Posted online: Jul 28th, 2010

By Frank Craig
sports editor

There will be a familiar banter when Michael Murphy eventually returns to the senior inter county set-up with Donegal.
Last May Tir Chonaill’s young guns heartbreakingly fell at the final hurdle in the U21 All Ireland final against Dublin. For Murphy and a number of his team mates the chance for redemption and to make things right seemed gone.
While the management team had committed their efforts for another campaign, Murphy’s time at this particular grade had passed on a forgettable note. However, the player insists that the appointment of McGuinness to the senior helm will hopefully see a transfer of the good times from last season’s heroic U21 campaign.
The Naomh Conaill man brings with him the same backroom staff from that success, and Murphy feels that that brief period, those fleeting few months of unbridled joy last year, can now cast its spell on the county’s senior side.
“Maybe we have unfinished business, and this does give some of us the chance to go again with the same people involved,” said Murphy.
“To get Jim in good and early gives him the chance to get around the games and get cracking straight away.
“He brings his own thing to the table, similar to the U21s it’s all about the professional approach. He’s a very good communicator and leader and I’m sure that all the boys will be looking forward to working with him.
“There’s no hiding from the fact that besides the National League and the U21 wins that we’ve been starved of success recently. Everyone is going to get a fair crack of the whip and he’ll leave no stone unturned. That’s very important and that will definitely be the case under Jim McGuinness.”
One of the first things on the agenda for the new boss is to try to convince last year’s captain Kevin Cassidy to reconsider his decision to call time on his Donegal football career.
However, one issue McGuinness won’t have to contend with are the constant distractions provided by AFL agent Ricky Nixon that plagued his predecessor John Joe Doherty. Last season’s Young Footballer of the Year kicked that debate firmly into touch before making the call for Cassidy to reconsider his decision.
“I’ll definitely be around next year,” he added. “As regards to Kevin Cassidy, from a player’s point of view, I’d love him to reconsider his decision. The way things went last year was tough on everyone. But
maybe Kevin’s decision was a spur of the moment one. He can still play a vital part in the side’s future.”