Michael Murphy Was Fortunate To Remain On The Pitch Early In Donegal Win Over Meath

If you ever needed evidence to suggest that Jim McGuinness knew that yesterday's game against Meath was won early in the second half, the sight of Michael Murphy being taken off with less than 45 minutes on the clock should have been all that was needed to sum up his thoughts on the game.

The amount of time that Murphy is involved in a game has been a good barometer for the competitiveness of Donegal's championship fixtures this year. He has been substituted early on in the comfortable wins, but remains on the pitch for the closer contests.

The Glenswilly man was immense in the opening half of the win over Meath, eventually ending the game with six points. In saying that, he was perhaps lucky to remain on the pitch in the early portion of the game.

READ ALSO: Tomás Ó Sé Made Very Un-Kerry Like Admission When Discussing David Clifford

READ ALSO: Paddy McBrearty Makes Brutally Honest Admission About Donegal Without Jim McGuinness

In the seventh minute of the match at Croke Park, Meath's Seán Rafferty made a run down the right flank as his side attempted to launch a counterattack.

He would eventually lay the ball off to a teammate, only to be taken out by Michael Murphy soon after. The Donegal man had committed in the air in an attempt to block the hand pass, although questions could be asked about how much of an effort he made the avoid the collision.

The incident went unpunished at the time, despite this seeming like a fairly obvious body check from Michael Murphy. He would have been sent to the sin bin for ten minutes had the officials felt that it was black card offence.

The Ulster side being to 14 men at that point certainly would have made things interesting, especially when you consider that Meath had started the game quite well.

Speaking on the BBC during the match, the quartet of Owen Mulligan, Philly McMahon, Conor McManus, and Oisín McConville all agreed that the Donegal star was fortunate to stay on the pitch.

Mulligan: Michael Murphy has been exceptional, but, down on the sideline, I think he got away with one, I definitely did. He’s a nice lad and we used to work together in the BBC, but I definitely think it’s a black card.

McMahon: It’s a black card.

McManus: It probably is, by the letter of the law, it’s probably a black card.

McConville: I thought it was definitely a black card at the time. Having looked at it again, yeah it is a black card. They're all big moments, in games like this, ten minutes without Michael Murphy is absolutely huge.

Of course, the margin of victory for Donegal in this match means that this decision might well have no impact on the final result.

Still, considering how influential Murphy would go on to be after that point, Meath might well feel that this one went against them.