Francie Doogan's call-up to the Monaghan senior county squad last October surprised no one in the county. Here he reflects on his new surroundings and Magheracloone's less than successful season at senior level in 2003 Derek Doogan, former Wolves and Northern Ireland soccer international, championed the cause of an All-Ireland soccer team back in the 'seventies. Doogan's idea ended up being a still-birth. However his namesake from Magheracloone insists his All-Ireland dream has more of a ring of reality about it. Magheracloone's latest county call-up says that if Tyrone and Armagh can achieve All-Ireland success, he doesn't see why a Sam Maguire Cup triumph should just be a pipedream for the gaels of Monaghan. Some four months after joining up with Colm Coyle's senior county squad, Francie Doogan still believes Monaghan can take a leaf out of their neighbours' books and make history by winning the biggest prize Irish sport has to offer. "Monaghan showed last Summer when they beat Armagh that the county has the talent to compete with the best teams around. "The county team has definitely made progress over the last year or so. "We mightn't be as strong as the Tyrone's of this world but I don't think there's as big a gap between the counties in Ulster as some people think. And if that gap can be closed then you'd have to fancy your chances of doing well outside of Ulster," Francie maintains. In the meantime, there's time to reflect about the domestic season just gone past - well almost, considering his schedule these days with work and his commitment to county training and challenge games. Talk to local Magheracloone club stalwarts though and they'll tell you that Francie is, first and foremost, a great clubman and a Mitchells man, through and through. In the 2002 season, Francie was a collossus in the heart of the Magheracloone defence as the south Monaghan side galloped all the way to the blue riband county decider. Filling the boots of the retired Jessie Kearns at centre-half back was a hard act to master but the gutsy Doogan did that and more over the course of the year. Displaying all the grit, skill and composure that got him noticed at Monaghan Under 21 level, Doogan's performance in the drawn county final game against Clontibret was simply out of the top drawer. Big and strong and possessed with a good football brain, Francie has fitted into the Monaghan county squad as if he were a veteran of many an Ulster SFC campaign. So, in the light of what was a disappointing 2003 on the club front, how big of a blow was it for Maghercloone in losing the 2002 senior championship final? "It was a big blow, no doubt about it but we should have gotten it out of our system for the next year and tried to go one better. "But we hadn't got Colin McCaul for any of the 2003 season and that was a bigger blow because he was so strong for us in the middle of the field. "Damien Freeman and Paul Kelly had rough times with injuries too," Francie explains. Indeed one just wonders what sort of influence a Doogan/McCaul midfield axis could have wielded for Magheracloone in the past year as they sought to scoop the Mickey Duffy Cup for the first time. But, then again, would the old failing of having to rely on the Freeman brothers for a match-winning tally have reared its head again? "I suppose we need to be getting scores from other areas of the field on a more consistent basis. "We have relied too much on Tommy and Damien for scores and that's something the team will have to work on in the coming year," Francie acknowledges. A carpenter by trade, Francie reflects on the past year at club level with more than a hint of regret. He believes Magheracloone didn't do themselves justice in 2003. And yet Francie recalls how things started so swimmingly for the Mitchells back in May when Sean McDermotts were handed a 1-13 to 0-12 defeat with our man Doogan playing a real workmanlike role at midfield for the winners. "Things worked out for us in the end but it was a tough game and I remember it was level at half-time. "Luckily enough Tommy got a vital goal near the end at a time when they (Seans) were coming back at us strongly in the last few minutes of the game." In the Mitchells' next championship match, a nine point tally from Tom Freeman helped ease them to a 0-14 to 1-9 win over Clontibret. "Tom (Freeman) was in great form that day but Francie had a great hour too. He was the engine of the team against Clontibret and a lot of the good ball that went up to the forwards came from Francie," one experienced Magheracloone club person commented. "The Clontibret game was probably the best we played all year. "Some of the football we played was like the stuff we produced in 2002 and that win gave us all a lot of confidence," Francie himself remarks. Thereafter a meeting with Latton in the semi-final at the tail-end of August brought back memories of the corresponding clash in 2002 when Doogan and co. edged the O'Raghaillaighs out of the competition. First time around in Clontibret, a see-saw affair ended in a 1-10 to 1-10 draw with a goal by Latton's Kevin Hughes, direct from a free, three minutes into added-on time, denying Magheracloone a place in the county final for the second successive year. "Conceding a goal with practically the last kick of the game was hard to take. "We should have had the game wrapped up before the goal anyway but, looking back on it, we have only ourselves to blame," Francie recalls. And yet it all looked so rosy for Magheracloone as Francie and his midfield partner Francie Jones held sway in the middle for so long in that drawn game. "I was sure we were home and dry when we got the two points in injury time to put us three in front," Francie laments. The replay in Carrickmacross saw Magheracloone go down by 0-10 to 1-8. In a game in which the personal duel between Francie and Latton midfielder Eoin Lennon was of the stand-out features, the Mitchells battled bravely to come back from four points down in injury time only to be edged out at the death. "We missed the boat the first day. We played our best football in the drawn game. "The weather was bad for the replay and that didn't suit us but that's not an excuse - Latton deserved to go through," Francie opines in a matter-of-fact way. "We thought we might have went on then and got some consolation in the league but Latton were our bogey team in that competition too." Too true. Once again, the O'Raghaillaighs played the part of party-poopers to a tee at the penultimate stage. One wonders did Francie think that Latton had it in them to beat Castleblayney in the county decider? "I thought it was a hard one to call at the time. "There wasn't much word about 'Blayney during the championship but when you saw the way they came back and beat Carrick, then you knew that they were going to be very hard to beat and all credit to them for going on and at the end of the day winning the championship." As to what may transpire on the club front in 2004, the former county minor and under 21 star - who trained under Scotstown's Niall McKenna and 'Blayney's Eamonn McEneaney respectively in those years - reckons that with an average age of only 24, the current Magheracloone troupe is more than capable of at long last scooping Monaghan football's biggest prize. "There's more in the tank and we'll be back looking to make amends in the coming season. "A lot of the lads who won back-to-back Under 21 titles and others who lost out in the 2003 Under 21 final will be around and if we can all find our best form on the same day, we'll be hard to beat," Francie declares. In the interim, the 'oul slog with the county seniors will test Francie's gra for football to the last. Getting home from work at 6pm and out of the house for training at 6.40pm and not back at home from his stint with Colm Coyle and co. 'till 10.50pm is one hell of a rigorous schedule. "It's tough but I was delighted to be called into the panel and I'm doing what every young footballer in Monaghan would like to be doing, training with the county team," enthuses the 22-year old. Beefing up the club's county senior squad tally with Fintan Kindlon, John McMahon, Pauric Finnegan, Gerry McCaul and the Freeman brothers, Tom and Damien has made Francie understandably proud. And, needless to say, he is determined to stick the pace of inter-county fare. "It's a big step-up from club training and you're working with the best group of footballers in the county with everyone of them trying to prove a point but I hope to stick around for as long as I can." Tweet

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