IN CONSIDERING THE Second Coming of Michael Murphy, you have to ask yourself one question, in two ways: was it worth it?
Perhaps Murphy might feel it wasn’t. After two years out of intercounty football and a spell on the Football Review Committee reshaping the contours of the sport, he came back for one thing.
Donegal had Jim McGuinness back in charge. They won back the Ulster title after a penalty shoot-out, but they faltered against Galway in the All-Ireland semi-final.
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There were enough crumbs of comfort within that loss to convince themselves they were close. They just needed one more thing. And that thing was Michael Murphy.
Let’s stay on the balance sheet before we go too lateral here.
He came back for 2025. He won an Ulster title in 2025 and a national league in 2026. That would represent a good return for the vast majority of players. But still . . .
There is another, more abstract way of looking at it. And we will return to that.
Ultimately, his return was bookended by two physical exchanges.
The first time he returned to the Donegal jersey was in mid-February 2025. Armagh were in Ballybofey and it was important enough for Donegal that they would send on Murphy and go straight to their captain, Aidan Forker.
Forker-Murphy has been a feisty coupling for many seasons, but this one was bizarre as Forker lost all control in the mandatory pushing and shoving and tried to drive a headbutt at Murphy’s chest. Murphy’s reaction was to alert referee Seán Hurson, who had no choice but to send Forker off.
44 nóim #GAABeo
@officialdonegal 0-13 (13)
@Armagh_GAA 1-07 (10)
Murphy díreach ar an bpáirc agus tionchar ollmhór déanta aige
cheana féin
Aidan Forker is shown a red and Armagh are down to 14
BEO/LIVE AR @TG4TV
@AllianzIreland #AllianzLeagues #GAABEO https://t.co/7rQgyzAoma
Despite 981 days out of county football, Murphy had lost nothing of his edge and nous. He added three points in the last quarter and at the final whistle was mobbed by adoring fans. The King was back in the building.
How it ended, was a little different. Donegal were heading out of the championship in round three against Dublin when they were awarded a marginal call and a free-kick then was moved up 50 yards. Murphy nailed the two points needed to take the game to extra-time and then made a beeline to physically accost Ciaran Kilkenny.
It prompted a melee, one of a few for Donegal last summer, and earned Murphy a black card that spanned the first half of extra-time.
Tangling with Ciaran Kilkenny and Niall Scully. Laszlo Geczo
In between those times, there was the hugely controversial incident when he planted a combination of blows to Kerry’s Dylan Casey’s back, before finishing with a jab to the neck and jaw area.
The two would meet later in Killarney and Donegal once again won comfortably. Kerry were the aggressors this time with Micheál Burns punching Ryan McHugh.
But the fallout was toxic.
Jim McGuinness’s umbrage to Off The Ball reporter Tommy Rooney’s valid question around him placing hands on a Kerry opponent was a sign of a group, perhaps a figurehead, in a season that was bringing no joy.
Performance coaches repeatedly preach that the optimum state of being is to train like it’s the most important thing ever, and play like it means nothing at all. This, when it came to match day, was the opposite of a stress-wrecked Donegal last summer.
***
As a player, his finest moment came in the opening moments of the 2012 All-Ireland final. In a pre-planned move, Karl Lacey let fly with the perfect delivery, from the Cusack Stand side of the pitch, towards the back post of the Hill 16 end.
Murphy fetched cleanly ahead of Mayo defender Kevin Keane, turned and dispatched a rocket to the net.
It showcased all of his strength, athleticism and power.
'Oh céard é sin mar thús do Dhún na nGall?!!'
Ba eiseamláir imreora é Michael Murphy dá fhoireann 💯
@murphm95 thundering goal in the third minute sent Donegal on the road to victory!
📺@officialdonegal V @MayoGAA
⏰Dé Domhnaigh @15:25 @TG4TV
#AllIrelandGold
@ballsdotie https://t.co/TCJQTkOPyV
As dangerous as he was close to goal, he was rarely played there, despite wearing the 14 jersey throughout his career.
It seems crazy to note that goal against Mayo was one of only six championship goals from play, in his 18 seasons.
His championship debut came in 2007, a backdoor game against Leitrim in Carrick-on-Shannon. He rifled home a goal in the first half.
It stands out that he didn’t hit a championship goal in any of his last five seasons.
A good reason for this was how he was deployed. In any Donegal team he had to be head chef and chief bottle washer. He was a kickout target. He was midfield enforcer, putting in the big hits. He was the dependable Libero, unflappable in possession, or he could be the dashing attacker, sprinting to join the highest point of the attack.
He would be there to come on the loop and kick a massive point. Or else calmly dander to the designated spot of a free-kick, rake the grass from the cogs on his boots and stroke the ball over from his hands after a short run-up.
Murphy played as hard as he could. He emptied himself into this thing. In doing so, he emerged as a figure crankier than ever, determined to do whatever it took, not at all uncomfortable with foul means.
The more the opposition had it in for him, the more his own doubled down on their devotion.
There has never been a more popular Donegal footballer. He is now at the end of a lineage from Brian McEniff to Jim McGuinness and now Murphy as the most influential people ever in Donegal football.
He is so embedded in the county that the senior football championship, the Dr Maguire Cup, is sponsored by Michael Murphy Sports and Leisure.
While his talent was recognised very early on by the covetous Aussies, he was too much of a home bird to ever consider leaving Donegal. Even attending college in DCU left him feeling homesick.
Lifting Sam Maguire in 2012. James Crombie / INPHO
If the people of Donegal loved him, he gave them good reason to, off the field as well. There are dozens of stories of him obliging people. Of unexpected call-ins to visit Donegal fans. His warrior spirit could calm instantly at the final whistle and he would give his time gladly to the legions of young children seeking selfies and autographs.
Murphy’s mobile number was not a guarded secret. Before games, he would receive hundreds of good-luck texts. All of them would be replied to in time.
So we return to the question – was it worth it?
2026 wouldn’t have happened if 2025 had gone differently.
They came up short in the ultimate test.
McGuinness’s tactics and match-ups exposed Murphy, who was left trailing after the former international schoolboy sprinter Jason Foley on the Kerry kickouts. Tactical shortcomings, particularly the refusal to pressurise Paudie Clifford in possession, have already been documented to exhaustion.
That frustration curdled over the winter and led to the version of themselves that Donegal served up in 2026.
The majority of players will still measure themselves on what they won and Murphy already had an All-Ireland title. The viewing public, however, also take into account the spirit in which you played the game.
His legs got a bit heavier, and he started relying on the odd reducer. It’s a tale as old as time in Gaelic football. Normally a sign to either retire, or embrace the role of hatchet man with younger, fitter opponents taunting you.
That process was already well underway as 2026 rolled on. After the league final his credit score was dangerously low, and even a routine tackle was met with howls from opposition fans.
When he came on after his black card for the second period of extra time against Dublin, his every touch was jeered by the Dublin fans.
It was an undeserved ending for a magnificent footballer.
It clearly does not represent Murphy as a citizen either. All that stuff will fade.
Three years ago, he and Annie were married in Florence. They have a new baby to occupy themselves.
He will stay forever in Donegal, in Glenswilly, rooted to the place, the soil, the football. His place assured.
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After all the rage, Michael Murphy's place in Donegal affections is assured forever
IN CONSIDERING THE Second Coming of Michael Murphy, you have to ask yourself one question, in two ways: was it worth it?
Perhaps Murphy might feel it wasn’t. After two years out of intercounty football and a spell on the Football Review Committee reshaping the contours of the sport, he came back for one thing.
Donegal had Jim McGuinness back in charge. They won back the Ulster title after a penalty shoot-out, but they faltered against Galway in the All-Ireland semi-final.
There were enough crumbs of comfort within that loss to convince themselves they were close. They just needed one more thing. And that thing was Michael Murphy.
Let’s stay on the balance sheet before we go too lateral here.
He came back for 2025. He won an Ulster title in 2025 and a national league in 2026. That would represent a good return for the vast majority of players. But still . . .
There is another, more abstract way of looking at it. And we will return to that.
Ultimately, his return was bookended by two physical exchanges.
The first time he returned to the Donegal jersey was in mid-February 2025. Armagh were in Ballybofey and it was important enough for Donegal that they would send on Murphy and go straight to their captain, Aidan Forker.
Forker-Murphy has been a feisty coupling for many seasons, but this one was bizarre as Forker lost all control in the mandatory pushing and shoving and tried to drive a headbutt at Murphy’s chest. Murphy’s reaction was to alert referee Seán Hurson, who had no choice but to send Forker off.
Despite 981 days out of county football, Murphy had lost nothing of his edge and nous. He added three points in the last quarter and at the final whistle was mobbed by adoring fans. The King was back in the building.
How it ended, was a little different. Donegal were heading out of the championship in round three against Dublin when they were awarded a marginal call and a free-kick then was moved up 50 yards. Murphy nailed the two points needed to take the game to extra-time and then made a beeline to physically accost Ciaran Kilkenny.
It prompted a melee, one of a few for Donegal last summer, and earned Murphy a black card that spanned the first half of extra-time.
In between those times, there was the hugely controversial incident when he planted a combination of blows to Kerry’s Dylan Casey’s back, before finishing with a jab to the neck and jaw area.
The two would meet later in Killarney and Donegal once again won comfortably. Kerry were the aggressors this time with Micheál Burns punching Ryan McHugh.
But the fallout was toxic.
Jim McGuinness’s umbrage to Off The Ball reporter Tommy Rooney’s valid question around him placing hands on a Kerry opponent was a sign of a group, perhaps a figurehead, in a season that was bringing no joy.
Performance coaches repeatedly preach that the optimum state of being is to train like it’s the most important thing ever, and play like it means nothing at all. This, when it came to match day, was the opposite of a stress-wrecked Donegal last summer.
***
As a player, his finest moment came in the opening moments of the 2012 All-Ireland final. In a pre-planned move, Karl Lacey let fly with the perfect delivery, from the Cusack Stand side of the pitch, towards the back post of the Hill 16 end.
Murphy fetched cleanly ahead of Mayo defender Kevin Keane, turned and dispatched a rocket to the net.
It showcased all of his strength, athleticism and power.
As dangerous as he was close to goal, he was rarely played there, despite wearing the 14 jersey throughout his career.
It seems crazy to note that goal against Mayo was one of only six championship goals from play, in his 18 seasons.
His championship debut came in 2007, a backdoor game against Leitrim in Carrick-on-Shannon. He rifled home a goal in the first half.
It stands out that he didn’t hit a championship goal in any of his last five seasons.
A good reason for this was how he was deployed. In any Donegal team he had to be head chef and chief bottle washer. He was a kickout target. He was midfield enforcer, putting in the big hits. He was the dependable Libero, unflappable in possession, or he could be the dashing attacker, sprinting to join the highest point of the attack.
He would be there to come on the loop and kick a massive point. Or else calmly dander to the designated spot of a free-kick, rake the grass from the cogs on his boots and stroke the ball over from his hands after a short run-up.
Murphy played as hard as he could. He emptied himself into this thing. In doing so, he emerged as a figure crankier than ever, determined to do whatever it took, not at all uncomfortable with foul means.
The more the opposition had it in for him, the more his own doubled down on their devotion.
There has never been a more popular Donegal footballer. He is now at the end of a lineage from Brian McEniff to Jim McGuinness and now Murphy as the most influential people ever in Donegal football.
He is so embedded in the county that the senior football championship, the Dr Maguire Cup, is sponsored by Michael Murphy Sports and Leisure.
While his talent was recognised very early on by the covetous Aussies, he was too much of a home bird to ever consider leaving Donegal. Even attending college in DCU left him feeling homesick.
If the people of Donegal loved him, he gave them good reason to, off the field as well. There are dozens of stories of him obliging people. Of unexpected call-ins to visit Donegal fans. His warrior spirit could calm instantly at the final whistle and he would give his time gladly to the legions of young children seeking selfies and autographs.
Murphy’s mobile number was not a guarded secret. Before games, he would receive hundreds of good-luck texts. All of them would be replied to in time.
So we return to the question – was it worth it?
2026 wouldn’t have happened if 2025 had gone differently.
They came up short in the ultimate test.
McGuinness’s tactics and match-ups exposed Murphy, who was left trailing after the former international schoolboy sprinter Jason Foley on the Kerry kickouts. Tactical shortcomings, particularly the refusal to pressurise Paudie Clifford in possession, have already been documented to exhaustion.
That frustration curdled over the winter and led to the version of themselves that Donegal served up in 2026.
The majority of players will still measure themselves on what they won and Murphy already had an All-Ireland title. The viewing public, however, also take into account the spirit in which you played the game.
His legs got a bit heavier, and he started relying on the odd reducer. It’s a tale as old as time in Gaelic football. Normally a sign to either retire, or embrace the role of hatchet man with younger, fitter opponents taunting you.
That process was already well underway as 2026 rolled on. After the league final his credit score was dangerously low, and even a routine tackle was met with howls from opposition fans.
When he came on after his black card for the second period of extra time against Dublin, his every touch was jeered by the Dublin fans.
It was an undeserved ending for a magnificent footballer.
It clearly does not represent Murphy as a citizen either. All that stuff will fade.
Three years ago, he and Annie were married in Florence. They have a new baby to occupy themselves.
He will stay forever in Donegal, in Glenswilly, rooted to the place, the soil, the football. His place assured.
His legacy, as yet, unfinished.
***
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GAA Gaelic Football Murphy's Law RETIREMENT TAKE TWO