A lean year at underage hurling
December 31, 2008
It's only a couple of short years since Monaghan were picking up Ulster and All Ireland titles at underage level in hurling. But things have changed drastically and they must
now start on the path of rebuilding from the foundation up.
Monaghan won Ulster titles at U16, minor and U21 as well as an All Ireland U16 "C" championship and some of that talent has come through to supplement the county under 21 and senior teams. What is worrying though is that there is not the same level of activity in those age groups leading up to that level and that will leave a huge gap in the future unless it is addressed very quickly.
The input of Gerry Murphy into the fortunes of under age hurling in Monaghan cannot be overstated even though at the time it may have been underestimated and since he left the work of coaching and developing young players has been on a downward, slippery slope.
Last year in 2007 the Monaghan Management Committee were summoned before the Ulster Council to explain why the county had indicated they would take part in the Ulster minor hurling league and then failed to field with the only activity being a minor blitz type competition that the county took part in thanks to the individual initiative of David Connolly and Gabriel McQuillan. This year, 2008 there has been no inter-county activity at under 16 or minor level but the county did take part in the Ulster under 21 B hurling championship. It wasn't totally without activity though as there was an under 16 squad that took part in a blitz type competition involving Monaghan, Cavan and Fermanagh that was organised by the Ulster Council. The level of talent available to Monaghan can be gauged from the fact that Monaghan won two of their matches by a few points and as a result of that involvement there was an invitation for the squad to take part in a "fun day" at Croke Park.
Gabriel McQuillan and Aidan Kerr were working with that under 16 squad but Gabriel McQuillan rues the fact that he is not based in Monaghan so that he could be more involved on a regular basis with coaching and development.
"Living in Dublin is definitely a drawback for me but we did some work with the under 16's and the day out in Croke Park was a great experience for the young lads. However to be honest I feel that going up there by invitation for a day like that is not really the best way, but getting to Croke Park should be as a result of playing and taking part or maybe even winning some type of competition. The only activity we had was that blitz and I have to say I'm also a bit dubious about the benefit of those blitz competitions because I think to develop the players properly we need more sustained and meaningful competition," said Gabriel. "It would have been great to have taken part in the minor C championship this year and the Ulster minor hurling league and it is not that long ago since we were talking about the fact that Monaghan at some stage could be taking part in the Ulster minor hurling championship proper. Unfortunately we've slipped a long way back from there but what was done before can be done again although it will take a lot of work. Aidan and myself believe that we have to start at the very foundation again with coaching in the primary schools and it was good to hear during the year that there will be hurling coaching done at this level as part of the whole Monaghan coaching and games development programme. We have to start at under 12's and move up to under 14's because there is a good group of young lads in the clubs at both those age groups.
"I know we have good U12's in Latton but we need people working at U14, U16 and minor but unfortunately there is such a limited number of people who are available or willing to work at this level."
The whole system of development squads has to be embraced for hurling according to Aidan Kerr because it is only through working through those programs on an ongoing basis that we will get better and make the progress we need. There is another problem impacting on hurling development Monaghan and that is the whole question of the limited numbers there are to work from and the impact of dual players but both men are of the opinion that if proper consideration is given and the people who plan and run the fixtures programs would sit down and take a look at things that maybe the timing of competitions could be adjusted to make allowance for that. There have been repeated calls in Monaghan in the past regarding the health of the game and what was needed to keep it healthy but unfortunately progress was only sporadic and at times for every two steps forward there a backward step followed quickly.
Its not all doom and gloom however as there was plenty of activity at club level in under age hurling during the year with competition at U12, U14 and U16. Seven teams took part in the under 14 league, six teams took part in the under 12 and eight teams took part in the under 16 which made for a good spread of competition and a good spread of activity for this very important group of players. The semi finals of the under 12 saw Carrickmacross defeating Clontibret and Castleblayney defeating Monaghan Harps with Castleblayney then going on to win the final by two points over Carrickmacross.
Seven teams took part in the under 14 competition with Castleblayney again reaching the final and it is was noticeable that Castleblayney reached the final in all three competitions which is a testament to the work that is being done there on the ground. The under 14 semi finals saw Castleblayney defeating Monaghan Harps and Clontibret defeating Carrickmacross with Clontibret then ruining Castleblayney's dream of taking all tree under age titles when they edged them out by two points in an absolutely thrilling match that ended Clontibret 1-17, Castleblayney 3-9.
The under 16's too proved no less competitive with eight teams taking part and after a series of very competitive matches Clontibret faced Monaghan Harps and Castleblayney faced Latton in the semi finals. Again it was a Clontibret v Castleblayney final with Castleblayney running out winners by nine points on a final score of Castleblayney 1-11 Clontibret 0-5. The fact that those competition were so successful means that there really is a bank of young talent there that can be tapped into but it is going to take a big investment of time, money, human resources and more than anything else the will to get the work done if Monaghan are to again feature on the underage inter county scene.
The only activity other than at senior level was when the county took part in the Ulster under 21 B hurling championship or the Shield Competition as it is euphemistically referred to. Monaghan's involvement lasted for just one game, a semi-final against Tyrone but even then the state of hurling in Ulster and the attitude to hurling in Ulster manifested itself. The game was fixed for Omagh but when both teams arrived at the Healy Park venue they found themselves locked out and it was only after a series of phone calls by the Tyrone coordinator, Tony Fawl, that it was ascertained that the game simply wasn't wanted at that venue. Ultimately an alternative venue was found at Tattyreagh, a venue unsuitable for hurling but nonetheless it meant that the competition and the match was played.
As for the game it was a sharper, slicker Tyrone who dominated all through in what was overall a fairly one-sided affair. The prevailing conditions left both sides a little bit disenchanted with the status afforded the competition but that said this was a game were Monaghan were under the cosh from the early stages against a Tyrone team that fielded at least seven of their senior side and those players formed a very strong spine to the team. The writing was on the wall for Monaghan by half-time at which stage Tyrone led by seven points and they continued to dominate the exchanges in the second half with a goal by Seamie O'Hagan in the 12th minute giving them a 14 points lead and leaving no way back for the visitors. Monaghan to their credit tried manfully throughout, Stephen Lambe fought a lone battle up front while Eanna MacSuibhne tried to give them a foothold out around the middle. In defence Barney Connor stuck to the task manfully throughout and Peter Treanor along with Ciaran Greenan were always in the thick of the action even though it was against superior odds. It finished Tyrone 1-23, Monaghan 2-4.
Monaghan manager Frank Brady was obviously disappointed and understandably so but he still tried to take the positives out of the occasion and felt that the experience would help the players and that Monaghan could build on the involvement of players at this level. He agreed that Monaghan's lack of preparation was blatantly obvious in the difference between the two teams on the day and that Tyrone were far sharper but he also pointed out that he had: "three or four players who didn't even bother to turn up but we had to rise above that and move on. I have to pay tribute to the boys who did play that day because all 18 that we used put in a great effort and one or two even came back from holidays to play because they were keen to play for Monaghan. We have to also look at it from the point of view that Tyrone had seven of their senior team there and that certainly gave them an edge. We can build on that though. The experience will help the players and the signs are there that players still want to wear the county jersey. That's definitely true and there are a few there that I hope to bring along to the senior team if they want to come. I thought the goalkeeper gave an exhibition and should be challenging Mickey McHugh for his place next year but against that you can't force boys to play, they have to want to play. That was the end of our year and I know it has been a better year than Monaghan has had for some time but if you talk to any of the lads even now they will still be very disappointed. They were so disappointed that some of them didn't watch the Nicky Rackard Cup final the day after because they knew that we could and should have been there, but we can build on what we did this year."
Team and Scorers v Tyrone: Hugh Byrne, Stephen Lynch, Barney Connor, Dermot Meehan, Ciaran Greenan, Peter Treanor, Ryan Mckenna, Owen Duffy, Eanna MacSuibhne 0-1, Jason O'Rourke 0-1, Aidan Og McAnespie, Aengus McSuibhne, Patrick Hannon, Stephen Lambe 2-2 (1-1f, 1'65), Seamus McLoughlin. Subs: Stephen McGuinness for S McLoughlin, Damien McCarron for P Hannon, Declan Naughton for D Meehan.
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