Last week was a big one in the life of Michael Murphy, even apart from his latest tour de force performance in a Donegal jersey.
Just a few days before wowing in his latest dance with Tyrone as Gaelic Football returned, Murphy began a new chapter as Letterkenny IT's Head of Sport.
"Coming from a background of competing in different sports, it's more than a job, it's a role," he told Mirror Sport.
"It's about catering for all sports, for the elite athletes but also to the fitness entirety of the staff and students.
"I'm looking forward to getting properly started. I'm nervous and excited all in one."
One of his first acts is this one, highlighting Letterkenny IT becoming a new Basketball Ireland Centre of Excellence, joining Waterford IT, NUI Galway and University of Ulster Jordanstown. There are eight to 10 planned altogether.
Murphy played the sport in St Eunan's, drawn to the benefits that it brought to his development as a footballer.
Later, he saw how Jim McGuinness drew from basketball as part of the process that made Donegal All-Ireland champions. It was the same with Dublin.
"I loved the game," Murphy said. "There's a huge crossover with Gaelic Games.
"Jim used basketball terminology all the time. Both are possession-based sports and have the same principles of defending and attacking. Dublin used it to overcome teams with blanket defences."
All action on the pitch - he played that roving role to near-perfection last Saturday - the Glenswilly man's inquiring nature off it saw him complete a Masters in Sports and Exercise Psychology with UUJ last year.
"It was definitely worth it," he enthused. "I was out of education since 2013 and it was daunting enough to get back to it.
"But at the age of 30-31, last year was a brilliant time for reflection on where I was going. What I learned helps me on a day to day basis. It helps me with individual and team dynamics.
"There's so much talk now about the wellbeing of people. In an amateur organisation like the GAA, off-field contentment is so important to on-field performance.
"The more we embrace that holistic development as team-mates and as management, the more it will create better players. A completely different scenario to 10 or 15 years ago.
"Sometimes the player we see on a Sunday is only seen as that, rather than as a person with a life to live and who has people and family around them away from the game.
"There's a lot of time pressure on an inter-county player. It takes a big commitment.
"I'm not complaining for one minute. I absolutely love it. But the squeeze is on you to use every hour of your day in the right manner. If you're doing that week after week, inevitably you're going to need support."
Gaining that winning edge is almost all-consuming. Where is Murphy with that at this stage of his career, when he is still at the top of his game but will celebrate his 32nd birthday in August?
"It's a natural human instinct to strive for the next level," he said. "It comes down to the individual, and it comes down to the scheduling and the fixture list.
"Potentially with the split season, there's not going to be that pull and drag between club and county and will hopefully allow for slightly more of an off season.
"Then it's down to the individual himself, where they're at in life.
"I'm sure a time will come when I say it's too much, that I'm either over the hill and can't contribute to the group or I have too many commitments.
"Where we are geographically, it's commitment to travel. Or it's not being able to sustain the commitment that's needed or maybe have that same hunger.
"Within the team there's an understanding of the level required, but we're seeing players step away for a year more at intercounty level, to take a break and to come back refreshed. I don't think it's maybe down to the demands.
"I still love to be part of a team and to represent my county. I don't look at it as a burden. It's just a fantastic way to commit to something and live life."
So the finish line is still well off in the distance yet? "Listen, I'm closer to that than to the start, so I'm not foolish, I'm not stupid," Murphy laughs.
"I think I'll know. The lads I've been very friendly with, who I've soldiered with and have retired over the last four or five years, I've had the conversations with them, like, 'why', or, 'how do you know when to go'.
"Nearly to a man they just say, 'well, you just know'. I'm like, 'Well, go on, I need a bit more!'.
"It's when you're not able to contribute to the group. That'll come at some stage and I'll be the first to step aside.
"But at the moment I'm still enjoying it all."
Monaghan are up next for Donegal in Division 1 North, then Armagh. Murphy isn't displeased that the opponents his team are facing are so familiar, given the level of preparation the games provide for what's to come.
Ahead to last year's championship, he admitted that he was relishing the Covid-condensed competition's knock-out format.
Surprisingly beaten by Cavan in the Ulster final, Donegal's season was suddenly over.
Yet he still feels the same way about the win or bust format that, due to circumstances, will remain in place this summer.
"Yeah, listen, it was a long, difficult six months," said Murphy.
"We failed to perform individually and collectively, the curtain pulls down so quickly and so harshly and there's nothing you can do about it.
"And you can't play club football to get out of your system. You just have to live with it.
"We just have to suck it up, take it on the chin and put it right again. That's what we're in the process of doing and we're not there yet.
"I still do like that knock-out format. It does heighten the senses, every single day you're out you know that defeat is season-ending.
"It's the old school way and you just have to be on it. And that's why this league is so important - we're straight into championship afterwards."
Competing in Ulster, of course, makes it more of a knife-edge scenario given the ultra-competitive standard.
"A lot is made about it being fair or unfair, but we take massive pride in competing in it and winning it," Murphy said.
"The downside is that the attrition involved in trying to win can be detrimental further down the line. But people can complain all they want, things aren't going to change. This year, anyway."
What he is counting on changing is supporters coming back in July.
Murphy is normally an avid Premier League viewer but has struggled to watch matches with no atmosphere. He has noticed the difference in recent days with crowds returning cross-channel.
"There was a novelty factor to begin with, but the sense of the players is that playing in front of crowds makes you that bit more reactive and sharper, it also increases the senses," he said.
"Community is what it should be about, so hopefully it will happen soon."
*Letterkenny IT and Waterford IT have been named as Basketball Ireland Centres of Excellence, bringing the total to four. In March NUI Galway and Ulster University in Jordanstown were the first two Centres of Excellence announced. Basketball Ireland plans to have 8-10 Centres of Excellence rolled out nationwide.
Each Centre of Excellence will provide access to expertise, such as strength and conditioning, sports medicine, sports psychology, diet and nutrition, sports management and administration, coach development and training. They will also have media and meeting facilities.
The Centres of Excellence will be used for national training camps for international sides, along with Basketball Ireland academies. There will also be the ability to host international fixtures, national senior competitions, intervarsity competitions, as well as local schools cups and blitzes.
