Michael Murphy on retirement plan, his love of coaching and the possibility of becoming an inter-county manager

“If an opportunity arises future-wise I’ll see.”

We have been lucky to witness Michael Murphy as a player. His power, leadership, and talent has been the driving force of Donegal for over a decade.

However, there’s not getting away from the fact that the 2012 All-Ireland winner is in his 30s now, and the possibility of retirement will becoming sooner rather than later.

However, that doesn’t necceassirily mean that we will be deprived of Murphy in the GAA world, as the possibility of coaching and maybe even management could be in his future.

Speaking at the “Bread Made Better, The Secret is Out,” campaign ran by Daniel O’Donnell, the Donegal captain reveals that he has made a retirement plan of sorts.

“I have an idea definitely of when (I’ll retire) and I think it’s important I’ll work towards that. My hunger, motivation and love playing Gaelic football and my love to play for and represent Donegal is still burning as strong as it ever has.

“So that’ll be the way but I also know that I’ve less years left than I have played. I’m conscious too that you don’t want to overstay your welcome.

“As long as I can continue to represent Donegal in the manner it should be represented as a county as as long as I can still have that love for Gaelic football in general, I’ll still be playing.

“But yeah, I know there’s less than there is more so you’re just seizing every moment. Like you’ve always done. It’s not that you’re going to seize it any more next year.

“Being honest since I came in at 17 I believe I’ve seized every year to try and push forward individually and push Donegal forward. Next year is going to be more different, it’s not going to be any more or less. It’s just going to be the same.”

With the inevitable end of his playing days coming, but hopefully not too soon, one future role in GAA is inter-county management, and it’s something the fierce forward has thought about.

“I don’t know. I would always have said five or six years ago, yeah 100%.

“The more that I see it up close now, the more I maybe wouldn’t be so sure. It’s an absolute trojan commitment.

“A lot of things in your life would need to be fairly well squared away in order to try commit to the time that’s needed, the time I’d want to commit to it.

“I haven’t thought abut it in depth enough but you’ve wee thoughts every now and then throughout the course of a year. It’s hard to know.

“The more it goes on the more I’m not so sure. Definitely in some capacity in Gaelic football I’ll be continuing anyway.

“There’s nearly two roles at the moment at inter-county. Whereas a number of years back you could combine both.

“The management of the whole set-up and the demands involved requires constant management. Then your on-field coach requires a bit more hands on pitch work.

“So yeah, to be honest I do enjoy coaching more. The role within LIT and getting a small opportunity to coach here allows you to see all of the standpoints, the management side and the coaching side and the leadership side, there’s probasbly three different sides it allows you to try and experience.

“Whereas the further up you go in GAA circles it tends to be a bit more specialised into one of the there different routes. Listen, I’m young yet, I’ll keep playing and trying to watch and figure things out.

“If an opportunity arises future-wise I’ll see. But hopefully there’s a bit more time on the playing pitch yet with the boots and shorts on rather than the whistle wrapped around the neck”

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