Poor start but fine finish
November 27, 2011It was Frank Brady's fourth year at the helm and the manager was disappointed that some players declined his invitation to hook up with the county team. After a dreadful start to the year, the county hurlers got into their stride and made a dramatic improvement to challenge for the Rackard Cup. They also pushed Armagh all the way in the Ulster SHC. While the team's form in the latter part of the season was encouraging, playing in Division Four next year will be of no benefit to them whatsoever.
Monaghan travelled to Lawless Memorial Park in Swords for their Division 3B opener and fell to a heavy 4-18 to 0-13 defeat against a Fingal side that came flying out of the blocks on Sunday February 13th. The visitors were guilty of some sloppy passing and were overly-reliant on the day on ace marksman Stephen Lambe, who bagged 0-9 of their tally. Lambe's return to the starting XV was a positive note for the management team, who blooded two national league debutants in Seamus Roche and 2010 Young Hurler of the Year Martin Murphy. But it was a steep learning curve for Frank Brady's charges as the home side hit 1-3 without reply in the first four minutes and never looked back thereafter.
For the second round, a week later, Monaghan faced another away trip, and this time they suffered a 3-18 to 1-4 drubbing at the hands of neighbours Louth in Darver. Monaghan never got going at all and delivered a very poor performance against the table-toppers. Stephen Lambe gave them hope with some early scores but his third point from a ninth-minute free was their last of the first half and the Oriel County were never going to win after such a lengthy scoreless spell. It was 1-12 to 0-3 at the break and the Wee County were home and hosed long before Gary Boyd struck a late consolation goal. Lambe's last-gasp free closed the losers' paltry scoring.
Monaghan finally got a home game in Round Three and they delivered a vastly-improved performance against Donegal at Clones on Sunday March 6th but still came out with a third successive defeat, 3-12 to 1-14. The result plunged Monaghan into real relegation danger as they still had some very tricky assignments to come, but aspects of the performance were very encouraging in that they showed that at least the county was capable of hurling at a decent level. Monaghan started brightly and points from Ronan Meegan and Stephen Lambe saw them lead by 0-4 to 0-1 after 20 minutes. But the visitors hit 2-2 in a three-minute purple patch to seize control of proceedings. It was 2-5 to 0-6 at the break and the second half was nip and tuck until Monaghan goalkeeper Michael McHugh came up the field on the half-hour mark to slam a late free to the net, closing the gap to one. Unfortunately, Donegal reeled off the last three points but this was a fantastic effort from the Monaghan lads.
Round Four and Defeat #4 followed quickly. But again there was a vastly-improved performance as Monaghan produced a rousing second-half revival only to run out of time and lose to Sligo by the narrowest of margins at Enniscrone on Sunday, March 13th, 1-12 to 2-8. A bitter Atlantic wind swept across the pitch and it backed the Yeats men in the first half. They tore into a 1-6 to no score lead and Fergal Rafter scored the visitors' only first-half point. 1-11 to 0-1 at the interval. However, the complexion of the match altered dramatically upon the restart. Four opportunities were spurned before Trevor Hilliard started the fightback from a sideline cut and Ronan Meegan got a goal 14 minutes into the second half. Goalkeeper Michael McHugh had moved outfield, wearing No.25, and he clipped over three frees. Eanna Mac Suibhne and Sean Leonard pointed before Meegan hit his second goal at the death. In the end, the visitors ran out of time and remained rooted to the foot of the table but - again - there were many positives to be plucked from their display.
Roscommon were next up at Inniskeen and the manager accepted that Monaghan were looking like real candidates for relegation to Division Four: "Yes, the prospects are fairly bleak," he told the local media. "We are in a fairly dark place at the moment but quite honestly it's just down to the fact that there was not enough work done early in the year. We are not playing to our full potential. If we did, we would have no problems staying and even prospering in Division Three." The concession of three goals proved costly on March 27th as Monaghan shipped a third successive narrow defeat - and a fifth in total - 3-14 to 1-17. It was a gallant effort from the hosts but 14 wides over the 70 minutes did not help their cause. Ronan Meegan got the Oriel County goal in the first half, but they trailed by 1-8 to 1-5 at the interval. Monaghan were within two points with ten minutes left but it was the Rossies who finished strongest.
Monaghan finally got their opening win of the year in Round Six, closing their league programme with a superb 2-15 to 0-17 victory over Mayo, who were already guaranteed a place in the Division Three decider. The result didn't save Frank Brady's team from demotion but it was nonetheless morale-boosting to finish out a frustrating campaign with such an eye-catching performance and result. The game was in Clones on April 10th and Monaghan led from start to finish, with Michael McHugh opening the scoring with a goal after only 15 seconds. There were four points between the teams going into the last ten minutes - with the visitors reduced to 13 men - and Gary Boyd confirmed the home win with a second Monaghan goal. After the game, Frank Brady said he "cannot understand what purpose it will serve to relegate us to Division Four." Though demoralised to have gone down, at least Monaghan had their tails up going into the business end of the season - the Nicky Rackard Cup…
So Monaghan went into the championship season in good stead and they duly made it back-to-back competitive victories with a magnificent 1-17 to 2-12 first-round Nicky Rackard Cup win over Fingal - a real statement of intent. Considering the heavy defeat the team has suffered against the same opposition in the first round of the NHL (when they lost by 17 points), this result was a real statement of intent. Little wonder Frank Brady was in such boisterous mood after the final whistle at Swords on Saturday April 30th:
"As I have been saying for the last four or five weeks, this is a good hurling team and they are coming together and this win means we can stand here and say we want hurling in Monaghan and we will have hurling in Monaghan regardless of what anybody else thinks and fair play to the lads - they produced the goods, especially in the second half."
Michael McHugh was the match-winner in a very tasty encounter in north Dublin, where no challenges were shirked. The in-form full forward registered a remarkable 1-13, including a 30th-minute goal which put the visitors on their way. The Dublin outfit still led by five points at the break, 2-9 to 1-7, and stretched their advantage shortly after the restart, but the second-half effort from Frank Brady's men was scintillating as they caused possibly the shock of the weekend. Monaghan restricted Fingal to just three points in the second period, as the points flowed from McHugh, Stephen Lambe and a stunning Trevor Hilliard strike from distance.
Monaghan, 2011 Nicky Rackard Cup V Fingal: H Byrne; A Lambe, P Murphy, P Treanor; S Roche, P Dowdall, J McHugh; G Boyd, T Hilliard (captain, 0-1); S Lambe (0-2), S Leonard, É Mac Suibhne (0-1); B McGuigan, M McHugh (1-13), R Meegan. Subs: M Treanor for Roche (50), M Murphy for McGuigan (70).
Suddenly, the season had been transformed entirely. Monaghan were now just 70 minutes away from an All-Ireland final appearance at Croke Park and the stakes were as high as they've ever been for this group of players as they squared up to Louth in the Nicky Rackard Cup semi-final at Clones three weeks later, on Saturday, May 21st. The game was played in very wintry conditions, rendering quality hurling virtually impossible, but Monaghan stayed in contention right up until the closing seconds, when a fortuitous stoppage-time goal finally knocked them out - 2-17 to 1-13. Ultimately, some missed frees and '65s' had coast Monaghan, as they were by no means outclassed in this match. Gary Boyd (0-2) and Trevor Hilliard (0-1) were excellent in midfield, and the defence worked extremely hard, but the forward division never really functioned to optimum capacity and - apart from Stephen Lambe's 68th-minute goal - managed just four points from play (courtesy of Lambe, Sean Leonard, Eanna Mac Suibhne and Brian McGuigan).
There wasn't much time for the players and manager to be feeling sorry for themselves as they were due to meet Armagh in an Ulster SHC quarter-final at Pairc Esler, Newry the following Sunday. The Orchard County had beaten Fermanagh in the preliminary round and the sharpness garnered with that work-out helped them as they carved out a 2-17 to 2-7 victory to end Monaghan's season. Armagh would go on to make history by beating Down to reach a first provincial final in over six decades. That shows just what can be achieved by the weaker counties through perseverance and hard work, but Monaghan's cause wasn't helped by the fact that many of their players were asked to play club football the previous Wednesday night. Monaghan had trailed by 1-8 to 1-3 at the break, with Brain McGuigan getting the goal and they were within two points when Stephen Lambe bagged their second major eight minutes after the resumption. Points from substitute Fergal Rafter and McGuigan either side of an Armagh score had the gap down to the minimum at the three-quarters stage, but that was as good as it got. It could have been different had not two Monaghan penalties flown over the bar.
The Monaghan team that pushed Armagh all the way in the 2011 Ulster SHC was: H Byrne; A Lambe, P Murphy, P Treanor; M Treanor, P Dowdall, J McHugh; G Boyd, T Hilliard; S Lambe (1-1), S Leonard, É Mac Suibhne; B McGuigan (1-0), M McHugh (0-3), R Meegan (0-2). Subs: G Dooley for A Lambe (25), F Rafter (0-1) for Mac Suibhne (43), PJ Boyle for M McHugh (65). Tweet
