Jenny Greenan's status as one of the greats of ladies football was recognised by her selection on the TG4 Team of the Decade which was announced last December. Few would argue with her inclusion after a brilliant career which saw her win every honour in the game.

To celebrate the 10th year of TG4's sponsorship of the ladies football championships, a special banquet was held in Croke Park last December where the Irish language TV station's ladies football Team of the Decade was announced.
Monaghan had three players - Jenny Greenan, Niamh Kindlon and Edel Byrne - shortlisted and there were great celebrations in Aghabog when local ladies football legend Greenan was chosen on the team at centre half back. As it turned out, Jenny was the only player for Ulster to gain inclusion, with Cork, Laois, Mayo, Dublin, Galway, Kerry and Waterford the other counties represented.
"I wasn't expecting it," a typically modest Jenny says.
"I thought Niamh and Edel had a better chance of making the team than me, and they were unlucky not to do so. I was surprised to be included because Monaghan's best period was in the 1990s and that team was nearing its end in the early 2000s. Also, I was up against some outstanding players for the centre back position, including Cork's Juliet Murphy, and to get the nod ahead of them was incredible.
"It was a tremendous honour for me, my family, my club and county to be named on the Team of the Decade. It was nice also to see the likes of Christina Heffernan and Cora Staunton from Mayo, Tracey Lawlor from Laois and Waterford's Mary O'Donnell included because they're players of the same vintage as me and it didn't make me feel so old!" the 33-year-old adds.
Now retired from playing (a knee injury brought a premature halt to her inter-county career in 2005), Jenny was a leading figure in Monaghan's emergence as a ladies football superpower in the 1990s. She was only 14 when she lined out for the first Monaghan ladies football team to take the field against Longford in 1991, and went on to enjoy a glittering career which yielded two All-Ireland senior medals, one All-Ireland junior medal, five National Leagues, seven All Star awards as well as county and Ulster club honours.
"I was always big for my age and that's what helped me to break into the Monaghan senior team at such a young age," explains Jenny, who made her first Croke Park appearance in 1988 when playing in an INTO schools game during half-time in the All-Ireland final.
"I came from a house where football was bred into us. As kids, we went from one football match to another on a Sunday. We knew nothing else. My brothers Paul and Fergal played for Aghabog, so it was inevitable I would do the same. Both of my parents, Paddy and Maura, were big influences on me. They were always there to support me and I'll always be grateful to them for that.
Jenny, who works as a secretarial assistant to Cavan-Monaghan Fine Gael TD Heather Humphreys, continues: "I was lucky to come on the scene when I did. Ladies football was just getting started in Monaghan and we had a great bunch of players who brought a lot of success to the county. I played in six All-Ireland senior finals (not counting replays) and the only regret I would have is that we didn't win more than two. Our record in All-Ireland finals hasn't been great down the years, but it's still a massive achievement to get that far."
Success came quickly for Jenny and the fledgling Monaghan team. They beat London by two points to win the All-Ireland junior title in 1992 and were promoted to the senior ranks (there was no intermediate grade at the time) as a result. The Farney County's meteoric rise continued when they contested their first All-Ireland senior decider in 1994, which ended in a narrow defeat to the great Waterford team of that time.
Waterford beat them again in the 1995 final, this time by a wide margin, but Monaghan's persistence paid off the following year when they defeated Laois after a replay to finally get their hands on the coveted Brendan Martin Cup.
"There was no way we were coming home without the Cup again in '96, especially after getting over our bogey side Waterford in the semi-final in Aghabog. Laois, who had some great players like Sue Ramsbottom and the late Lulu Carroll, pushed us all the way, but got there in the end which was a huge relief after losing the previous two finals," Jenny remembers.
Monaghan retained their All-Ireland crown at Waterford's expense in 1997 before the Deise - who were managed by new Waterford hurling boss Michael Ryan - avenged that defeat in the '98 final, which went to a replay. Monaghan's appearance in five consecutive All-Ireland finals took its toll on the players and it took them four years to get back into a showpiece game again. However, the 2002 defeat to Mayo effectively signalled the end for that great Monaghan side.
"It was my last All-Ireland final to play in and a last hurrah for a lot of the other girls as well. When Monaghan reached the 2008 final against Cork, it was basically a new team. Even though we didn't win as many All-Ireland finals as we should have, we still had a great innings and it was a privilege to have played alongside so many talented footballers."
While defeat was once again Monaghan's lot in this year's All-Ireland decider, Jenny refuses to be down-hearted and confidently predicts that the Brendan Martin Cup will be back in the border county before too long.
"I definitely can see Monaghan bouncing back from this year's disappointment. They had a great year and were only narrowly beaten by a Cork team who are arguably the greatest ladies football team of all time. There was no shame in that. Cork can't go on forever, so there will be an opening for a new team in the next couple of years. Dublin's win over Cork last year has given every other county hope, including Monaghan," she says.
"The Monaghan girls are still very young and they are only going to get better. A lot of them have won All-Ireland colleges titles with St. Louis Secondary School and the next step for them is to win an All-Ireland with Monaghan. The players are there - you only have to look at this year's All Stars team to see that. We had 10 players nominated and four of them (Grainne Murphy, Sharon Courtney, Therese McNally and Ciara McAnespie) received awards. The future looks very bright to me."
Jenny has taken a great deal of satisfaction from the growth of ladies football in terms of playing numbers and popularity since she first took up the sport.
"It's come on in leaps and bounds," she enthuses.
"Every county has a team now and there are new clubs springing up all over the place. The coverage ladies football gets in the media now is much greater than when I was playing. You would have to give TG4 a lot of credit in this regard.
"The game has also changed so much over the last 10 years. It's all about speed now. When I was playing, the game was more physical, but the emphasis is on speed now which makes for a better spectacle."
Now living in Carrickroe with her husband Aidan Keenan who she married in June 2009, Jenny retired completely from playing a few years ago but has remained involved with her beloved Aghabog as an underage coach.
"Even though I'm living in Truagh's catchment area, I still skip back to Aghabog to train the U12s along with Maggie Kearns, who was captain of Monaghan's '96 All-Ireland winning team. Donaghmoyne have had a monopoly on the club scene for the past number of years and it's up to the other clubs to try and knock them off their perch. When I was playing, there was healthy competition between ourselves, Monaghan Harps, Magheracloone and Inniskeen, and I think it would be good for the game if you had a situation like that again where you have four or five teams who have a realistic chance of winning the championship," she concludes. Tweet

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