Michael Murphy says the year-and-a-half spent in Neil Gallagher’s company will have done wonders for Donegal’s emerging crop.
Last Monday, it was confirmed that, due to a persistent back problem, Gallagher had been forced to retire from inter-county football. After 140 games in the green and gold, ‘Big Neil’ has become the latest of Donegal’s experienced men to step off the carousel.
It’ll keep on spinning, of course, but it will certainly be strange for Murphy not to have Gallagher around.
The two appeared joined at the hip at times and Murphy described Gallagher as ‘the best friend that was there’ as he reflected on the midfielder’s retirement.
“It’s rare and it hasn’t hit yet,” Murphy said.
“When the summer comes and you’re really in the routine and you’re waiting on the text about going to training, that’s when it’ll hit home. It’s a bit different not having him around.
“He went back to give it a go to see if he could get the injury cleared up. He went through a lot of pain and I could see, as a friend, that it wasn’t worth it.
“He’s such a good fella, the younger lads have such a time for him – he really brought them on and they all just know him as ‘Big Neil’. It was brilliant for those 18 months to a year for those young fellas to see the way he held himself.”
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