Gerrard and Rafael traded blows earlier in the day but it was Murphy who produced the real moment to remember, a blow of his own, a killer blow to the men from the west, not his first and certainly not his last. After gathering a long ball, yes a long ball, from Lacey and easily shrugging off the challenge of Keane, the only man to mimic Molloy smashed the ball past motionless Clarke. No need for formalities here. Surnames will do. Here's another. McGuinness.
I was just a teenager when Molloy walked up the steps of the Hogan for the first time. Dublin hadn't been football's top dogs for nearly a decade but hunger is a great sauce and McEniff's men were not to be denied their first moment in the sun. Yesterday, they repeated the trick. The link? McGuinness.
I was just a teenager when Molloy walked up the steps of the Hogan for the first time. Dublin hadn't been football's top dogs for nearly a decade but hunger is a great sauce and McEniff's men were not to be denied their first moment in the sun. Yesterday, they repeated the trick. The link? McGuinness.
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| The leader and the captain! |
It wasn't to be the end of either Murphy or McGuinness. Not by a long shot.
Prior to McGuinness taking the senior reins in Donegal it was evident that the potential was there but it is reported that it was a 'demoralised' panel that presented themselves in front of him. So a challenge faced McGuinness, one he embraced with open arms. Only a few months later McGuinness' charges won their first provincial title for 20 years - the brand of football might not have been to everyone's taste but it mattered little. McGuinness had a plan and he was sticking to it.
Kildare were next to fall to Donegal before eventual champions Dublin edged Ulster's best in a semi-final remembered for all the wrong reasons as McGuinness' tactics seemed to backfire, desert him.
And so we come to the championship that has just passed. Donegal's championship. McGuinness would have told all those listening at the start of the year that retaining the Anglo-Celt Cup was Donegal's primary focus but I'm sure the man in black (predominantly) had his sights set on the third Sunday in September.
Down were Donegal's opponents in the provincial decider - they were duly dispatched and expectations began to rise. McGuinness then masterminded a last eight win over Kerry, a result described by many in the national media as 'the most seismic result in (Kerry) since the 1987 Munster final replay defeat to Cork'. It might be stretching it to say it was 'seismic' but a surprise, a small one, that'll do. Regardless, Donegal's run was soon coming to an end against Kerry's great rivals, Cork. Or so they said.
Counihan's charges were favourites to lift Sam, let alone defeat Donegal but they didn't come within an ass's roar of justifiying the tag as Donegal swept them aside, doing what few teams have done against Cork, easily winning the midfield battle en route to a comfortable two-point win.
On that day, McGuinness' side, dogged last year by a reputation for being ultra-defensive shook off the shackles once and for all. McGuinness had successfully developed the game plan further while still demanding the same high standards from his players.
Those high standards didn't desert Donegal on Sunday. Mayo needed to fly out of the traps but it was Donegal that hit the ground running. Murphy goaled after just four minutes and McFadden repeated the trick to put Donegal seven points clear. They never looked back and try as Mayo did it never looked as if Sam was heading anywhere but the Hills.
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| Trust me, believe... |
Today you can't move for photos of the celebrations on and off the field, and rightly so. A lot of them show McGuinness holding the faces of his players in his hands. Staring into their eyes like I'm sure he did the night they were 'demoralised' in the Downings Bay Hotel asking them to trust him, to believe.
They did and one name in particular will be toasted for many months to come. McGuinness.
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