Michael Murphy gets asked these questions because he’s Michael Murphy.
Even when he’s playing well, two points from play in five games raises eyebrows because the whole of the country is used to the Donegal captain dominating matches and bullying defenders.
They’re used to watching on and thinking this man is the perfect footballer – perfectly designed for the modern day game.
You couldn’t even ask the question of who was better last summer: Diarmuid Connolly or Michael Murphy. For a lot of people – even Derry people – it wasn’t a debate.
@ConanDoherty @conorheneghan1 that anyone is voting against Murphy simply confirms that many fans know fuck all about football.
— Chris McCann (@canntoya) July 1, 2015
But he’s only human.
His body can hurt, his confidence can suffer and his instincts can dull. On last week’s GAA Hour podcast, Paul Galvin wondered if the same thing had happened to Murphy as what happened to the Kerry man – once a scoring corner forward.
LISTEN: @pgal10 has a bloody brilliant theory for why Donegal's Michael Murphy isn't scoring as much https://t.co/X7LNpCzTaU #GAA
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) August 1, 2016
So Murphy was on SportsJOE’s GAA Hour football podcast this week and he answered a few questions that have been surrounding him in this campaign.
The first off, was his form.
“I’m like any player – everybody wants to go out and kick 20 scores and catch 20 kickouts and make 20 turnovers and, on a perfect day, I want to go out and score as many as I can for the team and I haven’t done that this year as much as I would’ve liked to have done,” the Glenswilly man told SportsJOE’s Colm Parkinson.
“I’ll just keep chipping away, there’s no other means around it.
“There could be merit there (in Paul Galvin’s theory about his instincts being dulled) but it’s not something I would’ve thought of myself.
“Automatically when I go inside the 21′, I know straight away the only thing I’m thinking is how I can be dangerous and how I can score. Sometimes, the way that teams are set up and the way that we play ourselves, on any given day you mightn’t be afforded that opportunity a lot.
“You have to be patient and, when the opportunities come – it might only be twice or three times – you have to take them.”
He hasn’t taken as many as we’ve come to expect though.
So he was asked straight out because everybody is talking about it – are you injured or not, Michael?
“Not at all,” he replied.
“People have said ‘he’s not moving well and he’s not going well, he must be injured’ but I’m grand. I had an ankle injury prior to the first round of Ulster but that has cleared up. I’m in full training and looking forward to getting out and dispel the myth.”
What about the injections rumour to help with the injury?
“Definitely not true. Stories up here tend to grow a bit of legs sometimes but I’ve had no injections.”
So what’s the story? Is it the full forward line? Is it too tough to play in there now? Is it a waste of Michael Murphy?
“It’s difficult,” the 26-year-old admitted. “Tyrone had their homework done and they were well set up [in the Ulster final]. That’s what you expect at that level, they’re not going to leave huge amounts of space in dangerous areas.
“I do think there are ways and means around it and we strive to find them, whoever’s in that inside line. There are possibilities and ways around. You look at the teams who are doing quite well and we’re playing one of them on Saturday, Dublin, who find ways around it. It’s up to ourselves inside to make sure the movement is good and the boys out the field to have the heads up and know that the possibilities are there.
“There are days you enjoy it and it goes well for you and other days it doesn’t go well but you have to know that you’re in there to do a job for the team.”
The player goes on to talk about his different roles in the team and how the whole strategy has changed under Rory Gallagher.
Listen to the intriguing, full Michael Murphy interview with Colm Parkinson on The GAA Hour (skip to 14:54 on the podcast below). Subscribe here on iTunes.
