Donegal’s talismanic captain Michael Murphy says huge underdogs Tir Chonaill can beat the hotly-fancied Dubs in Croke Parke today.
Despite overcoming Cork last week, Murphy and his men are still looked upon by many as an old, tiring team who won’t have the stamina to cope with a rampaging Dublin side.
However, Murphy believes Donegal can repeat their 2014 heroics, when they defied the odds to see off Jim Gavin’s men in the All-Ireland semi-finals.
“You would not be sitting here if you thought you could not beat them,” said the Tir Chonaill skipper.
“But you must keep the scoreboard ticking over and keep their scores down. It is as simple as that and that is what our focus will be on.
“We know that they bring an attacking presence throughout the field. If you look at their six forwards, they are as potent as you will get anywhere in the country.”
Murphy knows, however, that danger lurks around every corner, with more than the Dublin forward unit capable of hurting Donegal.
“Their defence attacks with real vigour. We need to be on top of our game and stop them scoring,” he said.
“But more importantly you need to take the game to them as well and you need to get scores.
“You can’t go for long periods without scoring.
“That is something we came up short on last year and it is something we need to address this year as a group of players.”
And manager Rory Gallagher is quick to defend the ploy of using the versatile Murphy in different positions over the course of a game.
This tactic has met with considerable criticism as many feel that Murphy is best suited to playing on the edge of the square, where his size, vision and finishing ability are lethal.
“We are very fortunate with Michael, he wears 14 on his back but it is no more than some of our players wear different numbers and play in different positions,” said Gallagher.
“Michael would see himself as a footballer capable of playing anywhere – maybe not suited to the full-backline, but apart from that I think he can play everywhere.
“He will spend periods in and periods out just like all the other games.”
And when Murphy is asked a similar question about his role, his willingness to do whatever is asked of him is evident.
“My role primarily is when we don’t have the ball to try and get it back again, and when we do have the ball it is to create and to try and score for the team,” he said.
“It is as simple as that. Of course you are mad to go out and score 1-12 and to catch 12 balls in the middle of the field and you are mad to get maybe 20 turnovers.
“That just does not happen, football is not perfect and life is not like that either.
“It throws curveballs along the way, but you have to keep plugging away on an individual and on a team level.
“But we know each other in the squad very well and we know what we all try and bring to the game.
“If Rory and the management see fit for me to move a bit deeper or to play inside, I am just going to try and be as dangerous as possible when we have the ball.”
There seems to be little room for instinctive moves in this highly structured game that Donegal play, but Murphy believes any good team need to have a strong plan.
“There is a danger in going into a cruise mode where you are just running everywhere,” he said.
“You have really be disciplined in the game now.
“Structurally things are a necessity at times during the game and wherever the management see fit for me to go, that’s what I will do.
“They are our eyes in the game and there are certain times that you can see some things that you can bring to their attention, but mainly it is all planned out and mapped out on the week of the game.”
