‘We will relish the matches coming thick and fast’
HISTORY falls lightly on Michael Murphy’s shoulders. He further embellished his status as his county’s most successful captain of all time when he lifted the Anglo Celt Cup for the fourth time yesterday, to go with that Sam Maguire he hoisted in 2012.
‘Ah sure, you are only going up to lift a bit of tin on behalf of the rest of the boys,’ he protested, when asked for a response to his record breaking ways.
As ever, it is not the ‘tin’ that matters but what it means.
And this was arguably as sweet as the first for Murphy, given that since winning his last Anglo-Celt Cup in 2014 he has been at the losing end twice.
‘It is difficult, it is hard but it is what you have to do. You can just give up or you come back and play again, try and put yourself out there and put yourself into positions for days like today.
‘A lot of the younger lads did that and a lot of the other boys as well.
‘We took a lot of learnings, a lot of hits and defeats. We took a lot of pats on the back for our defeats during the League but you still have to be winning.
‘We managed to get there today,’ added Murphy.
They managed it with some comfort too. Prior to yesterday, Fermanagh’s average concession rate has been running at 11 points per game and Donegal doubled it with interest.
It was another indicator of where they have positioned themselves in the All-Ireland race, as in the space of a few months Donegal have gone from rank outsiders to front-line contenders.
They will join Dublin in the Super 8s and Murphy believes that the momentum they have generated in winning Ulster should serve them well.
‘We had four big games in Ulster to come first and we will reset now. The one thing this team enjoyed and the one thing I think (we) will relish is that the games will come thick and fast. We experienced that in Ulster. We were in the preliminary round and we got our momentum from winning there and that is something we are going to relish.
‘The Super 8s is going to be a bigger challenge, bigger pitches like Croke Park but that is what we have been looking to reach and hopefully we can push on now,’ added Murphy.
Meanwhile, Declan Bonner hailed referee David Gough for his handling of the game and in particular for the protection which star player Ryan McHugh received.
Bonner was furious in the aftermath of Donegal’s semi-final win over Down — a game in which McHugh was subjected to serial fouling — and had called for ‘more protection’ in the build up to yesterday’s game.
‘I think so, Ryan gave a brilliant performance. He does get targeted in a lot of games, there’s no doubt about,’ said Bonner.
Donegal’s win, though, came at a price as star forward Paddy McBrearty was forced out of the game early in the second period, shortly after taking a hit when kicking his only point from play before half-time.
‘He probably is a concern, but the medical team will look after it and we’ll know more later on,’ said Bonner.
Meanwhile, Donegal coach Karl Lacey insisted that pundits had underestimated the hunger within the champions’ panel. ‘We’ve been hearing all week and this past few weeks about Fermanagh’s hunger.
‘But we’ve been saying to ourselves “sure we should be as hungry as them”. A lot of those boys don’t have medals at senior level.
‘They’ve come through underage okay with Declan but this is a different level and now they get the chance to climb those steps and lift the cup and I’ve been telling them it’s the best feeling they’ll ever have.
‘We’ve had three or four years of hurt. We haven’t had a feeling like this since 2014. They have worked hard and this is why, they’re getting their rewards now.’ said Lacey.