Up and coming
November 27, 2011Managed by Tyrone man Laurence Strain in conjunction with local clubman Kieran McKenna, Truagh hit the ground running in the 2011 Monaghan SFC with a sensational 2-13 to 0-8 drubbing of Magheracloone at Aughnamullen on the afternoon of Sunday, July 24th. It really was a stunning display from the Gaels and in that hour of top-quality football they proved without any doubt that - on their day - they can compete with the very best in the county.
The key part of that contention is the phrase 'on their day'. Alas, at present, the team is a little inconsistent and they don't always deliver to their true potential. They're also relatively young and inexperienced, but this will improve for the better as the current crop matures and some exciting new talent breaks through into the first-team squad. To this end, a finely-tuned, well-oiled conveyor belt is in place.
Alas, Gaeil Triucha bowed out of senior championship contention following back-to-back defeats within a week in double-headers at Clontibret - against Ballybay on Sunday, August 14th (0-12 to 0-3) and Castleblayney on August 21st (1-12 to 0-6). On both occasions, Truagh failed to rise to the challenge, so they know they have to set the record straight in 2012. Club captain Niall Feely reckons they should be able to beat any team, including the big guns:
"We should be able to compete with them because we have a good young team. I was expecting us to challenge for the SFC this year. We fancied our chances, especially after giving Clontibret such a good run in 2010, so we expected to go even closer. After giving Magheracloone such a good hammering, we thought we could push on but the next two games didn't work out for us at all…"
Why was that? "We didn't have the firepower up front and we lacked a bit of experience. Noel Clerkin also missed the latter stages of the year and we need to have all our best players available to really push on.
"We were disappointed in the end after getting the win of the year against Magheracloone. To go out the next two days and not put any scores of note on the board at all was frustrating. It wasn't good. Magheracloone were missing a couple of key men on the day, but we still beat them comfortably. We beat them well. It was our best performance of the year but we couldn't repeat it, unfortunately."
Meanwhile, at underage level, the club is doing superbly. In 2011, they made history by winning the Coyle Cup (U12 Division One league) for the first time ever, beating Monaghan Harps by 4-7 to 3-9 in a thrilling final at Blackhill. Aaron Mohan bagged a hat-trick of goals in the first half to help establish a 3-4 to 1-3 interval advantage and the lads survived a strong comeback from the town side to take the spoils.
This was the U12 side that made history: Shane McKenna; Finbar McGinn, Colm MacAnespie; Cormac McKenna, Gary Mohan; Ryan Mohan (captain, 1-1), Kallum McKenna (0-1); Killian Woods, James Treanor (0-1); Oran McElligot (0-1), Aaron Mohan (3-3). Subs: Mathew McKenna, Jamie Treanor, Karl McGee.
The U16s got to the Division One final, losing to Scotstown, and the Truagh minors took the scalps of both Carrickmacross and Castleblayney to qualify for a county MFC final meeting with Clontibret. This was the team that beat the Faughs by 0-11 to 0-10 at the semi-final stage: Niall Rooney; Mark McQuaid, Daragh McKenna, Fergal O'Neill; John McAnanley, Chrissy Curran (0-2), Daragh McGinn; Padraig McKenna (0-2), Paddy McMeel; Shane Treanor, Chrissy McKenna (0-5), Christopher McAnanley (0-1); Paul McMeel, Adam Treanor (0-1), Niall Skinnader.
Unbelievably, on a never-to-be-forgotten day at Inniskeen - Sunday, October 9th - Truagh recorded a magnificent 2-8 to 0-8 victory over the holders Clontibret in the 2011 Maguire Transport MFC Division One final. Christopher Curran and Man of the Match Christopher McKenna bagged the goals that gave the winners a 2-3 to 1-4 interval cushion and the following personnel held on for a groundbreaking success, taking the Fergal O'Hanlon Cup on a maiden voyage: N Rooney; F O'Neill, D McKenna, M McQuaid; D McGinn, J McAnenly, S Treanor; P McKenna (joint-captain, 0-2), Patrick McMeel; C Curran (1-0), C McAnenly, N Skinnader; C McKenna (joint-captain., 1-3), A Treanor (0-3), Paul McMeel. Subs: C McAnespie for Skinnader (58).
The seniors opened their league campaign with wins over Castleblayney and Scotstown, suggesting that they would be in the shake-up for honours in 2011 (unlike the previous year, when they went into a relegation dogfight). They went into the SFC in great spirit and Magheracloone simply didn't know what hit them when the following personnel tore them apart in the preliminary round: Ian Treanor; Mike Treanor, Niall Feely, Niall McQuillan; Damien McRory, Barry Cuddy (0-1), Rory Treanor; Niall McMeel, Pauric Treanor; Niall Coyle (1-2), Daniel McKenna (0-4), Keith Sheerin; Christopher McKenna (0-3), Gary Feely, Mark Counihan (0-3). Subs: Padraig McKenna for Pauric Treanor (47), Sean McKenna for Christopher McKenna (49), Neil McRory for Keith Sheerin (53), Gary Meehan for Mark Counihan (57), Brendan Treanor for Gary Feely (60).
The break for holiday week in the county probably came at the worst possible time, but full back Niall Feely would be the first to admit that there was no excuse for the subsequent capitulation.
There's certainly no lack of conviction in the clubhouse: "We always have belief that we are going to win something. We know how good we can be but, in hindsight, maybe it was a bad thing to win our first championship game so convincingly. Maybe we lost a bit of focus after that.
"In the league, we got seven points from our first four games and started well but didn't really perform in the latter stages of the competition. I don't know what happened: it was the complete opposite of what usually happens; in the previous two years we started badly and finished strongly.
"But we feel we are making an improvement every year so hopefully we can push on. There is definitely talent there; our history-making minors and U16s are going well and even our U12s had a great year. There's no reason why we can't get to a league semi-final or into the latter stages of the championship.
"There is an abundance of good footballers in the club. The hardest part is getting players through from minor to senior. If we can do that successfully, I would genuinely expect that we can push on for a SFC in the next couple of years. They say the first one is the hardest to win, but you only have to look at clubs like Latton and Magheracloone, who have been challenging regularly since making the breakthrough. We just have to push on and get our first one."
A member of the first team for nine years now, 25-year-old Niall has thus far won an IFL as well as a couple of U21 Division Two medals. But he longs to gather some senior silverware. Looking ahead to 2012, he notes: "It's going to be a tight league next year, with no weak teams this time. We put Carrick' down last year but they'll be back and it's going to be a real battle. You'll have to put the performances in.
"In 2010, you needed 16 points to stay up, but this year you could have nearly stayed up with eight. Twenty-twelve will be different. We'll have to get off to a good start."
Is the SFC the Holy Grail for Truagh Gaels? "Every player wants to win a senior championship at some stage in their career. It would be nice to do it. We have young lads coming through all the time - Christopher McKenna and Paudie McKenna from the minor team played most of this year and those lads will keep us going. We also had Daniel McKenna through from the 2010 minor team, so there's plenty of talent coming through and hopefully we have a lot of good days to look forward to." Tweet
