McShea's Say: Michael Murphy showed last week that he's still the best out there

As the time of year for handing out sporting awards beckons, I always believed this to be a gloriously inexact science.  

The endless unseen incidents in every sporting event can make a mockery of any framework that pretends to rank greatness.

When these events are placed one after the next into the context of sporting lives, the challenge of assessing the relative merits of individual careers becomes even more difficult.  

Trying to define the measure of greatness in any sport is far from easy, and some would believe that there is a dent in the measure of any sportsperson who does not achieve the ultimate accolade in their discipline.  

After reading GAA correspondent Colm Keys’ piece in Saturday’s Irish Independent when he picked his top 50 Gaelic footballers for 2024 his feature got me thinking. It was a very good article, and it was gratifying to see several of the Donegal players achieve well-deserved and positive ratings in the top 50. 

Keys picked Galway midfielder Paul Conroy as his number one footballer in the season recently concluded and I could not disagree with that decision. Conroy is now 35, and to have such an outstanding year in the middle of the park for the beaten All-Ireland finalists was quite remarkable.  

In Conroy’s case, the defeat in the football final was not a defining one when it came to individual awards, and no doubt he will also receive the considerable consolation of an All-Star award when that team is announced later in the year.  

Normally success in sport is essential to acclamations of greatness, but I believe that in team sports the length of time playing at the highest level is relevant when it comes to assessing great players.  

Another factor is; did a player make a team look great, or did the team make a player look great? The capacity of a player to bend a game to their will, to forge a victory when all appeared lost, or at least uncertain, is also an essential element. A key measure of sporting greatness lies not in the sporting act itself but in the timing of that act.  

I was in Tír Conaill Park on Saturday evening for the Glenswilly and Four Masters game. It was played in dreadful conditions but this was a most enjoyable game of football.  

The young Donegal Town outfit played very attractive football and if they can unearth one or two players with a physical presence, they have the skill to make a big impression in Donegal football in the coming years.  

But the reason that I got thinking about Paul Conroy was because at 34, Michael Murphy (a year younger than Conroy), was simply superb against Four Masters. In most difficult playing conditions, the grace and skill of Murphy was simply captivating.  

Murphy seems to be enjoying his football as much as ever, and skill is only one aspect of his play. His power, courage, persistence, passion, and will to win are also relevant. Murphy was yet again the catalyst for his team’s victory on Saturday.  

Most people who were or are fortunate enough to see him play would rate the Glenswilly virtuoso as Donegal’s greatest Gaelic Footballer of his own or any other generation.  

Watching him against Four Masters, his effortless command of the game’s most subtle tricks and skills was a joy to watch.  

I resisted the temptation to bemoan the loss of Michael to Donegal football when he announced his retirement last year, because he was a wonderful servant to his county for so long, and he owed Donegal football nothing. However, if he had been around this year Sam Maguire may well have been back in the Hills.  

On Sunday I was in the Fr Tierney Park for the Aodh Ruadh/Ardara match. Yet again the playing conditions were simply atrocious, and but for the excellent refurbishment job on the “park” this game would not have survived the day long downpour.  

It was inevitable that mistakes would play a role in the outcome of this game, and the home side did cough up two very soft goals, which were a factor in the result, but to their credit, Ardara showed their traditional relicense and battling qualities and were deserving winners in a vital encounter.  

No inter-county football or hurling has made a serious void in the sporting calendar, and I have not heard one word mentioned about the recent finals, both football and hurling, since what I consider a most premature conclusion to the GAA calendar.  

It is time that common sense prevailed and the present championship format in Donegal is also in need of major surgery. The home-and-away format in championship club football generates real interest but I will not hold my breath in anticipating a return to common sense.