Hard work being put into Monaghan underage hurling
December 30, 2010
A former mentor on the under age hurling scene in Monaghan at county level talked in the past of one step forward and two back such were the problems that were experienced at that particular level at that time from under 14 through to minor. By JP Graham
Little has changed in that regard as Monaghan seek to rebuild at inter county level having enjoyed a fair degree of success in the previous decade. As recently as 2004 Monaghan was one of the foremost counties on the underage scene in Ulster having won minor C and under 16C championships and indeed going on from there to compete very favourably at All-Ireland level.
Monaghan's last success at that level was back in 2004 when they defeated Fermanagh, Tyrone, Louth, Antrim B and Armagh to reach the final of the C championship where they defeated Donegal by 2-16 to 4-5 and went on to defeat Mayo in what was in effect the All Ireland final. Just one year later though in 2005 Monaghan actually did not take part in the Ulster minor hurling championship and that same scenario of non-participation lasted until the 2009 season when Monaghan again competed in the Ulster minor hurling championship.
It wasn't that there were not sufficient playing numbers as there was still an active club programme in the county but it was more a matter on being unable to source personnel to take responsibility for the preparation and the administration of the county under 16 and minor hurling teams. In fact at one stage due to Monaghan's non-participation they were hauled before the Ulster Council to query why their only participation that year was in the seven aside tournament.
The upshot was that Monaghan had to fulfil certain criteria before they would be allowed to take part at Ulster level in the years ahead. That changed in 2009 when a Clontibret based duo, Brendan Murphy and Sean Leonard took up the cudgels and despite having little time to prepare, Monaghan again fielded in the 2009 Ulster minor hurling championship, drawing with Fermanagh in Irvinestown but then losing out in the replay in Ballybay. While the defeat was disappointing it was however encouraging that Monaghan were again back in the hurling fold at provincial level and they were hopeful that they could build on that in this year's competitions, affiliating to play in both the minor hurling league and the minor hurling championship.
Brendan Murphy was again in charge but was very realistic as to the uphill task that he faced. Not least of those problems was the question of dual players where a number of Monaghan's best young hurlers were also very accomplished footballers and as such were on the county minor football panel and so unavailable for the minor hurling league in particular. That said though Brendan Murphy set to with a will and with the facilities at Cloghan at his disposal, he got through some pre-season preparatory work as he attempted to mould some of the best young club hurlers into a cohesive county unit.
The scene at club level in Monaghan is in fact quite encouraging given that the six clubs take part in the minor hurling championship and the minor hurling league and six clubs also take part in under 12, under 14 and under 16 competitions, so there is a work being done at club level but it is in being able to build on that work at county level where the main challenge is.
Castleblayney have in fact set the standard for coaching at underage level and the work of Noel McGuigan and his helpers has been reflected in their successes over the years. Clontibret made a major breakthrough this year when they defeated Castleblayney in a hugely entertaining and at times very exciting minor hurling championship final, so there is a spread of talent in the county. In the Ulster minor hurling league Monaghan were in a section along with Fermanagh and Tyrone, with Tyrone moving on to the next stage having defeated both Monaghan and Fermanagh. Monaghan started with a promising display against Tyrone in Cloghan before eventually losing out by some 10 points but then had a comprehensive victory over what was in fact understrength Fermanagh. It was a result and a performance that gave encouragement as they were facing the same opposition in their opening game in the Ulster minor hurling championship. Ultimately though there was to be no repeat of the earlier performance and disappointment was Monaghan's lot on that Saturday in Enniskillen.
Brendan Murphy was probably the most disappointed Monaghan man in Enniskillen that day. "I was disappointed at losing but even more so at the poor performance by the team but I am still somewhat at a loss to describe what went wrong but I have to also say that very little went right, I just don't know what happened," said an obviously disappointed Brendan.
"We beat them in the league but we knew they were going to have three or four additions to their team from the day we played them in Cloghan and getting those few players back was a big help to them but it should not have made the difference it did. I remember we also had a couple of boys out injured during the week before that game and a couple of lads with flu symptoms but I also have to say even as far on as now that the boys just didn't perform to the level they were capable of performing to.
"I don't know what I can put that down to as we had the incentive of a very manageable game against Donegal in the next round if we defeated Fermanagh but I just couldn't put my finger on anything specific and looking back I feel that maybe Fermanagh had learned more from the league game than we had.
"On top of that we also had training disrupted a bit in the couple of weeks before that game with injury problems and boys with other commitments but I also have to say that I couldn't fault the lads who were out there that day because they played their best but it just didn't happen for them.
"We were struggling a little and then we had the added misfortune to be reduced to 14 players in the early minutes of the second-half so that made a difficult task well nigh impossible. The sending off definitely didn't help us and as the game wore on after that Fermanagh were stronger than us but I have to admit that our heads started to drop a wee bit which was disappointing because to be honest I didn't think that would happen.
"We had been working on that and talking to the lads about that scenario and these lads had been under the cosh in other games earlier in the year and it didn't happen then. They were a good group of lads, a good tight group, but the dual player element also affected us as we were also without probably our four best hurlers that day because of their involvement with the county minor football panel and that is one question that has not been address adequately. It is in my opinion one that needs to be looked at because it is not going to go away."
So how big a setback was that defeat in Brendan Murphy's opinion.
"That defeat was a bit of a setback because another game would have done these lads the world of good because these are the next crop of players that we have coming through and I know Frank Brady would be hoping to get a few players from this panel to move on to the under 21 panel next year.
"It's a tough struggle for hurling at this level in Monaghan and as I said our four best hurlers were unavailable to us and four players down leaves it a struggle because we're struggling for numbers anyway. We actually used a couple of U16 players that day and they did well but sometimes you feel you are knocking your head against a brick wall.
"Fermanagh though were worthy winners on the day, they were faster to the ball and used the ball better because they had more work done than we had. That said though we should have been better but we will have to start earlier next year and get that little bit more work done. The talent is there in the county, we saw some great young players in the minor championship and look at what hard work did for Inniskeen this year.
"They brought most of those lads through from juvenile level so it can be done, it is just a matter of enough people having the will to put in the work and bringing the young lads along with you.
"As they say Mol an Oige agus tiocfaidh se, and that should be our anthem going forward because if we don't nurture the game at juvenile level it will eventually die."
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