IT won’t be like this by the time they reach Abu Dhabi.
Storm Darragh whipped Donegal for most of yesterday, driving rain and howling winds sweeping through the north-west, with more expected today.
Met Éireann’s yellow weather warning extends into Saturday morning too but, by that stage, Jim McGuinness’s Tir Chonaill panel will be jetting off to one of the Middle East’s wealthiest, and warmest, outposts.
According to the 42.ie, Donegal will mark the December 7 lifting of the training ban by boarding a flight to the United Arab Emirates for a warm weather training camp.
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However, despite landing in the lap of luxury, and with temperatures of 25 degrees anticipated, time is of the essence. A rake of new rules were given the green light last weekend, with the year’s master fixture list released yesterday.
There is no longer a Dr McKenna Cup to shake off any pre-season cobwebs, so all focus will be on the opening weekend of the National League, and the long trip to Killarney where Kerry await.
When the teams pull up at Fitzgerald Stadium on the afternoon of Sunday, January 26 camera lenses will not be trained on Paudie Clifford, or Seanie O’Shea. Maybe not even David Clifford, the Fossa phenomenon likely to be granted a rare weekend off as sole centre of attention.
Because Michael Murphy, the GAA’s original wonderkid, is back. A penny for his thoughts as the Donegal players are put through their paces in the days ahead.
It is two-and-a-half years since his last appearance in yellow and green, the day Declan Bonner’s reign ended in demoralising defeat to Armagh in Clones. A few weeks earlier, stationed at midfield, Brendan Rogers had run the legs off Murphy as Derry edged to the Ulster title.
The retirement announcement that came in the autumn was a shock only in terms of a generational talent choosing to leave the stage. That kind of news always has a way of catching even the most clued-in punters unaware. But, in terms of timing, it was no surprise.
No longer possessing the energy to drive himself to the super-human feats that saw Murphy strap Donegal to his back during the decade after leading the county to All-Ireland glory, he knew that June 2022 day when he walked away from St Tiernach’s Park.
It just took a few more months before he was ready to tell everybody else.
And yet the stories, the speculation never went away. Despite punditry work on BBC, RTE and GAAGO, despite having a column in The Irish Times, despite being happy tearing away with Glenswilly and helping out coaching at underage, the question always came.
No matter how many times it was batted away with that bashful smile and a modest shrug of the shoulders, the GAA public at large appeared unwilling to believe it.
McGuinness was the only one who had any hope of forcing a shift. But, even for a man who holds almost messianic status in the Hills, his initial appeals fell on deaf ears.
“There were odd days I’d position myself in a way to say ‘right, you’re back’,” Murphy told my colleague, Cahair O’Kane, back in April, “but all of a sudden, by the afternoon, knowing what’s required and what the new setup was going to have to give, I just couldn’t give the energy.
“I could probably be there and tick the box, but you need to colour in the box.”
Now he is ready to get the markers out again and, in time, maybe even as early as next week, Murphy will know whether that was the right call or not.
Because county, such has been the rise in physical standards, places demands you may not even realise are there until removed from the situation entirely for a sustained period.
Two seasons away is a long time away at the back end of a career. Like Murphy, Eoin ‘Bomber’ Liston - the original bear in the square - was also 35 when he returned from a two-year exodus, no longer anywhere near the force of his prime years.
Boxers talk about what time away from the gym does to their body at the latter stage of their career. They might come back and do all the same things they did when they were 20; they might even do them better.
But there is something lost that cannot be replaced. The body, whether it is the engine, or the injuries that strike where once they did not, is no longer fit for purpose.
These are the kind of conversations Michael Murphy will have had with himself several times before making a final call. A keen follower of other codes, he will know that sporting comebacks bring plenty of risk.
So will it be Michael Phelps, or Mike Tyson? It all depends on the motivation for coming back.
Legacy is something people outside of sport concern themselves with way more than those who actually participate. I cannot imagine the Glenswilly man has lost too much sleep over tainting his rock solid status in the game.
Instead, Murphy’s motivation will be to make Donegal better; to try and bring the extra couple of per cent that might, just might move them closer to an All-Ireland title in the second McGuinness era.
The new rules, and his involvement in their evolution as part of Jim Gavin’s Football Review Committee, must have been a factor. But hanging around the square, and the riches that may bring, requires a radical reprogramming for a man who so often wanted to be at the heart of it all.
Many times Murphy was sent there but, when control of the game shifted away from Donegal, his natural inclination was to take it upon himself to try and address that. A more disciplined approach to what is demanded of his skill-set could be required in this second coming.
And would he be happy being used as an impact sub? Thrown on with 20 minutes left? What a weapon to have on the bench but, having spent so long as the side’s beating heart, will it only be worth the hassle, the strain, if that natural order is restored?
Given the Tir Chonaill were so close during the summer, in the most open All-Ireland Championship for years, major surgery – even in light of the new rules – is not needed. Those are situations and scenarios he and McGuinness must have teased out long before now.
What cannot be questioned, however, is the excitement his comeback has generated. With each show-stealing performance for Glenswilly during the Donegal championship, so the clamour grew for their favourite son to give it one last go.
Already, it promises to be one of the storylines of the 2025 campaign. There is no guarantee of a fairytale ending, which makes it all the more bold and brave a move.
But if anyone can, Michael Murphy can.
