Minors missed out on final
December 30, 2009
Monaghan's minors narrowly failed to reach the 2009 Ulster MFC final when they lost to neighbours Armagh at the semi-final stage in Clones on Saturday July 4 after recording a stunning victory over Derry in Celtic Park on Sunday May 24.
Having reached the 2008 Ulster final, the county's minor football team went into '09 determined to go all the way in the northern province. After capturing the All-Ireland Vocational Schools championship earlier in the year, confidence in the camp was high that Bernie Murray's team could claim a first Ulster MFC since 1945.
The '08 team had also progressed to the quarter-final stage of the All-Ireland (losing unluckily to Mayo), so the players who were still eligible for the 2009 under 18 campaign had acquired no end of vital experience. Could they work the oracle in '09? They appeared to be in with a chance, but there was talk of a strong Armagh team and Tyrone would be a threat, as always … but those two were meeting at the quarter-final stage, so Monaghan would only have to worry about one of them. The performance in Celtic Park suggested that the Oriel County boys were capable of reaching a second successive Ulster final at the very least…
Monaghan used the Ulster minor football league to try to come up with a settled side and they hit the championship ground running. Pauric McGuirk impressed throughout the league at full back, as did Pauric Boyle at centre back, while Latton clubmates Stephen McElroy and Kieran Duffy formed a formidable midfield partnership. Up front, Pete Dooney (who would revert to midfield for the knockout competition), Daniel McKenna, Aaron McCarey and Jack McCarron all impressed pre-championship. McCarey, Dooney, Duffy and Boyle were involved when Monaghan beat Derry in the 2008 semi-final.
Going into the championship, the manager said: "For us, it is a matter of building on last year's championship run and the success the Vocational Schools team enjoyed. There is no doubt about it last year we showed what you can achieve if you work hard and have the right attitude and the right commitment. We had a great bunch of players last year who did work very hard and the quality in that group of players showed against Derry and Fermanagh. Mayo and Tyrone were stronger teams but maybe we needed to just have that little bit more belief in ourselves.
"That is one area where [coach] Paul O'Connor has played a huge role for us since he has become involved with the county minor squad as he has got a lot of quality work done with the players. He put in so much work too with the VEC team that went such a long way towards their successful run and we have eight or nine of that panel on our squad this year. The Vocational Schools players formed the core of the squad last year and they form the core of the squad again this year which is in large part responsible for the great spirit there is in this group and the spirit they have brought to the county minor setup. They have a good relationship with the boys from the other schools and meeting and competing with them in other sports as well as coming up through the development squads, this group of players have developed a great attitude and I can tell you that the spirit they have generated makes it a pleasure to work with them."
Monaghan had only beaten Derry once in the minor championship since 1997, so the 1-12 to 0-10 victory at Celtic Park was indeed heart-warming stuff. It was a difficult trek into the Oak Leafers' own backyard and thus a highly commendable success.
The game was closely-contested throughout but Monaghan took the spoils with a barnstorming finish. The hosts had battled gamely but Monaghan, who started rather poorly, pulled away when they upped the ante. But for two squandered goal chances, the winners could have taken an early foothold. Instead, they trailed by four points at the end of the first quarter and by two at the interval (0-6 to 0-4).
Shane Coyle's goal three minutes after the resumption spurred Monaghan to life and three quick-fire points saw them move three clear. Derry levelled again by the 48th minute, however, but the winners struck with devastating effect with four unanswered points in the final ten minutes, three from centre forward Daniel McKenna (who carried an ankle injury into the game) and the other from Jack McCarron to wrap up a deserved victory. Cathal Crowe and Pauric McGuirk were outstanding at the back. As well as the aforementioned McKenna and McCarron, full forward Aaron McCarey and top scorer Shane Coyle terrorised the Derry rearguard, notching all but two points of the winning tally between the four of them. Pete Dooney and Kieran Duffy toiled tirelessly in the engine room.
Monaghan had gone into the game as favourites - based largely on their performance the previous year with a different team (as well as Derry's poor showing in the Ulster league)! Regardless of whether or not they had justified that status, manager Murray was just delighted to be through to the next round: "I don't know where that came from because Derry have a serious pedigree in minor football and their colleges have figured in titles this year as well. It was a brilliant achievement to come up here and win in Celtic Park because I don't know when Monaghan have defeated Derry in any competition in Celtic Park. When it comes down to match day, all the hype counts for nothing, but I think the degree of expectation was unrealistic. This was a difficult game on a difficult day."
Monaghan, 2009 Ulster MFC V Derry: Dean McDermott; Declan Burns, Pauric McGuirk, Cathal Crowe; Ryan Courtney, Paraic Boyle, Niall McKeown; Pete Dooney, Kieran Duffy (0-2); David Savage, Daniel McKenna (0-4), Paddy McGuigan; Shane Coyle (1-3), Aaron McCarey (0-1), Jack McCarron (0-2). Subs: James Kerr for P McGuigan, Stephen McElroy for D Savage.
After the high noon start in Derry, Monaghan prepared for a July 4 semi-final showdown with Armagh at Clones. (The winners would face Down in the provincial decider.) This one was curtain-raiser to the Round One SFC Qualifier between the same two counties and had a 5:15 throw-in. Monaghan boasted no shortage of experience and quality but they were up against an accomplished Armagh side who had dethroned defending Ulster and All-Ireland champions Tyrone in the first round. Monaghan and Armagh had drawn in the Ulster minor league at Inniskeen earlier in the year, but only 15 of those 30 starting players were involved for their counties in the first round of the championship.
Though it was always going to be a difficult assignment, the Monaghan players were looking forward to the game, as manager Bernie Murray confirmed in the build-up to the match: "We are under no illusions just what we are up against. The game is here as part of the double-header with the seniors, making for a great occasion and a great Saturday evening's football. That's where young fellows at 17 or 18 years of age want to be, out there performing on the big occasion, an Ulster semi-final in Clones in front of a big crowd. I think there will be a really good atmosphere here and that's why these lads want to play football and get to that stage at 17 or 18 years of age."
As it transpired, Monaghan failed to rise to the occasion and fell to a hungrier, more focussed Orchard County outfit, 2-14 to 2-8. The match was played in testing conditions and the losers had no answer to Armagh dangerman Eugene McVery, who waded in with a match-winning haul of 1-7. The home side had started ideally when midfielder Pete Dooney pounced for a goal after only 15 seconds and that three-pointer ensured that they remained in touch at the break, 1-6 to 1-4, despite being outplayed.
Jack McCarron's penalty had Monaghan back on level terms by the 39th minute and it looked like we were about to witness the close contest everyone had predicted. But Armagh turned on the style with a flurry of points from McVerry and Robbie Tasker as well as a Gavin McParland to deservedly take their place in the provincial showpiece.
For Monaghan, the famine would extend to 65 years.
Monaghan, 2009 Ulster MFC V Armagh: D McDermott; C Crowe, P McGuirk, E Coyle; N McKeown, P Boyle, R Courtney; P Dooney (1-1), K Duffy; S McElroy, D McKenna (0-1), D Savage; S Coyle (0-1), A McCarey (0-3), J McCarron (1-2). Subs: J Kerr for P Boyle, S McCarthy for S McElroy, D Burns for C Crowe, P McGuigan for D Savage.
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