Donegal captain Michael Murphy has broken the deafening silence that has existed in Donegal since the acrimonious departure of Kevin Cassidy from the county panel.
Two-time All-Star Cassidy was controversially axed from the panel by Jim McGuinness after revelations made in ‘This Is Our Year’, a book by Declan Bogue chronicling the Ulster Championship through the eyes of a representative from each participating county.
Cassidy shed some light on some of the training methods and tactics used by the Donegal camp in their path to the All-Ireland semi-final and while it didn’t seem to be a particularly heinous crime, McGuinness deemed it a breach of the camp’s code of deathly silence and Cassidy was ruthlessly turfed out.
Indeed, not only was Cassidy kicked off the panel, he was also denied the opportunity to top up the tan with the rest of the squad on their end of season jaunt to Florida.
There has been precious little said about the matter in Donegal since Cassidy’s departure but youthful captain Michael Murphy stood by his manager when pressed about the issue yesterday.
The talented forward, who was one of the two attackers in Donegal’s ridiculously defensive formation last season, is widely quoted in this morning’s papers saying of the decision to axe Cassidy: “That’s just the way it goes to be honest.
“Jim McGuinness had to make the decision, the county had to make the decision, and that was the decision made.
“Kevin stepped out of line and that was wrong.”
