A number of positives
November 27, 2011
On the positive front, Monaghan certainly blooded plenty of new talent in 2011. But, results-wise, they had little to show at the end of the season. League wins over Galway and Mayo were the only high points of a largely forgettable year, where (exciting newcomers aside) an injury to Vincent Corey, the emigration of Tommy Freeman and a harsh red card shown to Dick Clerkin were arguably the main talking points. Oh, and a horror show in Tullamore…
As much as we must allow for the fact that Monaghan fielded a new-look senior team in 2011 and that a rebuilding project has begun, from which we should reap positive benefits down the line, gaelic football is a results business first and foremost and the results do not make for pretty reading. Monaghan played twelve competitive matches during the year and won only twice.
They drew blank in both the McKenna Cup (three games) and championship (two games) and, despite a couple of victories in the NFL, still suffered relegation to Division Two. The Qualifier performance against Offaly was nothing short of abysmal and provides a stark indication of the enormous amount of work that needs to be done to get Monaghan back on track.
Having said all that, it's a well-known fact / cliché that one must break eggs to make an omelette so perhaps the optimists amongst us can look upon 2011 as an egg from which new life will spring. The management showed great courage to start from a largely blank canvass and, if they are afforded patience and understanding, a successful 'new' Monaghan team could yet be developed.
Dr McKenna Cup
Returning manager Eamonn McEneaney handed competitive senior intercounty debuts to seven players for the 2011 Dr McKenna Cup opener against Queens University at Clones on Sunday, January 16th, a match an experimental Oriel County side lost by 0-13 to 0-9. Sean McDermotts goalkeeper Mark Keogh, Monaghan Harps full back Stephen Driver, Drumhowan's Darren Duffy, James Turley (Scotstown), Keith Hill (Castleblayney), James O'Hara (Ballyboden and formerly Scotstown) and Blackhill's Colin Woods all benefited from run-outs in what was a very inexperienced Monaghan team.
Monaghan effectively exited the competition when they lost to Derry by 1-21 to 1-12 at Celtic Park on Sunday January 23rd, Paul Finlay slotting over five points on the day. The Oak Leafers were by far the better team. Two more players made their senior debuts in this match - Sean McDermotts' Pat Kieran started at wing back, while Darren Connolly of Doohamlet came on as a second-half substitute. As Monaghan crashed out of the subsidiary competition, the result mattered not a bit to the new county management team of Eamonn McEneaney, Stephen McGinnity, Declan Smith and Colin O'Hare. The McKenna Cup is merely used as preparation for the national football league and the first main objective for the year was to bring through some new talent whilst trying to retain Division One status.
Already eliminated from the competition, Monaghan squared up to neighbours Cavan in their final group match in the McKenna Cup, losing by 1-13 to 1-12 at Inniskeen's Pairc Grattan on Wednesday night, January 26th. The hosts made nine changes from four days earlier but still fielded a fairly unfamiliar side as management continued to run the rule over all the talent in the county. While three defeats from three was not ideal, valuable match time had been given to a number of new faces in the 2011 Dr McKenna Cup.
National Football League
Monaghan faced Connacht giants Galway in the first round of the NFL at Clones on Sunday, February 6th, and their new-look team - including a remarkable NINE league debutants - dug deep and produced some stunning football to record a superb 0-19 to 0-14 victory. The game had been switched to Clones at the eleventh hour following a pitch inspection at Inniskeen With eleven of the side that had started the 2010 Ulster final unavailable for a variety of reasons, there was no doubt that this game represented the dawning of a new era for Monaghan football. Still, seasoned campaigners like Dessie Mone, Dick Clerkin, Paul Finlay and Conor McManus were instrumental in the win. Castleblayney's Cormac Brady was thrown in at centre back and had an impressive debut outing, as did Monaghan Harps' David Hughes and Christopher McGuinness of Ballybay.
For the second round a fortnight later, Monaghan made the short trip to the Athletic Grounds to face neighbours Armagh and they were extremely unfortunate to come away empty-handed when Andy Mallon floated over an injury-time point to give the Orchard a 1-11 to 0-13 win. The match signalled the returns to intercounty activity of Owen Lennon and Tommy Freeman, with full back Darren Hughes, centre back Dessie Mone and midfielders Dick Clerkin and Neil McAdam all impressing. Up front, Paul Finlay (0-7) and Conor McManus (0-5) accounted for all but one of the visitors' scores between them.
In Round Three, Monaghan's young guns produced probably their best performance of the year away to defending All-Ireland champions Cork in Pairc Ui Chaoimh (the county's first competitive match in the Cork stadium). On the last Sunday of February, Eamonn McEneaney's men made the long journey south and Mark Keogh kept them in the game with two excellent first-half saves. Owen Duffy's 14th-minute goal had the underdogs ahead for the only time in the game and it has to be said there was a real element of good fortune about the Rebels' three-pointer, which was effectively the difference between the sides at the final whistle. Still, despite playing well, the reality of a second successive narrow defeat was that Monaghan now lay level with Kerry and Armagh in penultimate place near the foot of the Division One table. The Cork match saw Vincent Corey come on for his first appearance of the season.
There was great excitement around the county as Monaghan prepared for the visit of Dublin to Clones a fortnight later, with the manager doing his best to whip up a frenzy of local support in the countdown to the game, commenting: "I want to thank all the people who travelled to Cork and I'm urging them to get to Clones this Sunday because this is a relatively-inexperienced team overall and vocal support can help." The enormity of the task facing the Oriel County at St Tiernach's Park on Sunday, March 13th, 2011 could be in no doubt. Dublin were top of the table and Monaghan had beaten them only four times in the 18 previous league meetings between the two counties. Alas, Monaghan delivered another spirited display against formidable opposition but some poor finishing consigned them to a luckless one-point defeat, 0-13 to 1-9. The hosts carried the game to their more-esteemed opponents for the entire second period and were left wondering how they had failed to win. The answer was simple: twelve wides and seven shots dropped short. Three successive losses left Monaghan floundering in second-last spot on the table, ahead of only Galway.
The position at the foot of the table remained identical a week later, after Monaghan travelled to Newry and lost heavily to Down, 1-16 to 0-11 on Saturday night, March 19th. The losers could have no complaints as they were totally outplayed all over the field, with the loss of Darren Hughes through injury proving extremely problematic. With two matches left, Monaghan were now clearly in a relegation dogfight. They would still stay up if they won their remaining games against Kerry and Mayo. But could they turn things around, having now lost four on the bounce?
The Kingdom still had an outside chance of reaching the league final, so they came to Inniskeen on April 3rd determined to record a win. The visitors rested a number of their star names and took the game to Monaghan as they roared into an eleven-point interval lead: 1-9 to 0-1. But the introductions of Darren Hughes and Tommy Freeman at the start of the second half sparked a thrilling fightback and the hosts managed to close the gap to six by the final whistle, 1-14 to 0-11. Monaghan's fate was out of their own hands now. They had to beat Mayo in the final round to have any hope of staying up. But they also needed two other results to go their way to survive: Galway to beat Dublin and Cork to beat Armagh.
Monaghan kept their side of the bargain when carving out an impressive 1-18 to 2-13 victory over Mayo at Inniskeen in Round Seven (their first defeat of Mayo in 25 years) in Round Seven on Sunday, April 10th. But Galway's draw with Dublin meant they were relegated in agonising fashion. The one-point defeat to Armagh was what ultimately cost Monaghan their Division One status and, while they were not exactly the luckiest team in the world during the league, it must be remembered that they suffered five consecutive defeats in between those wins over Galway and Mayo, so manager Eamonn McEneaney's description of his team as a work in progress hit the nail on the head. There was no repeat, then, of the dramatic last-gasp escape recorded twelve months earlier. All thoughts now turned to the Ulster SFC opener against Tyrone at Healy Park.
Championship
Monaghan's hopes of causing an upset in the championship received a major blow when it emerged that Tommy Freeman would miss the knockout season as he was emigrating to America for work reasons. A 3-9 to 2-7 win over Meath in a SF challenge to mark the official opening of Pairc Grattan showed that Monaghan were not a spent force, however. Dick Clerkin was named as county captain for the championship campaign.
Facing defending champions Tyrone in their own back yard was as difficult an opening assignment as Monaghan could have asked for and a hamstring injury to Vincent Corey (which ruled him out of both championship games) made the task even more difficult. In the end, however, it was the harsh dismissal of Monaghan's most experienced player, Clerkin before half time, that proved most costly of all as Tyrone struggled to a 1-13 to 1-11 victory at Omagh on Sunday, June 5th. Dessie Mone's 70th-minute red card was only of statistical relevance but the fact of the matter is that, despite the decisive interventions of Tyrone's big three - Brian McGuigan, Sean Cavanagh, and Stephen O'Neill - Monaghan (who fielded four championship debutants in Mark Keogh, Kieran Duffy, Conor Galligan and Daniel McKenna) could well have won but for the poor display of Meath referee Cormac Reilly. When Currin clubman Clerkin subsequently had his 30th-minute red card rescinded by Croke Park, it left Oriel followers wondering what might have been had they had him for the full match at Healy Park… Darren Hughes and Conor McManus were superb for Monaghan on the day, but some of their other players didn't really step up to the plate and there was a real feeling that a below-par O'Neill County side had been let off the hook.
The defeat sent Monaghan into the Qualifiers and a draw against Offaly presented fresh hope that maybe the team could reignite their season, even though Tullamore is a notoriously difficult venue to breach. The Faithful County had been walloped by Wexford in the Leinster SFC and were evidently at an all-time low ebb, so Monaghan supporters travelled to the midlands in hope on Saturday, June 25th. On the night, Monaghan delivered one of their most disappointing displays in recent years and fell to a horrifying 1-18 to 1-10 defeat. They looked leaderless at O'Connor Park and produced a display so inept it almost beggars belief. It was a low point on which to close out a disappointing season.
Monaghan, 2011 SF Qualifier V Offaly: Mark Keogh; Conor Galligan, Kieran Duffy, Donal Morgan; Owen Duffy (0-2), Darren Hughes, Neil McAdam (0-2); Owen Lennon, Dick Clerkin; Mark Downey, Bernard O'Brien (0-1), Daniel McKenna; Christopher McGuinness (1-0), Paul Finlay (0-2), Conor McManus (0-2). Subs: Ciaran Hughes for Dick Clerkin; Ciaran Hanratty (0-1) for Daniel McKenna; Vincent Corey for Mark Downey; Brendan McKenna for Christopher McGuinness.
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