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 at full-forward after operating around the middle third for most of the previous three games. In the first half he had just six involvements, two from play. And aside from some poor quality hit and hope deliveries in the dying stages of the game, he was starved of any kickpasses into him.
Across the entire 2022 championship he had possession of the ball from play inside the opposition 21m line on just three occasions, with eight involvements in total but the majority of them were contesting those long balls whilst surrounded by Armagh jerseys in the closing minutes in Clones. Looking back it's easy to see why he might have opted to hang up the boots after that game.
Across the entire 2022 championship over a quarter of his involvements from play were in his own half. In Donegal's first match it took 12 minutes for him to get a touch of the ball, while against Derry after scoring his second point operating (and impressing) in a midfield role an uncomfortably close man marking job from Brendan Rogers starved him of possesion thereafter. He managed just two handpasses in the opening half of extra-time.
Referees are to signal the score with two hands in the air and the score umpires will wave an orange flag for the two-point score. The score is allowed as long as the standing foot of the kicker is placed on or before the 40m arc (a converted 45 will still be worth one point).
In his last season playing for Donegal in the 2022 championship - when Donegal overcame Armagh and Cavan before losing the Ulster final to an up and coming Derry in extra-time and then bowing out with a poor performance against Armagh in the qualifiers - Murphy took on nine attempts in four games from outside this new shooting arc.The 35-year-old Glenswilly man took on five of his nine long-distance shots from play, scoring two of them. In total he converted five 'two-pointers' in the 2022 championship with three long-range frees landing over the bar from four attempts.
That meant Murphy's shooting accuracy from outside the new 40m arc was 56%, and from play it was 40%. Overall, as the team's right-footed free-taker he scored 0-19 (nearly five points per game) from 28 shots, giving him an overall conversion rate of 70%.
Michael Murphy, pictured with Éamonn Fitzmaurice, was a key member of the FRC
The former Sigerson Cup winner with DCU actually attempted five of his total eight shots from play from outside of the arc, shooting from that range with 13% of his overall in-play possessions.
Two more of his efforts from within the arc were from outside the traditional 'D' but not quite the 40m. With the heightened awareness and double the incentive, you'd expect Murphy to increase those figures as he enters into the 2025 season.
In the 2012 All-Ireland win over Mayo, wherein Murphy scored 1-4 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 at full-forward after operating around the middle third for most of the previous three games.
In the first half he had just six involvements, two from play. And aside from some poor quality hit and hope deliveries in the dying stages of the game, he was starved of any kickpasses into him.
Across the entire 2022 championship he had possession of the ball from play inside the opposition 21m line on just three occasions, with eight involvements in total but the majority of them were contesting those long balls whilst surrounded by Armagh jerseys in the closing minutes in Clones.
Looking back it's easy to see why he might have opted to hang up the boots after that game.
Across the entire 2022 championship over a quarter of his involvements from play were in his own half. In Donegal's first match it took 12 minutes for him to get a touch of the ball, while against Derry after scoring his second point operating (and impressing) in a midfield role an uncomfortably close man marking job from Brendan Rogers starved him of possesion thereafter.
He managed just two handpasses in the opening half of extra-time.
Nevertheless, man-marked, underutilised as a forward option, and often on a losing team, Murphy still scored 0-19, including 0-05 from two-point range, assisted five scores, caught six contests, and made five turnovers or interceptions in four games during the 2022 campaign.
Michael Murphy led Donegal to glory in 2012
The new rules however look sure to facilitate an increase in those numbers in 2025.
That would be the plan for the rules in general, to allow natural footballers such as Murphy to best express their skillset and increase the excitement in the game.
Looking at the two-point rule in terms of last year's championship, Donegal would've edged Galway in the semi-final if the new rules had been applied. Michael Langan, who loves an effort from distance, along with Oisín Gallen and Paddy McBrearty all scored three points apiece from outside the arc territory.
Galway's Paul Conroy would've had four two-pointers between the semi-final and the decider.
Not only does this new rule increase the likelihood of us seeing more eye-grabbing long-range scores from the likes of Conroy, Langan and Murphy, but it will punish defences that sit back.
Like the rest of the rules it will look to force and incentivise a more front-footed approach.
It seems to have been enough to bring Michael Murphy out of retirement which is a great start, and once his two-pointers start flowing we might see his and Jim Gavin's new vision for the game come to life.
Watch Galway v Armagh in the Allianz Football League on Saturday from 4.45pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app. Listen to Saturday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1.
