THERE MIGHT NOT be a single player in Ireland more important to their county’s hopes than Michael Murphy at Donegal.
Murphy is one of the finest footballers in the country and has been the lynchpin behind Donegal’s seemingly flawless transition from one generation of players to another.
Despite the loss of so many seasoned veterans over the winter, Donegal have thrived with a new bunch of youngsters. Much of that is down to Murphy orchestrating matters from the middle third.
During a league game with Glenswilly two weeks ago, the 27-year-old was helped off the field after 17 minutes with a knee injury.
The county held its breath, but thankfully the Donegal captain didn’t suffer any serious damage.
“It was just a scare,” says Murphy. “We played a load of league games this year. I got a bang on the inside of the knee against Gweedore.
“I thought the worst at the time like anybody tends to do, but it was more of an impact than anything twisted or instability there. I got that out of the way fairly quickly and full-go now for the Tyrone game.”
Murphy puts his good form this season down to staying injury-free, while allowed him to put in a hard few months of training.
“I always try to get the six, seven or eight weeks without any injuries and get that training under the belt. It’s a big help and I got that early in the year.
“It gets the body that little bit stronger and well able to take the rigours of what’s thrown in the National League. I got that under the belt thanks bit to God. Touch wood everything’s fairly good so far.”
In comparison, he recalls struggling with a number of frustrating niggles last season, which hampered his form.
“There was a few (injuries). You’re probably just coming back from one niggle and something else was cropping up. There was no excuse and I knew myself last year that performance wise I wasn’t playing as good as I would have liked to have played. But again that was totally down to myself solely.
“I don’t think I was anyway unfit, I think I was every bit as prepared and able to handle things. For one thing or another my performances weren’t there. There’s hunger there this year to try and right the wrongs of that and try put that night.
“I am enjoying it, I’m enjoying it every bit as much this year. Time will tell now it’s up to me to try and prove it for the rest of the year.”
The42 is on Instagram! Tap the button below on your phone to follow us!
