Michael Murphy has everything to be Donegal's two-point king

The return of one of the greatest footballers of all time has been overshadowed this weekend by the excitement and anticipation around Gaelic football's new rules.

The two are intertwined however, as not only was Donegal's Michael Murphy a member of the Jim Gavin-led Football Review Committee which came up with the wide-ranging package of new rules - he's also set to be one of the main beneficiaries of them.

The 2012 All-Ireland-winning captain and man of the match, three-time All Star and 2009 Young Footballer of the Year is one of the country's finest long-range shooters, both from play and from frees off the ground.

While there's been rumours of him potentially exploiting the new rules in a roving goalkeeper role, or reverting to his breakthrough position of full-forward to thrive in a new three-v-three environment, the one area Murphy and his Donegal manager are sure to target regardless of the position he's deployed in is the new two-point rule.

As the league gets underway this weekend, pitches will be lined with a new arc starting on the 20m line and extending 40m out from goal.

A ball cleanly kicked from play or a free over the bar from on or outside this arc, and without touching another player on either team (it may bounce over) is worth two points.

In the 2012 All-Ireland win over Mayo, wherein Murphy scored 1-04 in one of his most memorable performances, he landed two crucial frees from what would be now deemed two-point range. His goal and point from play in that game however came at the edge of the square under direct diagonal ball -something which over the years has been almost eroded from the game.

In his last championship game, that defeat to Armagh in 2022, Murphy played the majority of the 70 plus minutes