Donegal manager Jim McGuinness hailed the leadership shown by Michael Murphy after his introduction as a substitute during the second-half of yesterday’s win over Armagh.

Initially, Murphy had not been named in the squad yesterday morning for the Ballybofey showdown, but McGuinness made a late change to his substitutes and brought on the 2012 All-Ireland winning captain in the 44th minute for his first appearance for the Tir Chonaill men since June 2022.

The 35-year-old received a warm welcome to the field from marker Aidan Forker which would see the Armagh captain red-carded after a headbutt into Murphy’s chest and, from there, the big Glenswilly man sent over three points as the Ulster champions won out by 0-21 to 1-10 in the end, marking their third straight victory in Division 1.

"The way he (Murphy) carried himself when he came on to the field and the scores he popped up with as well, that composure and leadership is a massive addition for us," McGuinness told BBC Sport NI afterwards.

He added: "He was probably just ready, I've been very careful with him, we're trying to do that with them all, the championship is seven weeks away so it's a quick flip and we do not want to take any chances with him.

"I don't want to bring him back if he's going to come on and get injured. I didn't want to rush him and the same with number of other players. The six points now gives us a bit of a cushion in terms of relegation and staving that off and hopefully now we don't have to take any risks with any of the players over the coming weeks."

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