Michael Murphy: Retirement had nothing to do with managerial change

Michael Murphy was the last to leave the Donegal dressing room after their qualifier loss to Armagh in Clones last June and says he knew there and then that it was his final game for the county.

The 2012 All-Ireland winning captain didn't travel home on the team bus that evening, instead hopping in the car with his father for a journey back. A further indication that he was halfway out the door.

"I just knew, I knew that time was up," Murphy told RTÉ Sport this week.

"I stayed in the dressing room afterwards and was the last to leave. Very much the last to leave - I stayed and stayed and stayed.

"The whole decision probably was cemented there, and again you are waiting for that potential turnaround from it, but it wasn't there."

On his impulsive decision to alter his post-match travel arrangements, Murphy said it was something that came over him at the time.

"It’s a funny one. Probably the location too. I would have gone to Clones years ago in the same car with the same two people to watch Donegal as a fan. Would have left there in tears crying many a time, disappointed.

"I don’t know if something came over me but I met the father outside and normally I’d give him the bag to bring home or that type of thing but that time I was bringing it home myself. I threw it in the boot and went home with him.

"That just further cemented my decision. I shared my first drive up there with him and I’ll probably share my last drive with him, that kind of way. Listen, I asked myself 'why did I do that?'

"Was it a selfish thing to leave the team that time? Potentially, but that was the decision I came to at that time. It probably further underlined that this was my first step towards detaching."

Murphy's inter-county retirement, at the age of 32,