'We all have our roles' - Donegal's long-serving point-scoring machines remain pivotal

IN THE 44TH minute of yesterday’s All-Ireland semi-final, a Donegal attack into the Davin End goal culminated with a scoring flourish being applied.

It was a typical team move, possession transferred at high speed with the ball-carrier constantly supported by clever angles of running from team-mates.

And it was rounded off by the team’s talisman hooking a close-range shot over the bar.

Michael Murphy reigstered his sixth point of the game with that kick and Donegal’s 15th. With Oisin Gallen having broke the Meath resistance for the opening goal two minutes previously, Donegal were eight clear and firmly in command.

The Donegal support cheered jubilantly when Murphy pointed, just as they did for every other contribution he had made in the game, and then they rose in acclaim a minute later when the fourth official board went up to signify number 14 was being withdrawn.

Murphy, Donegal’s leader, was replaced by Patrick McBrearty, Donegal’s captain, who would go on to notch three points and ensure his fingerprints were all over Donegal’s attacking output for the remainder of the game.

In that change, Donegal illustrated the range of attacking options they possess and the depth they can tap into in their panel. Jim McGuinness spoke afterwards about how it ‘had been a hell of a long road back’ from the misery of their defeat at this stage of the championship last year at the hands of Galway.

At the time in his immediate reflections on their second-half fadeout in that game, McGuinness touched on the need to begin the process of improvement on the bus home to the north-west that evening.

After their destruction of Meath, the Donegal manager revisited that topic and stressed the increased strength of their panel had facilitated the transformation from two-point semi-final losers in 2024 to twenty-point semi-final winners in 2025.

All year Murphy has offered reminders why the decision was made for him to return to the demands of the inter-county game last November, two years after his retirement.

Murphy and Donegal have slipped back into a comfortable relationship, and in the county’s quest to reach the All-Ireland showpiece forn the first time in 11 years, and only the fourth time in their history, his role was of fundamental importance.

Two minutes into a match, which was bristling with anticipation beforehand as the expectant fanbases whipped up a storm, Murphy posted the opening score, gathering a ball on the loop and kicking confidently between the posts. Meath got a couple of lifts that underdogs require, a Ruairi Kinsella point here, an Eoghan Frayne point there, to edge into a slender lead.

Nine minutes in and Donegal get a free within two-point range. Facing into a Hill 16 packed with a baying Meath mob, Murphy blocked out the noise and strode up before slotting the shot that prompted the waving of an orange flag and the restoration of Donegal’s scoreboard advantage, 0-4 to 0-3.

They never trailed again for the remainder of the game.

The opening period provided snapshots of Murphy’s immense value. The winning of the break off a Meath kickout that paved the way for Ryan McHugh’s 12th minute point. Nailing the 28th minute free after Oisin Gallen was fouled. Getting on the end of Donegal’s last move of the half that unlocked the Meath defence, but seeing his left-foot blast fly over rather than under the crossbar.

Murphy was the last Donegal player to jog out of the tunnel to take up position for the start of the second half. He only last nine minutes, but added another score, before being withdrawn. The timing of the exit seemed unusually early, but despite murmurs of an ankle knock, McGuinness was quick to quell such talk.

If the focus was to rest up ahead of the final date with Kerry, it was understandable. A couple weeks out from his 36th birthday and 13 years after lifting Sam Maguire as captain, his value to the Donegal cause is simply immense.

His array of gifts – fetching kickouts, converting frees, clipping scores from play, directing offensive operations – make him indispensable for Donegal.

The addition of Murphy to the attacking mix meant someone else was going to lose out. Once news of his comeback filtered through, the intrigue lay in how Donegal would get the chemistry right in their inside forward line. Patrick McBrearty has been the focal point for years. Oisin Gallen was an All-Star last year and fired 1-2 yesterday. Conor O’Donnell is in the All-Star conversation this year and bettered Gallen’s tally with his 1-3 return.

There is a dilemma in how to fit them all in. Right now the solution Donegal have settled on is holding McBrearty in reserve.

For a forward of his experience and talent, along with the status of captain, it’s not an easy position to get accustomed to.

He hit the ground running yesterday, emerging from the bench to join a dominant Donegal team. In the 47th minute he snappily exchanged handpasses with Shane O’Donnell, gliding clear before sweetly striking over a point in that familiar kicking style.

He replicated that finish for another point seven minutes later, moments after sharply releasing the ball to Peadar Mogan who rushed through to point.

McBrearty’s third score arrived on 57 at the close of another pacy team move and a minute later he shaped to shoot before laying off to Jason McGee, watched the ball travel to Gallen and in to Conor O’Donnell who booted home their third goal.

The impact of McBrearty was glaringly evident and yet will it be persuasive enough to secure him a starting jersey for the final?

“You have three lads who are flying there,” summarised McBrearty afterwards.

“We all have a role in the team and my role at the minute is just coming in off the bench and it’s to lift the energy in the lads in the last 15 minutes to blast it out. I came in with 20 or 25 minutes to go and try to move the bus up forward. We all have our roles and trying to get on the ball and getting shots off and just carrying the can.

“It’s a big difference than starting the games. I came in a really, really good time today. We had just scored the goal and we had a big wave of momentum and just coming in and trying to work hard.”

McBrearty has enough games stockpiled to absorb the wisdom of how roles can change. He started the 2012 final win over Mayo, came on as a sub in the 2014 decider against Kerry and bagged two points.

The years since have been frustrating and disappointing.

“When we left here 2014, I didn’t think it would be 2024 until we reached our next semi-final. We massively, massively underachieved from ’14 to ’24 basically, in our eyes. When Jim came back, standards were raised back to where they were and we’re just delighted to be back here, but you know they were a barren couple of years.

“We were winning Ulsters, teams were tipping us to go on and win All-Irelands and we couldn’t do on the big days. Getting this man back obviously for that and getting back to days like this two weeks is gonna be massive.”

There are only two playing survivors now at the disposal of McGuinness from the magical breakthrough Donegal enjoyed in 2012.

Whether pressed in from the start or sprung from the bench, Murphy and McBrearty will be pivotal characters again on Sunday week.

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