Murphy was warned against starting

MICHAEL MURPHY revealed he was under medical instruction not to start their quarter-final against Kildare.

The Donegal captain came on in the 27th minute and played until the end of extra-time (almost 80 minutes of football in total), winning the ball to establish the attack for Kevin Cassidy’s winning point.

“I had a bit of hamstring bother, I picked up a slight tear in the hamstring last week at training,” said the Glenswilly man, who had taken painkillers to get through the game.

“The medical team didn’t think there was 70 minutes in it, so we thought it was better coming in from the bench rather than starting and maybe having to come off.”

Murphy hailed Jim McGuinness and his management team for getting the Donegal players to work with one another, more so than any other group in recent years.

“It’s amazing when a whole group of lads get together and are all pulling in the one direction what can happen. Maybe over the last couple of years this team shipped a lot of flak for having a bad attitude, or maybe not working hard enough is another one.

“I suppose this year you can never get it right — we are working too hard in some quarters.”