All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Super 8s Group Two, Round Two: Roscommon 0-12 Donegal 0-20
BOOM. Boom. Boom. The sound of Michael Murphy kicking points in Dr Hyde Park on Saturday afternoon.
Roscommon supporters watched this Super 8s showdown through clasped hands every time Murphy gained possession.
And their fears were entirely justified.
Michael Murphy is no ordinary player – he’s a force of nature.
The hapless Roscommon defenders had no clue how to stop Donegal’s man mountain.
And yet, the Glenswilly clubman made an inauspicious start to Saturday’s Super 8s clash.
He was actually turned over – a collector’s item in Gaelic football terms - by three Roscommon players as he tried to find a way down the right side of their hosts’ defence, and he also dropped one free short.
But when he relinquished his early midfield duties and jogged ominously towards the edge of the square, the Roscommon full-back line couldn’t cope.
The entire country has been crying out for Murphy to be moved to full-forward, especially with Patrick McBrearty ruled out of action.
Murphy spent the vast majority of Saturday’s comfortable win over Roscommon inside and looked as though he’d found two extra yards of pace as a result.
Once Murphy embarked on his arcing runs, like telepathy his team-mates deposited the ball in his hands and he did the rest.
His three brilliant points from play between the 28th and 34th minutes dampened Roscommon’s early enthusiasm and even though the visitors only led 0-9 to 0-5 at the interval, there was no way on this earth Donegal were going to lose.
After their loss to Dublin the previous week, there was much chatter about Murphy being wasted in the middle of the field.
But the only assessment that really matters is Declan Bonner’s.
What did the Donegal manager think of Murphy’s exhibition of full-forward play on Saturday?
“Murphy can play anywhere,” said Bonner.
“That’s the bottom line. I don’t like talking about individual players, to be quite honest. I’d rather look at the whole group who went out there today.
“Michael was part of that and did extremely well, along with a lot of other players.
“We’re quite happy – wherever Michael goes he’ll perform.”
As with most things at elite level, Murphy’s move into full-forward was preordained.
Donegal obviously assessed that they could probably win midfield without Murphy’s assistance and that the Glenswilly man could cause similar destruction as Tyrone’s Richie Donnelly achieved seven days earlier.
The Donegal management’s assessment was well founded – but there is no guarantee Murphy will spend as much time at full-forward in their shoot-out with Tyrone in 13 days’ time.
“Every game you take on its merit,” said Bonner, “but you have to get hand on ball first in that middle third before you throw Michael Murphy into the final third because he’s that crucial to the team.
“We know if we can win the battle in midfield we know he’ll have periods inside.”
While Bonner prefers to accentuate the collective, Odhran MacNaillais was name-checked for his excellent contribution on Saturday.
The Gweedore man is so graceful in possession that his points always look better than anybody else’s.
With Roscommon packing the centre of their defence - understandably so after last week’s Tyrone mauling - MacNaillais floated over his first of four beauties from the left flank in the 18th minute.
He rattled the post around the hour mark with another fine left-footed effort but Donegal were already out of sight at that stage.
Michael Langan, Hugh McFadden and Leo McLoone erected a wall across the ’65 which Roscommon rarely penetrated.
Bonner added: “We kicked 20 points and we got the victory. We were probably disjointed in the second half, but I’m quite happy with the way the lads applied themselves out there. But we’ve still a lot to improve on and get ready for a real clinker with Tyrone.”
Burned by the experience of their 18-point defeat to Tyrone the previous week, it was no surprise Roscommon played with more conservatism. But their attack suffered as a result.
The hosts’ problem was when they won a turnover off Donegal, they couldn’t transfer the ball up field quickly enough to make it count.
Roscommon’s running game was non-existent and while they remained competitive they never looked like beating Donegal.
Once again, the Connacht men relied on wonder scores from distance, courtesy of Ciaran Murtagh, Brian Stack and sub Donie Smith, to keep the scoreboard ticking over.
Acknowledging their defensive approach, McStay added: “The problem was we couldn’t transition as well as we had been doing against Armagh. You can’t put this together in a week.”
Despite keeping a few extra players in their own half of the field, Roscommon still paid a heavy price when their forwards coughed up possession at the other end.
When Roscommon's Brian Stack saw his effort on goal saved by the alert Shaun Patton, Donegal pointed in their next attack. That was a recurring theme of Saturday’s tie.
Roscommon would inevitably lose possession and Donegal would breeze down the field and score.
With another defeat awaiting them against Dublin on August 5, Roscommon have found the going tough in the inaugural Super 8s. But McStay hopes his players will be better for the experience.
“We wanted to be in the Super 8s – that was our target at the start of the year,” said the Roscommon boss.
“We wanted to experience being in it. We now know the standard we are facing in February when we turn around for Division One. The gap between us and the Tyrones and Donegals and, no doubt, the Dublins – physically, conditioning-wise and ability – is there.
“The easy thing is to be floating around Division Two and Three. We want to be part of this. Nobody said it was going to be easy in the Super 8s, and we’re getting the brunt of it now. We’re struggling to stay competitive.
“It could have been tighter [against Donegal]. But the players will be better for it; the management will be better for it. We’re all learning.
“We’re going to learn about our team. We saw fellas that looked like they can compete at this level and we’d some fellas who looked like they can’t compete at this level. It’s the only environment we can test them in.”
With all eyes firmly fixed on the Donegal versus Tyrone match in Ballybofey on August 5, Bonner will be hoping Eoghan ‘Ban’ Gallagher is fit to resume after suffering an arm injury that forced him out of Saturday’s tie in Dr Hyde Park after 19 minutes.
Gallagher travelled home with the rest of the Donegal squad on Saturday evening and didn’t need medical attention, but the extent of the injury has yet to be fully assessed.
On their All-Ireland semi-final eliminator with Tyrone, Bonner said: “It’s going to be a huge match in MacCumhaill Park and Tyrone are probably the form team coming through the Qualifiers. They’ve been firing up big, big scores.
“Mickey [Harte] was being criticised last year, but Tyrone had a very good season and that one blip against Dublin and all of a sudden their system is negative. It’s not. Tyrone play to a system.
“They defend in numbers and they attack in numbers and it’s difficult to play against them. They’re always going to be a difficult opposition.”
Saturday, though, belonged to the booming right foot of Michael Murphy. Donegal march on with a bit more swagger than before...
Roscommon: C Lavin; D Murray, N McInerney, S McDermott; J McManus, F Cregg, C Devaney; T O’Rourke, C Compton (0-1); C Murtagh (0-4, 0-2 frees), N Kilroy, E Smith (0-1); D Murtagh (0-3, 0-1 free), B Stack (0-1), C Cregg Subs: C Lennon for C Compton (h/t), D Smith (0-2) for C Cregg (45), Finbar Cregg for S McDermott (48), P Kelly for B Stack (59), I Kilbride for F Cregg (63)
Yellow cards: D Murray (63), C Devaney (68)
Donegal: S Patton; P McGrath, S McMenamin, E ‘Ban’ Gallagher; F McGlynn, P Brennan, R McHugh (0-1); H McFadden, L McLoone (0-1); E Doherty, M Langan (0-1), C Thompson (0-2, 0-1 free); O MacNaillais (0-4), M Murphy (0-9, 0-3 ’45, 0-1 free), J Brennan (0-1) Subs: N McGee for E ‘Ban’ Gallagher (19 inj), N O’Donnell for J Brennan (54), A Thompson for F McGlynn (56), D O Baoill for P Brennan (63), M McHugh for C Thompson (63), M Reilly (0-1) for M Langan (67)
Yellow cards: M Langan (67)
Referee: C Branagan (Down)
Ends//
