By Michael McMullan

FORMER Donegal attacking ace Brendan Devenney feels Michael Murphy will be back on board when the county steps into the 2026 season.

Devenney, now involved as a pundit, said it was a “very deep question” but much will depend on whether Murphy believes he can get back to the levels of last season.

There is also his close relationship, as a former captain, with manager Jim McGuiness who goes into the third year of his second stint at the helm.

“What he did last year, it was almost jaw-dropping stuff to see the actual physical nick he was in because he changed his body shape considerably from the last time he played,” Devenney said.

Murphy, after one start and two substitute league appearances, started all of Donegal’s 11 championship games.

“People talked about the icing on the cake and then we were joking that he is the cake again,” Devenney said of the Murphy’s level of input on their All-Ireland challenge.

“Michael ended up being what he was before he left, the absolute centre point, the focal point of the team.”

Since the defeat to Kerry, with injury, he hasn’t featured for Glenswilly, who take on Kilcar in the final Donegal Championship group game in Towney on Sunday.

Devenney feels any decision to make a return to the county scene will come down to whether he feels his body will be up to it. Last autumn, Murphy road-tested his body before making the decision to come out of retirement

“He’s going to have to mull it over in these months now,” Devenney added.

“There’s no doubt that Jim will be saying ‘listen, we’ll come back and we’ll right the wrongs of last year, we’ll go all the way’.

“While that carrot is dangling there, for someone with Michael’s psyche, that’s going to be a hard thing to walk away from.”

Devenney pointed to the levels Murphy got to last season and his relationship with McGuinness as the key factors in his decision over a return for 2026.

“I can’t see how he won’t be back, that would be my gut feeling,” he summed up.

“I think just everything that he’s been through as a footballer. After what he did last year, why would you end it?

“Surely, he would come back and give it another rattle. Where that season will go, is hard to say. I certainly think between the shape he got himself in last year and his relationship with Jim, that he may as well play out 2026.”