It plays host to every Ulster Senior Championship Final - well almost - but for Fergal McFarland's money, the town of Clones couldn't do better than get a taste of Monaghan senior football. For Fergal McFarland, boasting the best stadium in the province would take a back seat to achieving a place with his beloved Clones in the highest echelon of football in the county. "On paper we're good enough but that's easy saying. We have to prove that we can beat the best there is at intermediate level and then keep our place in senior. "But getting there has been the problem up 'till now," the club's 2003 Player of the Year insists. Clones, Fergal maintains, have got to prepare even better than they have been doing if the club wants to make the step up to senior level. "You get out of football what you put in and maybe we've fallen short of that as a team over the years. "We've been unlucky in some ways with injuries and then with suspensions and fellas based away from home, it just hasn't worked out for us. "You'd have to say though that the teams that do succeed in winning championships and even leagues deserve them. "More often than not the teams that have worked the hardest over the year get their just reward," says the tenacious defender. In being afforded the singular honour of Player of the Year in 2003, the club recognised that, despite all the other demands on his time, Fergal stood up to the plate and didn't let anyone down. His performances on the field, his dedication to training and his loyalty to the club in '03 made him the stand-out senior player in Clones. Not that Fergal believes a word of it. "I think the fact that we won the Dr. Ward Cup in 2003 put everyone on the team in the shop window and under the spotlight. "I'd have to give our backroom team a lot of credit for the enjoyment and craic I got in 2003. "Barry McLoughlin, Jimmy Corr, Tom Kelly and Gerry McMahon did very well to get the best out of us and I think all the lads would go along with that. "The training was very good and the spirit was excellent. "The only pity is that we didn't do the double and win the championship." Yes, losing out to Kileevan in the quarter-final was the real fly in the ointment for all in Clones and, especially, for Fergal who lived in Killeevan as a gasun, albeit for just for the first couple of years of his life. "I was born in Enniskillen but then we moved to Killeevan for a couple of years before moving to Clones. "Killeevan is the McFarland's homeplace. My father and my uncle Declan played all their football with Killeevan so aside from it being a local derby match, playing them in the championship was a bit special for me. "I still think we were good enough to win the championship that year. Monaghan Harps won it out and fair play to them but we were every bit as good as them but I suppose didn't prove it when it counted." 2003 did, at least, bring that aforementioned Dr. Ward Cup medal. 2004 delivered no such booty. And yet those at the Clones club will tell you that McFarland's form and commitment was at least comparable to what the man gave the previous year. Keeping pace with the ever-increasing pace of the game and being able to find room for football in a hectic lifestyle is getting no easier though, the 28-year old informs us. "They say that football doesn't really suit the married fella but for the likes of me that's self-employed, it's hard to stick with the football too at times." Certainly for a man who spends a long day on the road selling veterinary medicines (he's been 'on the road' for the last five years) as far as away as near Granard, a three-quarter hour's journey back on a winter's night for training can be a gruelling slog and impractical at times. "I wouldn't do it unless I wanted to," Fergal assures us. "You could say it's a love of the game, for the craic that you get out of it or because you want to achieve something with your club. "Either way, it has to be done otherwise you'd get nothing out of it at all. "Anyway football's a great way of introducing conversation when you're out and about." Despite his Killeevan lineage, there's little doubt but that Fergal is Clones through and through. He grew up in the town and with understandably strong encouragement from his family gave Gaelic his all as soon as he could play underage football for the club. Fergal remembers being on cloud nine when he joined with his peers to win an Under 15 league title. Later, alongside would-be senior luminaries such as Mickey Slowey and James McKernan, he won a minor championship medal. Surprisingly only himself and the aforementioned duo from the current intermediate team survive from that particular year. "There's been a fair fall-off in the number of players from that minor team. "Some of the lads from that year went to Dublin and others to America and some quit football altogether. "But the club won the minor double the year before too when the likes of Declan McKernan was on it and some of those players are playing on the current intermediate team as well and maybe the club didn't do too badly in terms of bringing fellas through from that time." Fergal's time as a minor brought him county recognition, two years running. He played for the minors when Gerry McCarville (Scotstown) was in charge and also when Kevin Treanor (Truagh) had the helm and he remembers with some degree of regret losing out to Down in the Ulster MFC semi-final at Casement Park. At under 21 level, Fergal "got a few runs" but no silverware was picked up either along the way. Is it a source of regret that he never got within touching distance of a senior county jersey? "Definitely. I think any club player with a bit of ambition would want to represent their county at the highest level and I'm no different. "But from what I have heard from some players who've been there but had to drop out, the commitment is unbelievable and its nearly a seven evenings a week thing between training with your club and your county and then doing a bit on your own. "I think you'd have to be working in a nine-to-five job for that sort of schedule, so it definitely wouldn't suit me." That said he does remark how much he enjoyed playing alongside such players as Dick Clerkin and Ian Larmer, a few years ago, in the Finn Valley amalgamated side (Clones, Currin and Killeevan) in the senior championship. "That was good craic but a big step up in class. "It was a lot faster football and more skilful but it was only a short term thing introduced by the county board and the novelty factor wore off fairly quickly," he recalls. Anyway, in between his stints with the county minor and under 21 sides, Fergal did actually manage to reach a provincial final while playing for his Belfast-based agricultural college side. Unfortunately for the Clones student, Ballyhaise Agricultural College played the role of spoilsport. Apart from not making it at senior level (just yet), Fergal isn't one for complaining about the hand football has delivered to him to date. Apart from a few niggling injuries which has interrupted his training at times down the years, he confesses that football has given him a lot of enjoyment and he hopes that he has "a bit more in the tank." Fergal has played adult football with Clones since he was 17 and joined the town's premier Gaelic side at a time when Ross McDonald and Brian Quinn represented the up-and-coming brigade in the club. Did he feel that Clones ought to have hit the jackpot in recent times? "About five or six years ago we got to the intermediate league final but Monaghan Harps beat us. I thought that was a good opportunity. "And then last Summer, who knows what would have happened had we beaten Ballybay in the semi-final of the championship." After workmanlike displays against Drumhowan and Tyholland, one wonders what made the difference on the day against the Pearse Brothers? "We were the better team for most of the match and looked to be in control with about ten minutes to go. "But then Paul Finlay got a point and then they picked up a couple of breaks and built up a head of steam and we let it slip in the run-in to the end of the match. " I thought we at least deserved a draw." Still, Fergal reckons that even allowing for the anticipated strong challenges for next year's intermediate championship from such as Emyvale, Aghabog and Donaghmoyne, he believes that Clones are good enough to make the breakthrough at intermediate level. "It would be great to play senior football before I retire," he says. And few who have watched, competed against and played with the seasoned Clones campaigner could hardly begrudge him that privilege should it materialise. For services rendered The beautiful bronze statue of the ailing Cuchullain takes pride of place in the Craig home in Clones. For Leo, the recipient, the night Clones gaels came together to present him with the club's 2003 Hall of Fame award was a proud one indeed for him. To make the night Leo was accorded special recognition by his peers, there were medals galore presented on the same occasion to some of the club's most talented, up and coming stars. Leo, you see, is arguably more interested in how the St. Tighernach's based club may do in the near-future as he is in how recalling how things panned out in the past. He has great time for everyone currently involved in promoting the club and developing the talent in the border club. "2003 was a good year for the club and it was great to see a medal presentation because you can't beat winning to encourage players to keep at it. "There's a lot of talent in the town and a lot of dedicated workers and mentors to give them the support they need to put their talent to good use," the Roslea road resident enthuses. Leo was himself a talented footballer in his prime. His prime, for several reasons, was all but entirely encapsulated in his teenage years. It was during the early 'forties that Clones and Monaghan saw the best of the strong, pacy attacker. The would-be Hall of Fame award recipient was good enough while plying his skills at underage level to be picked for the county minor team. What's more he was good enough to play an instrumental role in helping his native county career to the Ulster MFC title in 1945. Alongside such mercurial talents as Paddy and Ollie O'Rourke (Inniskeen), Hugh McKearney (Clontibret), Pat O'Brien (Latton) and Tommy Moyna (Scotstown) - to name but a few - Leo helped Monaghan knock favourites Cavan out of the minor championship en route to taking the provincial crown. The team's left-half forward was sure at that time that the Ulster medal was about to be added to later in the year with the equivalent All-Ireland. "It was a great achievement to win Ulster and great to get to Croke Park for the All-Ireland semi-final but we felt we had a great team and that we were capable of going the distance that year. "Unfortunately we lost to Leitrim and didn't even make the final." In reflecting on his team's failure at the penultimate hurdle, Leo apportions no blame to anyone. He has his own theory though on what might have caused Monaghan to lose out to the Connacht champions. "I think we went into the Leitrim game in a complacent state of mind. "We were the favourites. Coming out of Ulster and having beaten Cavan, most people felt that we would beat Leitrim. "We probably underestimated them. "I know myself and a lot of the fellas were delighted when the news first broke that we were drawn to play Leitrim in the semi-final. Maybe too many of us thought it was going to be a walkover for us." Leo admits that a fair cloud of depression wafted its way over the whole of Monaghan after the best from the west ousted the county from the minor championship. He accepts that most of the county's supporters were eyeing up an All-Ireland title win. Leo recalls that nothing was left to chance in the build up to the semi-final either and that all the team's preparations and training was "professionally done and very serious." "We were billeted in the '98 dance hall in Clones for a whole forthnight in the run-up to the All-Ireland semi-final. "We slept in those army type beds and nobody could go home for that time, even though I myself was only about four minutes walk away from my own house. "The team was well looked after by Leo Burns from Inniskeen who was our skills coach; Pat McGrane kept a watch on us, as a sort of overseer while Father Terry Molloy was the team-manager. "Everything that could be done to prepare us for a run in the All-Ireland was done." The aforementioned Fr. Molloy knew Leo well. The Gaelic-mad priest was a "brillant Irish teacher" and manager of the St. Macartans College side for whom Leo and some four other county minors of the time lined out. Leo recalls there may have been at least four youngsters, all told, from Clones on that provincial title-winning Monaghan team. "Fr. Molloy was our manager in the college as well and had a fair bit of success over the years with the school. " I remember when I was in third year, St. Macartans actually reached the McRory Cup final," the now 77-year old gael explains. Sadly for Clones and Monaghan, Leo's minor days were his best days, and almost his only days, on the Gaelic field for after his secondary schooling in Monaghan, he left for the seminary in Clonliffe, Dublin. A three year spell there was subsequently followed up with a spell in Rome where he continued his degree studies. In effect from 1945-'51, Leo didn't kick a ball in anger. Then after returning home for a short period, he was off to London. "Apart from being home on holidays, I didn't play really any football at that time with Clones unfortunately." Clonliffe must have been tough with no football to divert him from his studies? "When I was in Clonliffe there was no question of playing football with a club team in Dublin. "You were confined to college. "I remember a fella called Frank Mitchell who came from St. Mel's College in Longford. "He was in Clonliffe one time when he should have been playing for his county in an All-Ireland semi-final but, instead, had to endure the roars of the crowd, which we could hear in the college, coming from Croke Park." Did he himself miss playing football? "I did of course. There was no Gaelic football in the college. "The only game that was recognised back then was soccer. "Most of the students came from the city or county Dublin and they were all soccer-orientated. "It was a kind of unwritten rule that Gaelic wasn't played. "Those of us from the country weren't too happy with that but we togged out and played soccer in order to get some exercise. "As a concession to the fellas from outside the diocese, the college authorities let us play a Gaelic match on St. Patrick's Day," Leo recalls. When in London, Leo had no opportunity either of playing his native game. He lived in north London at the time and the nearest GAA club to him at that time was way out in Mitcham in Surrey. "An odd time you might see a match in Mitcham. Sometimes the All-Ireland champions would come over and play an exhibition match. "I remember Kerry coming over one year." It wasn't all doom and gloom though for the young man from Clones. While ensconced in the English capital, he married Nuala McNeill and together they lived in London for ten years before moving north to Leicester; not quite a textbook gaeldom either! It wasn't until Leo returned with his wife Nuala to Clones in 1968 that he was fully able to rekindle his Gaelic upbringing. Teaching in Lisnaskea but living in Clones, Leo's playing days were sadly over by that stage. It was a short career. "Too short. I'm sorry that I wasn't able to play more football after my days as a minor. "But the reasons for that were out of my control," he opines. Leo never lost his gra for Clones GAA or Gaelic games, per se. In the years after his return to his native town, he followed his club and county's fortunes avidly. He grew proud of the way St. Tighernach's Park developed into the best stadium in Ulster. "Even years ago, the ground was extremely well looked after. "I remember one afternoon coming from Mass back in the early 'forties and looking down on the pitch and it was like a billard table." One wonders what did he make of the decision to bring the 2004 Ulster SFC final to Croke Park? "I was disappointed as were a lot of people from the town. "One man I was talking to was particularly upset because he hadn't missed an Ulster final in 35 years. "He's been a stalwart of the club and a great role model to the youngsters and I felt sorry for him." A Clones appearance in a Monaghan SFC final would make for a real pick-me-up for that man if it were to happen in the next couple of years though. "Definitely and with the sort of good young talent coming through at the club, that day mightn't be as far away as some people think." Connolly Cup The Connolly Cup (in memory of the late Seamus Connolly) is played every year within the club as an Under 10 competition. Gerry Rehill deserves great credit for the time and energy he devotes to this age group. Gerry gives them a love of the game and his emphasis is all about fun and skills and this was very evident during the Connolly Cup. Also a special mention to his No. 1 helper Martin Connolly and his No. 1 fan his wife Joanne. Tweet

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