'Brian Roper was a great forward, he was just as hard as nails' - Michael Murphy

Former Donegal captain Michael Murphy recalls the guidance and help he received from his former teammate Brian Roper when the Glenswilly man made his senior championship debut against Leitrim back in 2007.

Speaking on episode four of the Ratified Podcast, which consists of Murphy alongside football legends Paddy Andrews, Marc Ó Sé, and Aaron Kernan, the three GAA legends recall their county's greatest rivalries during their playing days. 

Murphy reflected on Donegal’s inability to win any championship silverware when he first entered the squad in 2007, citing Tyrone and Armagh as the two teams the green and gold county aspired to be in terms of winning. 

“Ulster for us back then was the big one, we were just getting whipped by Armagh and Tyrone constantly back then,” the 2012 All-Ireland winning captain said. “Once Jim McGuinness came into the team in 2011, I remember for the whole year, he was just talking about Tyrone and how we were going to beat them. 

“There was an obsession with the Ulster teams, everyone can see that there still is, we all want to beat each other. I think there’s always one victory in the Ulster competition that’s like a line in the sand where everything changes, and for us, it was in 2011 when we beat Tyrone in the semi-final. 

“That win gave us that belief that we finally belong with the best teams in the country. From then on, it felt like we got fitter and stronger than any other team in the country and then the following season, we just felt tactically better than everybody else, and it seemed everyone was playing catch up to us. 

“We finally had that belief that we could win, but it took us a long time.” 

Up until 2011, Donegal were starved of any championship silverware since winning their first All-Ireland in 1992.  

Murphy made his debut during a qualifying game in 2007 against Leitrim, with the former Donegal forward acknowledging how much he was helped that day by former player and Aodh Ruadh legend Brian Roper. 

"I made my senior debut down in Leitrim in 2007, and I didn’t touch the ball for about 20 minutes, which isn’t good in your debut as we know,” Murphy admitted.

“I just remember Brian Roper that day, he was on the sideline, and it was like he was playing FIFA with me. He was just telling me where to run and telling me where to go the entire game. Brian was a great forward, he was as hard as nails. 

The rest of the members on the podcast further expanded on Roper’s greatest, with Ó Sé recalling; “We played Donegal down in Tralee years ago, I was having a great game until the 50th minute when Roper came on, I think he kicked three points against me in about 20 minutes. I was walking off the field wondering what just happened there. He was a class act.” 

Kernan recalls his battles against the Aodh Ruadh man too; “In my first few years with Armagh, I used to mark Roper. I think we played Donegal in a quarter-final in Clones which went to a replay. I remember him not being that big, but Jesus he was solid and full of energy.”