The mid-summer soltice raced up behind us like a Royal County comeback. However before mid-June had come and gone in a flash, the gaels of Doohamlet O'Neills found themselves celebrating a provincial title win in the shape of the Ulster Junior Sevens. Team-manager Dessie McBennett reflects on the club's tremendous success with Kevin Carney. Doohamlet team manager Dessie McBennett reckons whatever transpires in the future for him and the O'Neills, the joy of winning the 2002 Ulster Junior Sevens tournament last summer will take some beating. Talk about a one-way ticket to nirvana. And yet amidst all the wailing and moaning about the untimely exit of Monaghan's senior county footballers, Doohamlet's terrific feat almost flew by us just like the summer that threatened to peek out between the grey clouds but never quite managed it. For McBennett and the rest of the Doohamlet clan, their trip to Ballykinlar in County Down to participate in the increasingly high-profile competition was straight out of the maiden, virgin stable. Hadn't been undertaken before, hadn't even raised the slightest level of expectation either once it was confirmed that Doohamlet as county junior champions of 2001 were heading to the Mourne County as ambassadors of their county. That said the club had tasted sevens action before but it was decidedly unrewarding. Following their county junior championship triumph in 1999, the O'Neills played the ambassadorial role at the All-Ireland Junior Sevens tournament hosted by the St. Judes club in Dublin. "We learned a lot of lessons from that trip. We didn't win a game and played poorly. We really played like the novices we were at that stage but that experience was to stand to us when we went up to Ballykinlar even though we had only three survivors on board from the trip to St. Judes," team boss McBennett explained. Dessie was part of the squad who travelled to St. Judes in 2000. A wedding the day before they competed in the tournament in Dublin wasn't the best preparation either and Dessie admits they got their just deserts. Ballykinlar 2002 was a whole different story though. "We were still going into the unknown a bit as regards the Ballykinlar tournament because even though we were satisfied that keeping possession was the key to sevens, the quality of the opposition and even who they were remained a mystery to us until we actually met them on the field." Cavan's entry, Drumgoon, were the bookies' favourites, having come good in the earlier Cremartin-sponsored All-Ireland 15-a-side junior equivalent. Dessie says that they were one team he didn't fancy meeting, at least early on in the competition. "We had experience of playing two of the other teams alright. We played Colmcilles of Derry and Degenish of Tyrone in the Cremartin tournament but other than that we hadn't a lot of information at hand. "We knew we had pace in our team and though we were lacking in experience, we were hopeful of at least doing well in the Shield competition," Dessie reflects. As things transpired, it wasn't the Shield which the O'Neills would be bringing home, rather the premier prize - something which was all the more praiseworthy given the fact that the club had to make do without three of their more prominent players i.e. Trevor Duffy and Glen Cumiskey, both of whom were holidaying abroad, and Niall Connolly who was unavoidably absent due to work commitments. Dessie was disappointed two years ago not to have been able to bring his charges to the Ulster Sevens tournament in Ballykinlar. Doohamlet's victory in the Monaghan Junior championship in 1999 ought to have seen them compete in Down but the Monaghan county board ruled that more pressing matches needed to be attended to by Doohamlet nearer at home so that was that. "We had a better squad this year though. Two years ago, a lot of our players would have been just around the 17 or 18 mark and would maybe have been too young to have made an impression up in Ballykinlar "But the same fellas were two years older and had the experience of playing in the final of the Cremartin tournament during the past year under their belts. The panel, as a whole, in 2002 was much stronger." Interestingly, Dessie admits that Doohamlet didn't partake in any specialist preparation for the Ballykinlar event. The rules of the competition were of course run over, no passing back when in the opposition half and all that, but nothing much else. "Fortunately a lot of the training we do anyway during the year is the sort of stuff that you'd normally do for sevens football anyway. "We work a lot with the ball in training, doing drills and skills training so by the time we had a game and a half under our belts, we had adapted to the game fairly well." Doohamlet tackled the challenge of beating the best of the rest in Ulster with a verve and a drive which fairly got them noticed in the early rounds. A comprehensive 17 point win over Belfast side, St. Agnes was just what the doctor ordered and in the second round an equally convincing win over another Belfast club Eire Og suggested that the Doohamlet fellas were taking to their task with gusto. "We managed to beat most teams fairly comfortably. The lads gained in confidence with every match and our pace was such that we were usually able to burst through on the overlap to bang in about five or six goals in each match," Dessie reflects. Next up were Cavan champions, Cornafean. Big, physically strong but not armoured with the requisite level of pace, the Cavan men also succumbed to Doohamlet's dynamism, experience and youthful vigour as exemplified by the likes of countyman Shane McManus, 'seasoned' campaigner Ollie Hughes and the young gun, Kevin McArdle at just 17. Urris of Donegal had been impressive in the opening rounds but they met their Waterloo when facing the would-be champions. Doohamlet's success in grabbing three early goals laid the foundation for their ultimately comfortable win. A place in the final now beckoned against Grenmore from Armagh who caused a shock by ousting Drumgoon. Ironically Doohamlet met Urris in a challenge game earlier in the year and beat them but having watched them in action in the earlier rounds, Dessie had no doubt but that Grenmore were worthy finalists. However the fact that the Armagh champions had only managed to beat Eire Og by five points in their quarter-final clash while Doohamlet had 17 points to spare over the same team in their group clash suggested that Dessie had some work to do to ward off complacency among his players. He needn't have fretted. "We kept installing in the lads the need to keep possession, to create the extra man if at all possible and to run into space at every opportunity. Our policy of having one man up front as a target man at all times worked well too which was vital." Despite the fact that Doohamlet found themselves a point adrift at half-time, Dessie admits that he wasn't overly worried. He reminded his charges at the half-time break that they needed to work harder. The players duly responded. Goals by Ted Duffy (later named as player of the tournament) and Greg Duffy helped put Doohamlet on the road to victory in the final and when Pauric Marry brilliantly saved a penalty, heads noticeably went down on the Granemore side. From there on, a cloak of inevitability wafted its way over the exchanges.There was no stopping the O'Neills. "It was a very well run tournament and we were delighted to win it out. The lads made history for the club and all credit to them. "They did the club proud and the county as well and showed that club football in Monaghan isn't as bad as some people say. Hopefully the lads can build on the tournament win and maybe some day win an All-Ireland sevens tournament." And don't be too surprised if the great O'Neills do exactly that in the not too distant future. For the record, the following players comprised the Doohamlet panel which went where no other Doohamlet panel had gone before in winning the Ulster Junior Sevens title; Pauric Marry, Ted Duffy, Shane McManus, Greg Duffy, Martin Hughes, Kieran McManus, Ollie Hughes, Gabie Casey, Kevin McArdle, Shane Connolly. Doohamlet's Dynamo hoping to motor in Monaghan colours Shane McManus was Doohamlet's main marksman for his club during their JFC successes of 1999 and 2001. And again in 2002, he was the O'Neills' ace in the pack up front. This coming year he'd love it, just love it if he could get on the scoresheet as often for the Monaghan seniors. It was a dank, dour mid-November evening. Doohamlet star Shane McManus set out for Monaghan town to link up with the rest of his senior county colleagues for what would be their first head-to-head as members of Colm Coyle's new regime. Like a youngster making his way to his friend's birthday bash, Shane exuded the sort of anticipation and perhaps a touch of nervous tension which only serves to heighten the sense of excitement on such occasions. Of course, the creme de la creme of Monaghan football had traded pleasantries on several occasions earlier in the Autumn so it wasn't as if he was about to be confronted by a whole host of new faces. There had been a couple of challenge matches and the lads had met up for the official opening of Currin's splendid new facilities. But this was going to be a different session altogether. And our man McManus wasn't to be disappointed. "I was very impressed by the level of ambition Colm showed and the level of confidence he expressed in Monaghan football. It appeared to me that we were going to see a very professional set-up in Monaghan in 2003. An excellent backup team was to be put in place and he (Coyle) assured us that if the players put in the effort the rewards would flow because he believed that most success was due to pure hard work," Shane recalls. One of the more experienced members of Coyle's crew, the ace attacker is convinced that better, more successful times lie in waiting for the Monaghan senior team. He maintains he has already detected a "big change in attitude among the players in general." "Compared to last year, I think all of the players earmarked for the county team will be available. I'm sure the whole squad will give the coming year their full commitment and if that happens who knows what we can achieve." Achieving set goals hasn't been something which Shane has managed to do with Monaghan since he first came on board the county's premier ship four years ago. That said, he hasn't quite been, what might be termed, an ever-present with the white and blues. For instance, in 1999 he damaged both his medial and cruciate ligaments after featuring in just a couple of national league matches. The damage was suffered during an under 21 Hastings Cup clash with Meath. Two operations, a la Roy Keane, in Belfast followed in December '99. The first operation saw repair work being done on his medial ligament injury. Extensive physio and hours of hard work in a gym in 'Blayney building up the knee thereafter was needed before the second operation on the cruciate ligament could be performed. Shane rules out the notion that some of us might have about professional soccer players being old girls' blouses in 'crying' about such injuries."Believe you me, it's as tough getting over those kind of injuries as they let on. "I wouldn't wish the injury I had on anyone. It was very tough trying to get back to something like full fitness. Lying in bed for so long and having to work very slowly at moving the knee just one degree more each day wasn't easy. I often felt like pulling the pin with frustration." At 22, Shane hopes that his knee injury and the broken collarbone before that will be his lot for a while to come. He accepts though that he had a good record away from the sick bay during the major part of his underage days so he can't complain too much. Shane has always been one of the leading lights in Doohamlet but it wasn't until he figured on some decent Monaghan minor and under 21 teams that he really caught the eye of the Monaghan GAA public en masse. Under the stewardship of Scotstown's Niall McKenna, the pacy, skillful Doohamlet player blossomed as a county minor during the 1997 and '98 Ulster minor league and championship campaigns. He took to the inter-county stage like the proverbial duck and he enjoyed the rarefied company immensely. But things became even more enjoyable for him when Monaghan started to win things. In 1999, Monaghan won the Ulster Under 21 Championship title when they beat Donegal in the final. As a tigerish, ball-winning half-forward, Shane played his part in that campaign. He revelled in the exchanges with the best that the rest of Ulster could come up with. Playing alongside such would-be county seniors as Colm Flanagan, Pauric McKenna, James McElroy and Kieran Tavey seemed to bring out the best in him. He has still fond memories of that title win. "There was a great spirit in the team and I found Eamon McEneaney to be a great team-manager. There were a lot of good players on the team but it was our team-work as much as anything else which helped us come good." The provincial championship win of '99 is as good as it has got for Shane on the inter-county scene to date. He acknowledges that the team's end of campaign result did leave a slightly sour taste in the mouth though. "We didn't do ourselves justice against Westmeath in the All-Ireland semi-final and that's a game we all would have liked to have been able to play again the next day. I think the occasion got to everyone. Armagh and Dublin were playing at Croke Park on the same day in the national league semi-final and there was a fairly big crowd and the game had sort of gone by us before we knew what we were doing. "We were 2-3 to no-score behind after just ten minutes or so. We were never going to be able to haul that size of a lead back and I think our heads went down. One thing I do remember about that day though was the poor support we had from the county. It must have been ten to one in favour of Westmeath in terms of support. The Monaghan support was nothing like it was in the eighties but I suppose that's what happens when the county isn't successful for a long time." Monaghan supporters didn't see any success last year either, Shane accepts. For his part, Shane got a bird's eye view of what went wrong for the white and blues in the Ulster senior championship. "I was a sub for the Fermanagh game in Clones and it didn't make for pleasant viewing. Rory Gallagher was on fire that day. His 3-9 was the whole difference on the day and fair play to him and to Fermanagh for the way they isolated him up front and gave him some brilliant ball. No defender had a hope of keeping the shackles on him with the kind of supply he got that day. "The unfortunate thing in that game was that things were not looking bad at all at half-time but the second half was a different story. The bad run in the national league wasn't good for morale whilst Fermanagh clocked up some decent wins in division one and were full of confidence. I think the difference in confidence between the teams showed up in Clones." Clearly someone who lives for the moment and isn't that comfortable re-winding the tape, Shane insists that Monaghan football supporters have reason to look forward in optimistic fashion to the coming year. "I think the stuff is there within the county to test some of the big names in the province. When you consider that when most of the fellas on the current senior panel were minors and under 21s it was nearly always Tyrone who beat us and they went onto win the provincial and All-Ireland titles in both grades. "I remember at the time, the Tyrone camp saying that one of their hardest games on the way to winning the All-Ireland was against Monaghan so we can't be that far off the pace." Not keen on looking back but not keen on crystal ball-gazing either, Shane doesn't fear the year ahead though. "I'm looking forward to meeting Armagh in the Ulster championship. If you can't get yourself motivated for a game against the All-Ireland champions, you shouldn't be playing inter-county football. After having played Fermanagh for the last four years, it would have been a disaster if we had been drawn against each other again and luckily that didn't happen. I'm delighted with the draw we got." And other than Monaghan, who would he put his money on nicking the Anglo-Celt Cup in 2003? "I think Tyrone will be hard to beat. They have a new manager and that could just be the spark they need to make their way back. Mickey Harte has a great record at underage level and he just might be able to reproduce that sort of Midas touch at senior level." And for a man who has JFC medals under his belt from 1999 (victory over Clones) and 2001 (defeating Killeevan) one wonders what he sees ahead with regard to the club scene? Well, Shane says that at the start of the past season, the O'Neills would have been happy with just retaining their intermediate status but given the fact that they topped the league table for a couple of months (and only for a couple of crucial suspensions may have stayed there and not lost out to Rockcorry) and that only Carrick mildly embarrassed them in the championship (1-8 to 0-18), he feels that Doohamlet acquitted themselves superbly at different levels. "We have made great strides over the last three or four years and 2002 saw that progress being maintained. Apart from our solid displays at intermediate level our under 21s came good and our minors kept their record of success in tact. We have a lot of good underage players who have all winning pedigrees and that will stand them in good stead when they link up with the rest of us at adult level. "We were disappointed with our displays in the intermediate championship against Carrick and Drumhowan but pleased with the wins over Eire Og and Monaghan Harps. I don't think it's unrealistic for us to be aiming to win the league or championship next year." Roll on the 2003 Monaghan Yearbook review! Tweet

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