McGuinness and Murphy back in tandem

The night before the their first round championship clash with Cavan in 2012, the Donegal management and players were gathered at the Slieve Russell Hotel.

Only once in the previous 67 years had a side won the province starting from the preliminary round and Donegal had never gone back-to-back in Ulster, but expectations were rising with Jimmy winning matches.

After watching Chelsea prevail over Bayern Munich in a penalty shootout, a team meeting was held to run through some final preparations ahead of taking on the Breffni men the following day.

Yet McGuinness couldn't shake the sense that something wasn’t quite right. The team was moving well – in less than four months they would be crowned All-Ireland champions – but did everyone share his unwavering belief?

Having fallen short at the penultimate stage a year previously in an infamously low-scoring encounter against Dublin, McGuinness surprised the group by outlining his unease. Not at their effort, but what they hoped to achieve.

"Put your hand up if every single morning you wake up, the first thing you think about is winning an All-Ireland medal," he said.

Only two hands went up, those belonging to Dermot Molloy and Michael Murphy.

McGuinness appreciated the honesty of the group, but would most likely have expected such a firm response from Murphy, his general who wouldn’t turn 23 until later that summer. As it turned out, only Tyrone offered meaningful resistance in Ulster, with Down swept away in the decider and the the big prize landed shortly after.

Murphy and McGuinness celebrate the breakthrough Ulster title of 2011

By that stage, the working relationship between the pair had only been in place for a couple of years. Prior to taking over the Donegal Under-21s, the two had rarely been in each other’s company, yet quickly McGuinness recognised something unique in the Glenswilly man.

"He is unlike anyone I have come across in terms of his focus," he wrote in his book, Until Victory Always, quite the statement given his own obsession with detail.

"When we started out, I got the impression that he was watching and evaluating and working out what he felt was going to happen. Once he was happy that there was substance behind the talk, he just went through the roof. He led."

The respect between the pair deepened as Donegal made their way to an All-Ireland Under-21 final in 2010.

Murphy was one of seven Donegal-based players based in DCU at the time and told McGuinness that they wouldn’t be able to make both training sessions during the week. The solution was for the manager to travel down and put the septet through their paces.

"Mesmeric" was McGuinness’s description of Murphy’s Under-21 Ulster final performance, a first provincial title at that level in 15 years. He missed a penalty in the dying embers of the All-Ireland decider against Jim Gavin’s Dublin, but the manager felt the aftermath summed up the player’s mentality.

A dejected Murphy at the end of a dramatic All-Ireland Under-21 defeat to Dublin

"He didn’t look for excuses or blame anyone. He took the disappointment, absorbed it and became a better player."

A generational talent, Murphy was always going to be front and centre for Donegal’s assault on Sam Maguire under any manager, never mind one as forensic as McGuinness.

Ultimate glory in 2012 was built on Murphy’s early goal against Mayo where his skillset was on full display. Aerial ability, strength in holding off Kevin Keane and the emphatic finish to almost rip the net behind David Clarke.

It was Murphy at his devastating best, but in an era of the packed defence, it also caused concern for McGuinness. Stationed permanently as a full-forward in the more generous environment that was Under-21 level, the player spent more time further out the field at senior level to escape more robust attention close to goal.

Donegal fans, and indeed interested neutrals alike, were at times dismayed, yet McGuinness never wavered. What he lost up top he felt he gained by their man exploding onto the ball and through the opposition defence.

GAANOW Rewind takes a look back to one of the great All-Ireland Final goals from @officialdonegal's Michael Murphy in the 2012 decider against @MayoGAA! pic.twitter.com/NZ2Zx6bdui — The GAA (@officialgaa) August 2, 2018

"We constantly heard the complaints that we should put him on the edge of the square," McGuinness reflected in his book.

"We didn’t do it all that often for one simple reason: it was very predictable and managers would work out how to double and triple-mark him and make it impossible for him to get the ball. To us it was a nonsense debate. Michael had very good discipline, but he got physically hammered in every game he played."

McGuinness’s first stint ended with All-Ireland final disappointment at the hands of Kerry, a limpet-like performance from Aidan O’Mahony restricting Murphy to a single point from play, though the manager argued the defeat centered on an overall flat performance rather than the curbing of the captain’s influence.

The suspicion that Donegal would struggle to scale similar heights post-McGuinness was largely proven correct. Rory Gallagher never got the team further than the last eight with little success in Ulster, and while Cavan caused a major surprise to deny Declan Bonner’s side a provincial three-in-a-row, they never truly threatened to cause much damage at the business end of the season, notwithstanding Dublin’s dominance.

Murphy toiled through it all. A selfless and effective figure in the middle third, it wasn’t the thrilling, swashbuckling presence tormenting opposition full-back lines that green and yellow-clad supporters craved to see. A haul of three All-Stars points to self-sacrifice for the betterment of the team.

After falling short against Armagh in a 2022 qualifier, the 32-year-old was in reflective mood in the dressing room.

Could he still give everything to the cause? The only conclusion he could draw in Clones was that he couldn’t see how. He slipped out and made for home with his father, bringing the curtain down on a 15-year senior inter-county career.

Murphy tussles with Aidan Forker in June 2022. The Donegal man announced his retirement five months later

Murphy’s absence only accentuated the depths they would sink to in 2023. The shock return of McGuinness to the hot-seat led to inevitable discussions that his loyal lieutenant could be coaxed out of the punditry arena.

The pair had always kept in close contact, and McGuinness made no bones that he had "half-tortured" Murphy to return, yet the player didn’t waver in his public utterances.

"That (retirement) had nothing to do with managers," he said at the time. "So even with Jim coming in, it didn’t change. It didn’t change one iota."

But something did change. Pitchside on BBC duty, he watched Donegal edged out of a dogged All-Ireland semi-final with Galway. The winter GAA rumour mill cranked into gear that McGuinness's persuasive powers had won out, the bombshell confirmed last November.

"I know that Neil [his brother, selector] and a lot of people had a path worn to Murphy's door last year," former team-mate Eamon McGee told RTÉ Sport this week.

"I thought 'this man's going to break eventually’. And he didn't. Part of me respected that because I wouldn't have been able to turn all them down.

"I don't think Murphy would have come back for anybody else."

Pre-match discussions during this year's championship

Having helped to mould the new football landscape through the FRC’s reforms, the 35-year-old would now get the type of freedom unheard of during his first stint.

He’s rotated mainly between midfield and full-forward – Michael Langan’s goal against Monaghan proof of the damage he can cause - over the course of the championship, and invariably is Shaun Patton’s kick-out option in times of need.

His six-point haul against Meath, where he was replaced shorty after the interval ,was full of the Murphy bag of tricks. Free-kick taking (Donegal's only two-pointed came from a placed ball), ball winning around the middle and clever interplay with his forwards.

His challenge on Meath full-back Sean Rafferty, where he escaped what appeared to be a blatant black card, also illustrated that his dogged determination on the pitch hasn’t dimmed either.

Kerry may be buoyed from Donegal’s only championship defeat this term.

Up until the hour mark against Tyrone, Murphy was the most influential player on the pitch. With the game in the melting pot however, he couldn't get his hands on the ball once in the final 10 minutes, Peter Teague winning two kick-outs aimed at Murphy and fouled for another.

McBrearty will captain the team from the bench as Donegal go in search of a third All-Ireland title, but there is little doubt that McGuinness’s key cog is the all-action hero from Glenswilly.

"Michael is similar to Jim," Ryan McHugh said recently. "They have such great leadership qualities; the two of them bounce off each other so well."

Two Donegal greats back in tandem.

Watch the All-Ireland Football Championship final, Donegal v Kerry, on Sunday from 2.15pm on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app. Listen to commentary on RTÉ Radio 1. Watch highlights on The Sunday Game from 9.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player

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