When Inniskeen stormed to victory in the final of the Silver Hill Foods sponsored senior hurling championship it was a landmark occasion by any standards. By JP Graham.

They brought an historic first ever Monaghan senior hurling title to the banks of the Fane and in the process denied Castleblayney the feat of completing a seven in a row of senior hurling titles. To most people it was the result of an initiative started by the late Paddy O'Rourke when he introduced, or in Paddy's terms at the time re-introduced, hurling to Inniskeen, as hurling in that part of County Monaghan is documented as far back as the year 1806. Firsts are nothing new to the Inniskeen either, they were the first club to win the Monaghan senior football championship and as such brought the first ever Ulster senior football championship to the county. They were the first club to bring an All Ireland club title to Monaghan when they won the All Ireland intermediate club title back in 2006 to keep up that great tradition of making major breakthroughs. History therefore is no stranger to the Grattans and hurling is no stranger to the Inniskeen area going back to the famous 1806 Ioman Innis Chaoin when a match was played between the men of Farney, (Monaghan), and Louth, a contest that the local team won. That feat is recorded in the annals of Irish literature and Irish folklore in a now famous poem called Ioman Inis Chaoin, the hurling of Inniskeen, the record preserved for posterity through the efforts of the late Henry Morris.
That game took place on April 18th 1806, almost 80 years before the Gaelic Athletic Association was founded. Things were not organised on the same official base as they are now and that contest back 204 years ago would appear to have developed when a Dr. Atcionson issued a challenge to a Father Edward Duffy who was then the parish priest in Inniskeen to a hurling contest. Accounts of the game spread across the entire province of Ulster and it is also recorded that the victory inspired the Monaghan men to greater efforts as the game of hurling flourished for many years afterwards in the Farney area of the county.
The decline in hurling as a result of the Great Famine was probably felt as much in Inniskeen as it was anywhere else in the country and almost two centuries passed until the great awakening approaching the end of the last millennium as the name of Inniskeen began to emerge among the winners of underage competitions and from that humble start great progress has been made until now when Inniskeen will again grace the national scene and the Green and Red will be paraded in a national competition.
This however was no overnight success but rather the result of years of hard work and determination that started when Inniskeen won the under 11 hurling blitz back in 1994. They followed that up by winning the under 12 league in 1995, the under 13 league in 1996 and 1997, taking also the Ulster under 13 hurling blitz that year as well as competing in Feile na nGael in Waterford. 1997 also saw an under 14 hurling league title come to the club and they took the Jim O'Rourke Cup two years later in 1999. The ongoing development and progress was mirrored by minor hurling Shield victories in 2001 and 2004 with the reserve hurling league in 2004 and 2005 and then a major breakthrough with the senior hurling league title in 2006, having lost out the previous year in the decider. That success over the years though did not abate the hunger and everyone was determined to go the whole away and achieve the Holy Grail of a Monaghan senior hurling championship but that too only came after experiencing the bitter taste of defeat in a county final.
It was understandably celebrations all the way for the Inniskeen players, team mentors, club officials and supporters when the final whistle signalled the club's first ever senior hurling championship title on that August Sunday in Aughnamullen. It was a result too that saw a changing of the guard as it were, as far as the pecking order in hurling in the county was concerned. Castleblayney had been the dominant team over the years, going for seven in a row while Inniskeen were seeking a first ever senior hurling championship and the result was seen by the team management as being good for hurling in the county.
The memory of Paddy O'Rourke loomed large in Aughnamullen on that Sunday evening and it loomed large over the Inniskeen team, in that a lot of the lads who were playing in the final were boys that he had introduced to hurling as very young juveniles. "There is no doubt about that," team captain Seamus Loftus recalled. "Paddy and Eddie Higgins would have been the men who got hurling going on the ground and they were the men who worked at it in the early years and they had the foresight and the inspiration to start at the very bottom and get it going from there."
Seamus was quick to point out though that Inniskeen had been knocking on the door for a few years but it was still a major breakthrough which he described as 'just unbelievable'. "I was a member of one of the first batches of players that Paddy (O'Rourke) and Eddie (Higgins) began working with and we enjoyed success at underage level coming through and that certainly helped us but the senior was the jewel in the crown and it was just so great to get it."
Inniskeen went on from there to record victories over Lisnaskea from Fermanagh by 2-17 to 0-8 and Craobh Ruadh from Armagh by 0-16 to 1-9 as the roller coaster gathered momentum and they found themselves in the Ulster final, just one game away from realising a dream and carrying the cup that commemorated their hero/mentor back to the banks of the Fane.
The outcome is now history, part of the statistics of the Ulster club championships but it is still very real in the minds of the people of Inniskeen and especially the team and those associated with it.
"There are no words to describe how we felt that day, it was just simply fantastic and to go to Belfast and defeat an Antrim team made it even more special," Seamus recalled and went on to reflect on the great end to the year it was for Inniskeen to win the provincial title. Indeed he was still visibly emotional when he talked of how extra special it was that the Cup he was presented with was in commemoration of Paddy O'Rourke.
"It was a great year, a fantastic year because that was the fourth cup that we won in Inniskeen up to that time. We had inspiration that day and we said before the game that we would give it our all for Paddy O'Rourke and it was very special for me and all of the lads because we started hurling with him at juvenile level and it was just such a great feeling of satisfaction to have won the title and in Casement Park as well."
There was no doubting the level of inspiration that everyone involved gained by dedicating their efforts to Paddy O'Rourke with team mentor Richie Nash expressing regret that he had never met a man who could have such an effect on so many people while Brian Murphy was visibly emotional when he recalled his former friend. Inniskeen went on from there to add the Silver Hill Foods reserve hurling league title to make for a situation where it was a clean sweep in both Monaghan and Ulster - an achievement that will take some bettering.
Inniskeen chairman Noel Brady saw this year's success as a reward for hard work and had nothing but praise for everyone involved in bringing these new hurling honours to Inniskeen. "It has been a very successful year and as chairman of the club I have to say that the success was very welcome because it has brought a great atmosphere to the club and has lifted everyone's spirits. In fact you could say that the hurlers success was the tide that lifted all boats because for a couple of years there when all of our energies were devoted to the development of our new grounds I suppose maybe the playing side of things took a back seat a little but the hurlers success has changed all that.
"The fact too that it was the Paddy O'Rourke Cup that we were playing for in Ulster was a major thing in this club because he was the inspiration for the start of hurling and all of the lads on the team now with the exception of a couple of boys who transferred in would have come up through the ranks with Paddy."
The hurlers' success is a whole club affair in that Inniskeen is pointing the way in that regard as they are moving forward as an integrated club where hurling, football and all the other activities come under the umbrella of Inniskeen Grattans.
"That is national policy and we want to keep it that way because most of our players are dual players and great relationships have been built over the years between the football and the hurling and I think it's better for everyone. I know that running two teams and going on a successful run like hurlers enjoyed is a big draw on resources and we have to be conscious of that but we have a lot of people who are prepared to do a lot of hard work and the work is well spread out. It takes a fierce commitment from an awful lot of people but you could not do it any other way but help is not a problem."
Looking forward Noel Brady is confident that the New Year will bring further success.
"The boys are taking a break at the moment but we will be gearing up very soon for the All-Ireland stages of the club hurling championship and I can tell you that the players will get every support from the committee and indeed from everyone in the club and I am confident that we can add an All-Ireland title to our Monaghan and Ulster titles and of course our All-Ireland sevens success as well."

And so say all of us.
Inniskeen results for 2010
Monaghan SHC
Inniskeen 6-13 Carrickmacross 0-6
Inniskeen 0-17 Castleblayney 2-10 (Final)
Monaghan SHL Final
Inniskeen 0-18 Castleblayney 1-10
Monaghan Reserve HL Final
Inniskeen 1-12 Truagh 1-9.
Ulster JHC
Inniskeen 2-17 Lisnaskea 0-8
Inniskeen 0-16 Craobh Rua 1-9
Inniskeen 0-14 Cloughmills 1-9 (Final)

Inniskeen footballers
MOVE ON UP

It was a landmark season for Inniskeen's footballers, who won the intermediate league title in mid-January to book a return to the top table. Club secretary Peter Dooley is hoping the Grattans' explosive finish in the 2010 intermediate league is a portent of good things to come in 2011. 

The Farneysiders were the form team in the latter end of the season and looked, for all the world, like the senior team most pundits have labelled them.
"It wasn't until after our championship hopes bit the dust that we hit our best form and things just took off for us in the league," Peter explains.
"Fair play to the lads for turning things around after what was a real struggle in the early part of the season when points were hard to come by.
"Things looked ominous for us from the start of the league when we only managed to get one win from the first five games we played.
"We were second from the bottom in the table around the time of the championship exit but then we went onto win seven out of the next nine games."
Reflecting on the successful league season, the hard-working Inniskeen administrator says the club's premier squad showed the required commitment all year.
However, the panel was badly hit by the twin ravages of injuries and emigration last spring and more defeats than wins were the order of the day.
"Matt McKenna got a serious injury in a match against Donaghmoyne on April 24th and then Gerard McArdle picked up a cruciate ligament injury after he had been to the US in the summer.
"On top of the injuries, we were without six lads who had gone out to Australia the previous year so it took a while for the team to re-group.
"Fortunately, once we got a win or two under our belts after the championship, the team got some momentum behind them and spirits were high.
"A few weeks after our time in the championship had finished, we managed to put three wins in a row together for the first team all season.
"Things improved as regards form and morale when we recorded three successive wins against Aghabog and Tyholland at home and Currin away.
"The fact that the team got into a winning habit was a great tonic for everyone and I think finishing in fourth place was a fair gauge of their campaign."
Inniskeen subsequently booked their place in the IFL decider with a win over neighbours Donaghmoyne. It was a remarkable revival from the Grattans, who had languished close to the foot of the table at the two-thirds mark. The final itself was postponed on numerous occasions due to the terrible weather. However, when the match eventually took place in Drumhowan on Sunday January 17th, they captured the silverware - and promotion - with a superb 1-10 to 1-8 victory over double-seeking intermediate championship winners Doohamlet. The Vincent McAviney Cup winged its way to Inniskeen, rounding off a historic season for the Pairc Grattan men.
Meanwhile, on the championship front, Peter doesn't begin to dilute the extent of the club's disappointment at not making an impression in that sphere.
On the face of it, Donaghmoyne - after the disappointment of coming down from senior - and Aughnamullen - only up from junior - ought not to have been obstacles which Inniskeen were incapable of overcoming.
"This winning run in the league was seen as a boost to team spirits leading up to the first round of the Intermediate Championship when we were drawn against Donaghmoyne.
"Unfortunately things didn't turn out to plan. Donaghmoyne were the more determined team on the day and won by fifteen points to 1-7.
"Before our back-door championship match against Aughnamullen, the team had four league encounters taking three more league points with a win over Eire Og and a draw away to Donaghmoyne but then we had defeats to Emyvale and Tyholland as well.
"We played Aughnamullen in the back-door of the championship on August 21st and although we started well a goal just before half-time and a poor second half display meant we exited the championship on a 1-6 to 1-13 scoreline."
Inniskeen went into both championship matches as clear favourites to advance in the blue riband competition so what went wrong?
"The first round Donaghmoyne game was a derby affair and anything can happen when you're playing a team from the next parish but we put in a bad display.
"I genuinely thought we'd beat Donaghmoyne when the draw was made but we were faltering at that stage and morale wasn't great at all.
"Aughnamullen would have been underdogs going in against us but they proved to be the surprise packages in the intermediate championship.
"Getting beaten in both championship matches made it a mixed year for us. I suppose the recovery after the championship made the season for us."
Part of that aforementioned recovery included victory (1-10 to 0-11) over Donaghmoyne in the league semi-final. Revenge was seldom so sweet. And it was also Donaghmoyne whom Inniskeen pipped to promotion by claiming the league crown.
Training for the Inniskeen footballers began in early February. Following a number of challenge games, Inniskeen's league campaign kicked off on April 18th.
But once again the club's premier team - under the stewardship of  joint managers Seamus Callan and Pete Meegan plus selector Joe Hoey and trainer John Fee - opted out of the Ulster Club league. One wonders why?
"There are pluses and minuses regarding competing in the Ulster Club league and the club has decided not to take part in it for a number of years.
"While you get in some useful match practice in it (Ulster Club) before the league, fellas aren't just as committed at such an early stage of the season.
"The players aren't as fit as they'd want to be or maybe need to be when the Ulster Club gets up and running so they don't seem to enjoy it as much.
"Then there's the cost of travelling to the various games around the province. Personally, the jury would be out as regards us taking part in it."
No Ulster Club fare, no turbo-charged start to the year but the team finished the season like a train.
The early exit from the championship meant a greater effort was put in to turn the team's fortunes around.
To their credit, the players swung things around with four successive League wins, victories away to Doohamlet and home wins against Currin, Rockcorry and Aughnamullen.
"The home win against Rockcorry in particular was a very determined display and meant that we climbed into fourth place in the League table, a position we held on to at the final count," Peter recalls.
The hard-working club officer is mindful of the effort the Grattans put in at every grade. Things didn't always work out though he acknowledges.
"Unfortunately, due to uncertainty over the format of the Under 21 League and subsequently due to lack of numbers, it was decided not to enter the Under 21 competition.
"We had only five players on the button of 21 in 2010 which left the writing well and truly on the wall for us.
"Our minors had a disappointing year. With a shortfall in numbers we amalgamated with Toome to give these fellas football.
"While the amalgamation worked well the team was placed in too high a division, and following a number of defeats and a lack of interest from some players we had no alternative but to pull out of the competition which was unfortunate."
Lessons to be learned from the minors' experience in 2010?
"It's my view that having being involved with this team the Monaghan County Committee should have a serious look at the divisions in which clubs are placed in and just because two clubs amalgamate doesn't mean they should automatically be placed in a higher division."
Peter is fulsome in his praise for the efforts of the club's junior team - managed by Noel Brady, Peter McKenna and Dermot Jones (selectors) -that recorded seven wins from fourteen games in the Reserve Football League.
"The narrow defeat in the last round against Doohamlet, on a score-line 3-7 to 2-9, unfortunately left us outside the semi-final pairings," Peter explains.
Peter reflects also on the club's O'Duffy Cup campaign which was in 2010 played on a knock-out basis.
Inniskeen were drawn against Monaghan Harps in the first round but sadly made a quick exit, going down by 1-9 to 0-16.
On the juvenile football front, no silverware was achieved by Inniskeen underage teams but, according to Peter, all competed well.
Peter tells of how Inniskeen reached the final of the U12 Division 2 Shield competition and reached the semi-finals in both competitions at under 14 level, the U14 Championship and the Division 3 Shield Competition.
"Our under 16s were unlucky though when three of its panel sustained major injures which affected the club's Inniskeen participation in competitions."
While the club's hurling fortunes are given due recognition elsewhere in this year's Breffni Blue, Peter is keen to express his delight at the unparalelled success for the small ball enthusiasts in Inniskeen.
"2010 will long be remembered and recorded for the success of our hurlers," Peter delights in stating.
A first-ever SHC title was garnered along with the senior league title plus Reserve Hurling League and the All-Ireland Kilmacud Crokes All-Ireland Sevens Shield competition and not forgetting the Ulster JHC title.
"The club owes a great debt of  appreciation to Brian Murphy, Richard Nash, and Gerry Murphy who managed and brought success to our hurlers in 2010," Peter adds.
And with one of the best equipped grounds - Paddy O'Rourke Memorial Stand included - it seems like the Grattans' business on and off the field of play is a hugely profitable one.
Comhghairdeas. Tweet

Most Read Stories