Donegal’s 2012 All-Ireland-winning captain says Donegal are much further down the line than he expected
Murphy feels Armagh could be best equipped to challenge the ‘big two’ but doesn’t envisage Derry turning the tables even after their rehabilitative win over Mayo in Castlebar.
“Dublin and Kerry are the two teams [to beat],” said Murphy. “[But] I don’t believe they are at the level they once were, though.
“With Dublin, five or six years ago, you were asking the question, could teams stay with them for half an hour, 40 minutes?
“We’re not speaking about them now at those same levels, but I don’t think the chasing pack have come up near it.
“I don’t think Galway have got up to that level we are all expecting them to potentially get to, to challenge or to beat a Dublin or Kerry.”
Murphy believes his own county have been tempered somewhat by the loss to Cork in the group phase.
“After the Ulster final win and the win against Tyrone in the first game of the group stage, probably the chants started going around at that stage, ‘All-Ireland contenders’, so it [the loss to Cork] quelled that for the group anyway.
“They are further down the line than I expected this year in terms of how their style of play has been integrated. Even the form of some of the players, I was expecting it to come in year two.
“I thought this year they would mainly get up to scratch, but I didn’t think the level of team performance would be here just yet. That’s come a lot quicker.
“The side that have the most rounded game to potentially trouble them [Dublin and Kerry] is Armagh,” said Murphy.
“What they might lack in terms of that psychological belief and understanding of how to win the big games, they have the key tools: the defensive set-up they have, they are able to defend in a big pack if they need to. They are able to defend by pushing up the way, too.”
Derry remain a conundrum to Murphy – even after Castlebar, where he felt Mayo played into their hands by not going after Mickey Harte’s side early on and sowing doubt in their mind.
“Derry have that ability, but you would think the psychological damage of the three defeats, it’s hard to see [them winning Sam]. It would absolutely be the most monumental turnaround if they were to win an All-Ireland.
“I can see them troubling Kerry in a quarter-final, getting to a semi-final, but to win an All-Ireland, to take out a Mayo, Kerry, Dublin after the year they’ve had, I think it’s just too big of an ask.
“For a team as brittle as Derry going into the weekend, how Mayo performed in the opening half of that game provided Derry with a perfect platform,” he said.
“Any Derry player that was struggling with confidence or had doubts, they were given free rein in MacHale Park for 30 minutes to find ways into the game and build a bit of confidence.
“If harder questions were asked earlier in the game, it might not have been the same outcome. They did ask questions, Mayo, at the start of the second half and when they did, Derry really struggled to get out of their own half.”
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