UNDER-21 FOOTBALL NEWS:MICHAEL MURPHY was mentioned in the same breath as Maurice Fitzgerald and Colin Corkery yesterday. Such names are not plucked randomly from the list of Gaelic football luminaries but the engaging Donegal under-21 manager Jim McGuinness sees the comparisons as specific and potentially lasting.
“I think he is a special player,” said McGuinness. “He is a really, really big man. We talk about a lot of manufactured players in the game now, with weights and so on. Every pound of him is natural and he is a very, very powerful player.
“You watch him in training and he has got great pace in a short space of time but he has very soft hands. That is the sign of a really classy player. Maurice Fitzgerald had it, Colin Corkery had it for a big man. He has real soft hands in dangerous positions and he takes the right option nearly all the time.”
Unfortunately such extravagant compliments haven’t escaped the notice of AFL recruiters.
Corkery went to Australian Rules club Carlton, now home to Setanta Ó hAilpín, the last time the professional net was so widely cast upon the GAA’s nurtured talent. The 2008 young footballer of the year, Tommy Walsh, is currently learning his new trade with St Kilda, begging the question, will the 2009 recipient follow suit?
Murphy’s dexterity and power make him an ideal specimen for Ricky Nixon, the Australian agent sweeping through Ireland like the Pied Piper of Hamelin.
However, the 20-year-old remains focused on his BSc in Physical Education with Biology course at Dublin City University. He also observes the stream of recent returnees like Aisake Ó hAilpín, Colm Begley, Brendan Murphy, Michael Shields and Marty Clarke – all having tried to master the unpredictable bounce of the oval ball.
“Really, just more out of curiosity than anything I was speaking to them,” said Murphy. “There’s been nothing, absolutely nothing in my mind that’s changed. I want to stay here and keep continuing to play football for Donegal, trying to get my degree at college and until there’s more interest from them I’m going to keep enjoying my football here.
“I suppose you look at the number of players that are coming back home to Ireland and I suppose they’re coming back and I’d have a degree under my belt as such. As I say, I’m happy. I’m a bit of a home bird. Moving to Dublin has been enough for me, never mind the far side of the world.”
But Mr Nixon is keeping tabs on you? “It was a common courtesy that I went to the camp to answer the man’s call. There’s nothing we agreed or absolute nothing concrete or definite. I’m more than happy enough to play football with my club and my county.”
This Saturday in Breffni Park, Cavan, there is an All-Ireland under-21 final against Dublin to focus his attention on and Donegal will build their attack around him once again come the Ulster championship opener at home to Down on May 5th.
Murphy wasn’t part of DCU’s winning Sigerson Cup panel this year as freshmen are prohibited from playing but he is serving four masters at present with college, under-21, senior and club teams all seeking his natural scoring ability.
Another GAA prodigy up for a flogging? “I don’t think it’s been too tough. When you’re winning games, games can’t come quick enough. If you were on the other end and getting defeats and drubbings every weekend it would be a different story. “Things are going relatively well at the moment. Thankfully the managers at both club and college and both senior and under-21 county level have been in regular communication with each other.”
Young players never complain despite the long-term damage being inflicted on their bodies.
“You just keep playing on. I suppose between college stuff and county stuff and club stuff you don’t get much time to yourself but they’re the things you do to try and be successful. If you get a bit of silverware at the end of the day. . . . ” That is why they never complain.
GAA FIXTURES
TODAY
Munster Minor Hurling Championship quarter-finals: Cork v Tipperary, Páirc Uí Chaoimh, 6.30, M O’Connor (Limerick); Waterford v Clare, Walsh Park, 6.30, C Lyons (Cork); Limerick v Kerry, Kilmallock, 6.30, D Fox (Clare)
SATURDAY
All-Ireland under-21 football final: Dublin v Donegal, Kingspan Breffni Park, 7.0, M Duffy (Sligo) Live TG4.
Leinster Minor Hurling Championship round two: Carlow v Kildare, Carlow, 3.0; Westmeath v Laois, Mullingar, 2.0; Kilkenny v Dublin, Kilkenny, 3.0; Offaly v Wexford, Tullamore, 3.0.
National Hurling League Division 3B final: Louth v Wicklow, Parnell Park, 2.30, D Magee (Down).
SUNDAY
National Hurling League Division One final: Cork v Galway, Semple Stadium, J Ownes (Wexford), 7.0 Live TG4.
National Hurling League Division Two final: Clare v Wexford, Semple Stadium, J Ryan (Tipperary), 5.0 Live TG4.
Connacht Senior Football Championship: New York v Galway, Gaelic Grounds, New York, 9.0, M Condon (Waterford).
