before. If you are searching for a comparable player in the recent past, there is none.

In terms of covering ground and leading from midfield, Jack O’Shea is perhaps the best I’ve seen. Michael is reminiscent of him in that regard. There may have been one or two slightly better free-takers or stronger midfield specialists but I struggle to think of any player who can do so many things as well as Murphy does them.

Lovely vision

When Aidan O’Shea is compared with Michael, it is through one stark prism. One man has won his All-Ireland. And one man hasn’t. It’s a bit unfair on Aidan because he, too, has been the force of nature within his county over the past decade.

He has dominated a lot of matches for Mayo from midfield in a way not seen in the county since Liam McHale was playing at his peak. There were a few years, remember, when Aidan O’Shea was the dominant figure in the Connacht championship. He obliterated teams across the province and has always been identified as Mayo’s centre of gravity in All-Ireland games.

He is the one the others want to stop. His range of gifts and skills is formidable and unique. He has a deft touch, lovely hands and is the best tackler in the country. He has that basketball whip hand; if you show him the ball at all, it is gone.

I remember chatting to Martin Carney about him when he was younger and we were saying he has got to get the conditioning right. And there was a hint of that late in an All-Ireland final against Dublin when Cluxton executed a couple of kick outs to the wing perfectly and Aidan was too spent to stay with his man. But his conditioning gets better year on year. He is predominantly citeog but he has a right foot too.

The older order led by O'Shea, in their minds, will feel they have the beating of Donegal

He can play centre-forward because he has lovely vision for a pass and is tidy around the goal. He is an easy target for the critics. He is the big star and he lives his life; he makes no apologies for that. He is his own man and is not afraid to put himself out there which is not easy when you are losing All-Ireland finals. But it would be wrong to judge him on that. He is a major force.

Donegal know this too well. In 2015, he went in full forward against Donegal, caught a high ball against Neil McGee and threw the defenders out of the way and buried it. He led Mayo from the front that day. I think his toughest press comes from outside Mayo. People in the county who are fair about it realise that he has been a fantastic servant for Mayo. Supporters adore him.

From what I understand, he is an affable lad. He has had some shattering football experiences but he keeps in good shape and has another go. From January to March he was the best player in Ireland. He wasn’t as good as he needed to be against Roscommon. But Saturday night is his moment. Equally, it is Michael Murphy’s moment.

Managers don’t tend to man mark O’Shea. But teams tend to dedicate a man to Murphy. Who will it be on Saturday? The obvious guy is Lee Keegan, if he is fully fit again. He has shown his stuff on Diarmuid Connolly and I have a sense he could be detailed to try and dog and neutralise Michael. This won’t be as easily accomplished as it was in 2014: Donegal play a different game now and Michael is a more mature player.

More punishment

Both players get more punishment than virtually everyone else because they are such big men. They have to work harder to get frees and they get hit harder. Yet I don’t think Aidan was ever sent off for Mayo. Michael was sent off once against Cavan but the red card was overturned on appeal. It is some record for the pair of them. What a treat for the supporters and for the country to see them go head into head in high summer like this.

Since that 2012 All-Ireland final, Mayo have beaten Donegal twice in championship and have had two significant league results. The older order led by O’Shea, in their minds, will feel they have the beating of Donegal.

I suppose the proviso is that this is an emerging Donegal side, a new side and they are young and confident and Michael’s role is different now. Donegal’s future is hugely bright. Mayo are raging against the dying of the light. Aidan will have a huge say in this. He won’t feel in any way inferior to those Donegal players.

Mayo won’t want to go under in their own county. They’ve never walked away from a challenge. But will that be enough for the likes of McHugh, McBrearty, young Gallen? Will it be enough for Michael Murphy? I genuinely don’t know who will win this. I will make one prediction. Aidan O’Shea or Michael Murphy will have a massive say. And their voice and their influence will decide the winner.