Mixed fortunes for hurling fraternity
December 30, 2009Ten years ago, Monaghan hurling took a nosedive. The county was suddenly overwhelmed by withdrawal symptons.
An All-Ireland JHC title triumph, followed by the retention of their provincial crown, had the county on a high but then, in 1999, came the fall after the pride.
The county finished pointless in the NHL and relinquished their grip on the Ulster title. Team-manager Finian Baker departed, stage left.
In 2009, Monaghan hurling was similarly underwhelmed by the results garnered by the county's premier team but optimism thankfully remains, principally because of the promise shown by the U21s in scooping the provincial Shield final.
After the high of winning a league title in '08 and reaching the championship semi-final, the senior team had merely a "pretty ok year", one insider has concluded.
The record books will show that after an odyssey near and far saw, Monaghan lost the division four decider in agonising fashion.
The annals will also show how the Investec-sponsored troupe gained no succour from their sojourn in the novel Lory Meagher Cup.
Leave it to the always honest Frank Brady to refrain from making excuses. The Galway native shoots from the hip as he assesses the past year:
"Our aim was to get promoted - that was our priority but we didn't achieve it and we feel the Lory Meagher Cup didn't go the way it should have either," the Monaghan team-manager reflected.
"Losing the league (Division Four) final to Sligo, after extra-time, was a real killer blow but, overall, you'd have to say 2009 wasn't a success."
In respect of Monaghan falling short of expectations, there were some mitigating circumstances of course.
The likes of seasoned stalwarts David Connolly, Jim McHugh and Pat O'Connell were all marked absent. You can't buy experience, after all.
Indeed, some observers have suggested that it may be another two or three years before the necessary experience in on hand again.
"The likes of those fellas would maybe have edged us over the line against Sligo in the league final," Monaghan half-back Declan Crowe opines.
"We had our chances at Breffni Park (against Sligo) but we didn't take them, let them slip through our fingers and maybe those experienced lads would have made the difference on the day."
Just over twelve months ago, Monaghan found themselves just 70 minutes away from booking a berth in Croke Park in the Nicky Rackard Cup.
Crowe admits that the team's failure to meet Sligo in the decider by dint of their semi-final defeat to Louth last year was a "huge blow."
It appears the feeling abroad in Monaghan hurling circles was that on foot of their league title win and their championship near-miss, 2008 was always going to be a hard act to follow.
A bitter pill to swallow was on the menu in 2009. A comfortable opening round win in the league over Cavan, followed up by a never-less-than convincing 0-13 to 0-12 win next time out against Leitrim saw Monaghan unconvincingly climb up the table.
Next time out, Monaghan weren't good enough to beat Sligo on their home patch but subsequent results worked sufficiently in Monaghan's - including a narrow win over South Down - to ensure that the Oriel County bagged a place in the league final against the Yeats County.
The division four decider represented an archetypal winner-take-all scenario in light of the decision by the mandarins at Croke Park that only winner would be promoted to division three for 2010.
Sligo's hurlers won most of the battles and, more importantly, the war as they captured the Allianz NHL Division Four title with a 1-13 to 2-8 victory, after extra-time, in the first week of May at Kingspan/Breffni Park.
"Fair play to them for winning the title but I thought we gave as good as got the whole way through but they just seemed to be going that bit stronger at the end," the aforementioned Crowe explained.
"Sligo went into the game as favourites and I think their experience of playing at a higher level in recent years showed in the game at times."
Played in perfect conditions, the final was a tentative affair early on but a goal from Keith Raymond (6th) and a converted penalty from Willie O'Toole - after a foul on Johnny Greene - allowed the small crowd in attendance to get their teeth into the action.
Thereafter, Stephen Lambe's goal four minutes after the restart helped Monaghan overturn their opponent's 1-3 to 1-2 interval lead but the game continued to be a see-saw affair to the bitter end.
Both sides spurned a raft of chances in front of goal with Sligo by far the greater culprits in that regard although credit to Aidan Kerr for diving to catch a goal-bound shot from Sligo's Michael Gilmartin in the 19th minute.
Monaghan were forced to play on the backfoot for most of the second half and after Damien Burke had cut Monaghan's lead to the minimum, 2-6 to 1-8, after 58 minutes, Michael McHugh had to make a point-blank save to deny Burke a vital goal.
Sligo continued to aim for Monaghan's jugular and substitute Niall Cadden fired over a long-range leveller three minutes from the long whistle to ensure extra-time.
Monaghan enjoyed the bragging rights at half-time in extra-time with points by Sean Leonard and Bernard O'Brien helping to edge them into a one point lead but the latter's 78th minute point was to be his side's final score of the day.
Monaghan had shot their bolt and the physically stronger and apparently fitter westerners set sail for the winner's enclosure with the stiffening breeze at their backs.
Monaghan battled bravely to halt the inevitable but a hat-trick of unanswered points in the final five minutes from David Collery, Mark Burke and Colin Herity broke Monaghan hearts.
Monaghan (NHL Div. 4 final v Sligo);
M McHugh; A Kerr, P Murphy, G Coleman; J McAnespie, W O'Toole (1-0), D Crowe; A Lambe (0-1), B Phelan (0-1); J Greene, S Leonard (0-2), E MacSuibhne; B O'Brien (0-1), S Lambe (1-2, one free), N Morgan.
Subs; A Hughes for N Morgan (y/c, 34mins); S Lynch (0-1) for B Phelan (38); J Lacey for J Greene (65); P Treanor for S Leonard (y/c, 88).
Despite the gut-wrenching nature of the defeat to the Yeats County at Breffni Park, Brady insists that he never contemplated stepping down in the immediate aftermath of the league final.
"It never entered my head or crossed my mind to step down at that point. I would never consider quitting during a season. That's not the way I work," Brady emphasised.
"I was appointed to do a job for the year and I was intent on seeing out the year.
"The county board gave me and my backroom team all the support we could have asked for and there was no way I was going to walk out on them."
Thereafter Monaghan showed renewed promise in the rarified atmosphere of the Ulster SHC as it took a 15 minute spurt by raging hot favourites Armagh to really put the issue to bed.
There was further disappointment for the seniors in late June when the Yeats County once again triumphed, this time by 3-14 to 2-9 in their Rackard Cup relegation play-off match in Ballinamore.
Once again a late flourish by Sligo served to floor a Monaghan team which held the upper hand for large tracts of the match but couldn't match Sligo's cutting edge and more clinical finishing.
The result means that Monaghan will compete in the Lory Meagher Cup in the coming year.
With Antrim, Down, Derry forming the peleton in Ulster hurling circles, Brady nevertheless says closing the gap on the next best team in the province, Armagh, is not beyond the Oriel.
"I would hope that Monaghan can get closer to where Armagh are at this present time but there are quite a few things will have to happen for the county to make it higher up the pecking order," the county boss reveals.
Brady says Monaghan's senior hurling squad should see a great competition for places and a stronger bench in 2010.
He anticipates that "at least a half-dozen" of the best of this year's Ulster Shield-winning U21 team will gravitate to the senior squad in the coming year.
Victory over Donegal set Monaghan's U21s up for a meeting in the final against Fermanagh at Kingspan/Breffni Park, Cavan in mid-June.
Monaghan hit the ground running and led by nine points at the end of the opening quarter and despite stubborn resistance by Fermanagh still sported a seven point lead at the interval.
Thereafter a goal from Fermanagh with ten minutes to go put the cat amongst the pidgeons but thanks, in part, to a nine point haul from Jason O'Rourke, Frank Brady's charges held on to record a 2-10 to 1-9 win.
Monaghan (U21 Shield final v Fermanagh);
Hugh Byrne; Stefan McKenna, Peter Treanor, Barney Connor; Damien McCarron, Raymond Lee, Mark Treanor; Conor McKenna (1-0), Daniel McGuigan; Aenghus MacSuibhne, Eanna MacSuibhne (0-1), Jason O'Rourke (0-9, nine frees); Gavin Baxter, Jerry Brady (1-0), Shane McNally.
Subs; Barry Woods for S McNally; Patrick Hannon for G Baxter.
"The under 21s did very well this year and there's some very good hurlers coming through from that team 'cause I played against them for 'blayney in a challenge during the year and it was our toughest game all year," Crowe, a former U21 Shield winner himself testifies.
"I'm sure there'll be a few of them being drafted into the senior team for 2010 and they should help competition for places and give the senior squad a new degree of freshness and enthusiasm."
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