Donegal’s All-Ireland-winning captain Michael Murphy has announced his retirement from intercounty gaelic football.
His announcement on Wednesday evening (see below) brings to an end a glittering 15-year career as a Donegal senior footballer during which time he lifted the Sam Maguire in 2012, won five Ulster titles and three football All-Stars.
He’s been captain of Donegal since Jim McGuinness became manager back in 2011 and has widely beenregarded as one of the finest gaelic footballers of the modern area.
But now, at the age of 33, he’s made the decision to step away from the county scene.
He will continue to play club football with his native Glenswilly and currently works as Head of Sport at Atlantic Technological University (ATU) Donegal.
A personal statement from Murphy was posted on the Donegal GAA website on Wednesday evening:
“To have the chance to combine a sport I love with the place I love for 20 years of my life is a privilege and honour for which I am very grateful. But I always knew the day would come when this chapter of my life would have to close. Now, that day has arrived.
I still love gaelic football and I still love Donegal. However, in the team I’m proud to have captained, to compete at the level which Donegal deserves requires the best I can give every day. I no longer feel I have the energy and capacity to reach the performance levels to give my best to Donegal.
The last time we sat together in the changing rooms in Clones, I told my teammates that whatever happened in the future, Donegal will always go on. That’s still my belief. I cannot and never will be able to express how thankful I am to my teammates and managers and those giving expert support over the seasons. Friendships and bonds have been forged which go with me throughout my life.
To those good people who support our county team and everyone I know in Donegal: they say we are different up here. Well, we are different in the best of ways. Thank you to all of you who have made this journey very special for me. I look forward to pulling on a Donegal jersey and joining you in the terraces to support our teams.
To my own family and my club Glenswilly GAA, you’ve always been there for me, through the highs and the lows. It was you who made the sacrifices so that I could follow my dream. My family and my club are at the centre of all my plans for the future. They deserve the best of me too. Maybe in the years ahead, I’ll find new ways to offer something more to my home county.”
