ULSTER SFC SEMI-FINAL MONAGHAN v FERMANAGH: Gavin Cummiskeytalks to Monaghan's manager about the persistence of a dedicated, talented squad who remain fiercely ambitious
WHAT BRINGS an intercounty football panel, cursed by more bad days than good, back for further punishment? What makes them keep family life and careers at arms length? What is it that drags ageing bodies back through the winter months when each summer is likely to end in a silent dressingroom?
Monaghan are decent case study. They go to Breffni Park tomorrow expecting to beat Fermanagh and progress to the Ulster final against Tyrone on July 18th. Expectation is notoriously a dangerous feeling to carry onto northern football (battle)fields. At least they have revenge in their nostrils from the 2008 defeat to the same opposition.
“I’ll sum it up for you,” said their shrewd and long-serving manager Séamus “Banty” McEnaney. “We haven’t been as successful as we would have liked to have been – we have played in some big matches, we haven’t won what we have liked to have won – but we haven’t gone away.”
There is always a little drama attached to Monaghan. The last day saw a genuinely impressive defeat of Armagh overshadowed by the Brian Mallon red card that reduced the opposition to 14-men with half the game to play.
Then there was the goalkeeping controversy that forced McEnaney to reassert his authority (full back Darren Hughes was a late replacement for regular number one Shane Duffy. Reserve goalkeeper Seán Gorman, understandably displeased, refused to tog out and his clubmate, Paul Finlay, sympathised with his plight. The name Finlay carries weight in Monaghan GAA but Paul boarded the team bus. Eventually).
It was a brave call by McEnaney but it proved the correct decision. Because they won. One imagines Banty has quelled a few internal disputes during his five-year tenure.
Monaghan are supposed to be a spent force by now and McEnaney long gone after his first term in charge failed to yield any silverware. But he is a proven survivor.
He reinvigorated the panel in 2007 by bringing Martin McElkennon into the backroom. This year Paul Grimley – the great Armagh trainer of 2002 fame – was taken from Kieran McGeeney’s fingertips in Kildare.
In 2007 they could so easily have muscled their way into the history books. After reaching an Ulster final, by beating Down and then Derry, an early blitz by Tyrone seemed to sort them out but they went down fighting. That is their way.
It makes them perfectly suited to the qualifiers. They feed off others negative vibes. They beat a fancied Donegal to set up an All-Ireland quarter-final against Kerry in Croke Park.
With just a handful of minutes remaining they led. Kerry looked to be gone only for Monaghan to stall as the All-Ireland champions went deep into themselves to find the scores to progress. It finished 1-12 to 1-11. Monaghan football people drank deep and were silent that night more so than any time before or since (really, we should be stealing from Patrick Kavanagh not Austin Clarke when writing of the stony grey soil).
The rest is history, as they say.
Monaghan remained contenders, nothing else.
They refuse to go quietly. Like their manager, they are a resilient bunch. They can ruin a game with their aggression or spark a classic through razor-sharp footballers like Tommy Freeman and Paul Finlay.
“We made a promise when we were leaving Croke Park just 12 months ago that we’d get back there by hook or by crook,” said McEnaney a year later.
They did return and again, cruelly it was Kerry blocking their path. They hurt The Kingdom once more before conceding on a 1-13 to 0-13 scoreline.
That was the end of Monaghan, surely.
The group return, perhaps because they would dearly love to leave something that resonates from this impressively stubborn era. Silverware can be cherished when the body eventually packs in. A first Ulster title since 1988 would be beautiful.
Their names have become part of the modern Gaelic games lexicon. The reliable ball-striking of Finlay. The sometimes brilliant Tommy Freeman. Big Rory Woods. Vincent Corey – a defender so powerful and agile they can drop him into full forward.
Dessie Mone – the devilish man marker. Dick Clerkin – the bullish midfielder who climbed under the skin of several Kerrymen. And others, like liberated wingbacks Gary McQuaid and Damien Freeman.
There remains an unfinished odyssey. It may never end. Tomorrow they must win by hook or by crook so thoughts can switch to troubling Tyrone again.
“There is serious experience in this group of players,” says McEnaney.
“There is great belief in this group of players. We only ever consider one game at a time. There is never anything else talked about. The next game is Fermanagh.
“I was very impressed with them against Cavan. They now have options up front they wouldn’t have had in the last couple of years and as usual they are very hard to break down at the back.”
Banty has survived long enough to know sporting clichés are the best form of communication the week of a game.
“Our preparation has gone very well. There is only one team on the radar for us, Fermanagh. We know exactly what they bring to the table.
“Fermanagh beat us comprehensively in 2008 by five points. They already have a big win under their belt in Breffni Park where we play them this weekend.
“We’re under no illusions. We know exactly what’s on the table here in front of us. We totally respect Fermanagh but don’t fear them in any shape or form. We don’t fear anybody.”
They are way too stubborn to fear other men.
“Yeah, we haven’t gone away.”
Not yet anyway.
