Monaghan's flying winger
November 27, 2011
Ciara McAnespie is a wing wizard. With electric pace and brillant ball skills, collecting and holding onto her second All Star last month was a piece of cake.
With two All-Star awards to her name at just 21, Ciara McAnespie has consistently demonstrated an appetite for achievement that lifts her high above the common place.
Her progress to the elite of ladies football, nationally, has been sign-posted for some time. The past year went quite a distance to confirming her ranking as one of the most prodigious talents around.
It might have been a case of lucky 13 for the tearaway attacker last month (and previously in 2009) when she was slotted into the right-corner forward position on the 2011 All-Stars line-up except for the fact that luck and All-Stars ain't ever been bedfellows.
In tandem with Grainne McNally, Sharon Courtney and Therese McNally - fellow 2011 All-Stars from the Oriel - the Emyvale livewire has helped consolidate the re-emergence of Monaghan senior ladies team as bona fide all-Ireland SFC contenders.
So was this year's All-Star award any consolation for losing out to Cork in the 2011 All-Ireland SFC final to Cork?
"Getting an All-Star is a great honour for myself, my club and family and the county but, to be honest, it doesn't really make up for the disappointment of losing to Cork. The All-Star was a help in getting over the final but the huge sense of disappointment remains on."
Ciara says she was "delighted to be nominated but shocked to actually get the All-Star," especially in light of the talent vying for a place on the All-Stars.
Her genuine lack of assuredness about the destination of the eagerly-sought gongs is understandable given the unpredictability of this year's awards.
"Some years there may be only a couple of real challengers for each position but I think the competition for places this year was really a lot tougher.
"As far as the forward sector was concerned, you had maybe nine players this year in the running for each on the three positions in the full-forward and half-forward lines.
"I thought the standard of individual performances was very high this year and it must have been very hard for the selectors to come to a decision."
Young McAnespie's singular honour fairly reflected Monaghan's rise up the pecking order of ladies football over the last 12 months.
That leap forward in the rankings was bookended in mid-November when Ciara was one of four senior county players who picked up 2011 All-Star awards at a glittering function held in the City West Hotel, Dublin.
The hangdog looks of the Monaghan players on view in the immediate aftermath of October's All-Ireland SFC final defeat to Cork were relegated to history as Grainne McNally, Sharon Courtney, Therese McNally joined with speedster McAnespie in receiving All-Star awards.
Ciara and co. were joined by a gathering of the who's who of ladies football; with all four Monaghan luminaries among those feted by over 1,000 people who came together to celebrate the individual contributions of some of the game's most wondrous talents.
The evening was especially memorable for the renowned McNally football family from Tyholland with Grainne and Therese collecting their first All-Stars, having been selected at right corner back and right half forward respectively.
Sharon Courtney, Monaghan's Captain Fantastic in 2011, re-visited old ground by collecting her second All-Star gong in tandem with livewire attacker McAnespie.
Captain Courtney was in the running for the Senior Players' Player of the Year award but just missed out to Cork ace Juliet Murphy.
While there was great jubilation among the Monaghan fraternity who travelled to the capital for the All-Star extravaganza, some ladies football afficionados suggested that the Oriel county might well have been entitled to more than the four awards that were handed out.
"I think we could have got more All-Stars and it must have been very disappointing for the rest of the girls who were nominated.
"Unfortunately, there was an awful lot of talented players in the running for the awards but at least we had six other players nominated, Christine (Reilly), Amanda (Casey), Aoife (McAnespie), Catriona (McConnell), Cora (Courtney) and Caoimhe (Mohan)."
Magheracloone's young dynamo Ciara McDermott had no such ill-luck though as she picked up the Ulster Young Player of the Year award; doubtless in part for the role she played in Monaghan's capture of the Ulster under 16 title.
Ciara is pleased to acknowledge that these are bumper times for Monaghan ladies football and she also concurs that if the Oriel wasn't figuring under the spotlight so often and in such high company, perhaps All-Star awards would be more difficult to come for her and her ilk.
Reflecting on Monaghan's odyssey to the 2001 blue riband final, the Emyvale stalwart says she was happy with her contribution, thought she made more of an impression this time around than in 2009 but "I could have played better too."
And what of the squad? How did it perform as a unit?
"I thought we did really well, especially compared to how things went at the finish in 2009 when Cork really coasted past us in the All-Ireland final.
"We played far better in this year's final than in '09 and we showed that we're getting closer and closer to getting on a level par with them.
"The squad was stronger overall this year than two years ago 'cause we had much the same core but a few younger players came in to really complement the more experienced girls.
"I think, overall, we were more ready to take on Cork this year because of that added bit of experience gathered from 2009 and the extra energy and competition provided by the introduction of younger players."
With hand on heart, the wing wizard reckons Monaghan currently lie in second place in the senior rankings, behind Cork.
Had the Oriel triumphed at Croke Park against the Rebelettes, she says the placings would have been reversed. So what went wrong?
"We all felt going into the match that we had the ability to beat them (Cork). We didn't lack self-belief or confidence.
"I think that we just panicked at different times in the final and made some really simple mistakes and were made to pay dearly for them.
"We all played our best and no particular sector made any more mistakes than the other. I think nerves might have played a part (in the defeat).
"As well as that, I think Cork were hurting badly from having lost their title in 2010 and they were determined to get it back.
"You could see how hungry they were and I know that several of their team admitted afterwards just how much they wanted to win this year's final."
Ciara - sister of fellow All Star nominee Aoife - is a flyer and her mobility, balance, co-ordination and incisiveness makes her the kind of player that puts bums on seats countrywide.
She is mad about football and says that as long as she is spared from injuries she will be happy to play away for as long as she is enjoying the game.
Convinced that Cork remain the team to beat as 2012 looms large on the horizon, Ciara ranks Dublin in third place in the country, then Kerry and Tyrone in 5th.
Toppling Cork then is the number one priority one suspects then?
"Most definitely. It's everyone's ambition to win an All-Ireland medal and I'm no different," says the multi-Ulster championship medallist.
"It's good that Greg (McGonagle) is back as manager 'cause he knows all the girls and I'm sure that we'll make for a very good team again and hopefully next time around, we'll go one step further."
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