THERE are few men capable of overshadowing the All-Ireland champions when they come to town.
Michael Murphy’s second coming was always going to steal the show – but his return could hardly have been more dramatic after being sprung from the bench 43 minutes into Donegal’s Division One victory over Armagh.
Kieran McGeeney’s men were just beginning to make inroads into a sizeable Tir Chonaill lead when a huge roar swept across the stand; there stood Murphy, pacing side to side like a spring lamb eager for a first taste of action, and not a 35-year-old veteran who has been there and done it all.
Familiar foe Aidan Forker was eager to welcome him back into the fray, a little too eager as it turned out, the Armagh captain shown a red card after a bit of rutting stags roleplay finished with a headbutt into Murphy’s chest.
Michael Murphy is BACK and, um, Aidan Forker is away - 44th minute red card. Murphy nearly brought the house down with the first score since his return a few minutes later pic.twitter.com/EeJDhhqwnL
— Neil Loughran (@neil_loughran) February 16, 2025
To add injury to insult, the Maghery man had barely made it from the field by the time the Glenswilly colossus nearly brought the house down with the first of three points, capping off a memorable day as Donegal – after months of anticipation – got to welcome back one of its favourite sons.
“Listen, I just spoke about him in the dressing room to our own lads - it’s great to have him back, great to have his presence,” said boss Jim McGuinness, who managed to talk Murphy into an inter-county comeback after a two-year exodus.
“There’s not much I can say about Michael that hasn’t been said before, but I thought he just led the line really well when he went in there. He’s done an awful lot of work to put himself in that position… we didn’t want to put him into a position too early, we wanted him to be the best that he can be.
“So hopefully that’s just the start of it now, and we can recover him down and see what we can do with him next weekend.”
Those sentiments were echoed by Ryan McHugh, among those who soldiered alongside Murphy before his retirement in 2022.
“To put the boots back on again is unbelievable… he’s just a leader, on and off the pitch, of us all.
“He even showed that for the wee glimpse he was on the pitch today. Listen, you want all the best players involved in the set-up and driving us on every single night, so it’s great to have him back.”
As for speculation surrounding a possible goalkeeping role for Murphy, in a surprise bid to exploit the new rules the All-Ireland winning forward was part of forming with the Football Review Committee, McGuinness said such talk was “wide of the mark”.
“Well, we didn’t start that talk,” he smiled.
“I don’t know where that – well, I do know where that came from – but they were well off the mark.”
McGuinness wasn’t about to be drawn on the incident that led to Forker’s dismissal – “I try not to comment on other people’s players, I’ve enough hassle with these bucks” – but opposite number McGeeney had no complaints about the red card, or the result.
“Just very disappointed.
“Discipline was huge in the outcome of the game, and it was on our side that we let it go, so it’s very disappointing that way. It’s a harsh lesson for us but, you know, you just have to take it in the chin and walk on.”
