Michael Murphy: Donegal GAA is striving to improve

Donegal v Monaghan

Donegal star Michael Murphy believes there is a "purity" about the repetition of training as he outlined the strong individual and team baselines for excellence left by Jim McGuinness and the previous management team.

Murphy was sent off last weekend as Donegal handed Cork their first league defeat of the season, but not before he had made a significant contribution that included one booming free from more than 50 metres that helped build a lead his side just about hung on to in the face of late Cork pressure.

Even in the early stages of the new regime there is already some symmetry with 2012. As well as the similarities in the tactical approach, Rory Gallagher referenced the dour 1-7 to 0-6 league defeat of Cork three years ago that helped launch that side to All-Ireland success.

Murphy told Irish Tatler this week that Donegal will continue with the same methods that also brought them three Ulster titles in McGuinness’s reign.

“Success and winning are by-products of what has been created up here as a squad. The development, individual and team, no matter what we’re doing, we’re just striving to improve. It’s a whole team ethos. That’s what we’ve been centred around the last five years. We probably all had the same dreams, so we were very lucky to get it together with fantastic management teams over the last couple of years.

“There’s no secret formulas or methods — any winning team will tell you, it’s about working extremely hard. That’s what we did and that’s what we’ll continue to do.

“We give it everything and there’s purity to it that we do it week in, week out.”

Donegal bid to make it three wins from four league ties against Monaghan tomorrow. And the Donegal captain said that while the disappointment of the All-Ireland final lingered, natural instincts nurtured in the squad environment soon reassert themselves.

“You could say, ‘Screw that, I’ve enough of it,’ and maybe there’s an element of that for a week after the final. For a month or two you’re still thinking about that, but you just keep the head down and keep trucking away at it, trying to improve.

“You soon get back into that developmental mode where you just want to improve everything: your kicking, your tackling, everything. Once you’re in that mode, you’re in that groove again for another year and that’s what you really, really enjoy.”

Murphy also revealed his quest for excellence doesn’t stop at the boundaries of his own sport and used a recent round of golf with winning Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley to soak up some advice.

“With golf being such an individual sport and (McGinley) having to transfer a group of individuals into a team, it’s definitely something you can learn a lot from.

“Playing a round of golf with him, I’d have asked him a few questions on staying focused and that sort of thing. He gives you a couple of wee hints and tips and secrets.”

And, while he admitted fixture schedules need tweaking if burnout is not to remain a recurring issue, he dispelled the notion that players are some kind of unwilling test subjects in the relentless pursuit of winning formulas.

“We are better educated in terms of the game, players are studying degrees in sport or biology that correlate with the game. They understand a lot better what’s going on with their bodies, and from a psychological standpoint.

The last four years really have been long, but that is what you want. You want to be going into the championship every year in August and September. When you’re training in January and February, you’re looking towards them but you do have to keep thinking of the next training and next match. But even then I’m thinking, ‘This is where I want to be.’”