Former Emyvale and Monaghan footballer Patrick Hesnan has been making his name in the world of management of late, having helped mastermind Loughrea's historic Connacht junior club football championship success. Many Monaghan GAA followers will remember Hesnan as one of the top underage players in the county during the late 1980s and early 1990s. A Monaghan man was the toast of the East Galway town of Loughrea on December 4 last after coaching the local club to a historic Connacht junior club football championship success. Emyvale native and former Farney County underage star Patrick Hesnan was Coach to the Loughrea team which recorded a thrilling 2-8 to 2-7 victory over Mayo champions Kilcommon Gaels at Tuam Stadium. The success capped a wonderful year for the club's footballers who have traditionally played second fiddle to their hurling counterparts. "This was the first time in years that the Loughrea footballers managed to steal the limelight from the hurlers," Patrick says. "We won the Galway junior championship for the first time since 1994 and followed it up by winning the Connacht championship as well. The players deserve great credit because most of them were also involved with the hurling team that lost the county final to Portumna. Between the two codes, they've hardly had a breather but it's great that they have something to show for their efforts." Hesnan, who lives in Loughrea with his wife Jacinta and two young children Ben (three) and Ally (20 months), was asked to coach the club's junior footballers by chairman Tom Moran after guiding the minor team to a Division 1 league final appearance. He explains: "I had no previous managerial experience before taking over the Loughrea minors at the start of the year. We reached the Division 1 league final which was a great achievement for a club steeped in hurling tradition and it was on the back of that I was asked to get involved with the junior side. "And despite the hurling team's progress to the county final, myself and team Manager, Tom Moran managed to build up enough momentum with the lads to win the county and provincial championships. It was a fairytale year, really." With hurling star Kenneth Colleran to the fore, Loughrea beat Williamstown in the North Board junior final before accounting for West Board winners Salthill in the county decider. Not content with that, they added the Connacht title by virtue of their one-point victory over Kilcommon Gaels. For long periods, it appeared as if the Mayo champions would prevail, not least when Pat McAndrew increased their 1-5 to 0-3 interval lead with another point within a minute of the restart. They had got off to a dream start when Martin Geraghty scored a goal in the first minute. But Loughrea kept themselves in contention courtesy of points from Kenneth Colleran, David Tierney and Damien McClearn. Loughrea had it all to do in the second half and they looked to be facing certain defeat until late goals from Colleran and Johnny Maher gave them a dramatic victory. "The lads never gave up and got their just reward in the end," Patrick proudly states. "David Tierney turned in a great performance and other well-known hurlers such as Johnny Maher, Nigel Shaughnessy and Francie Kerrigan, who was a member of the Galway All-Ireland minor winning team this year, also made valuable contributions to the success. "We're looking forward to playing in the county intermediate championship next year but before then we'll be going all out to try to win the All-Ireland junior title. We're playing Ballinagore from Westmeath in the All-Ireland semi-final next February and if we win that, we could end up playing Monaghan Harps in the final which would be a huge game for me for obvious reasons." Many Monaghan football supporters will remember Hesnan as one of the best underage players in the county during the late 1980s and early 1990s. He captained the Monaghan minor team which won the Ulster League in 1989. However, disappointment followed when they were beaten by Armagh in the Ulster championship semi-final. He played for the county under 21s for three years after that, but the closest he came to winning an Ulster championship medal was in 1992 when the Farney County lost to eventual All-Ireland champions Tyrone in the provincial decider. "We had decent minor and under 21 teams in those years and were unlucky not to win at least one Ulster championship. We had a very good minor team in 1989 and it was frustrating to see Derry go on to win the All-Ireland that year after we had beaten them in the League. A Peter Canavan-inspired Tyrone beat us in the Ulster under 21 final three years later and they also went on to win the All-Ireland. It was a pity we didn't win anything because we had some exceptional players like Stephen McGinnitty, Peter Duffy and Aidan Tavey who deserved to play on the All-Ireland stage." Hesnan played for the Monaghan seniors in the 1992/93 and 1993/94 National League campaigns, but was forced to quit the inter-county scene due to work commitments in Dublin. However, he continued to line out for Emyvale and was a key figure on the team that defeated Magheracloone to land the Hackett Cup in 1995. Emyvale threatened a breakthrough at senior level throughout the 90's, but were invariably denied by Castleblayney Faughs and Scotstown. "We appeared in a couple of senior championship semi-finals but couldn't break the dominance of Castleblayney and Scotstown. It was disappointing because we had a talented team and an excellent managers in the likes of PJ McKenna and Jimmy Mc Kee." For much of the 1990s, Patrick formed a highly-rated midfield partnership with his brother Michael, who also played for Tara in London and captained the Exiles during the middle part of the decade. Indeed, the Hesnan family is synonymous with the GAA in Emyvale with Patrick's father Pat (deceased) having been a prominent club administrator and his mother Marie a former Monaghan camogie player. Hesnan played for Oranmore in the 2000 Galway senior championship which ended in a first round defeat to Corofin. An injury forced him to quit playing a short time later, but he made something of a comeback when lining out for Loughrea on a couple of occasions this year. During his student days, Patrick won an All-Ireland Colleges 'B' medal with St. Macartan's in Monaghan and also tasted All-Ireland success in 1990 and won player of the year with DIT where he studied Electronics. Patrick is General Manager of Total Retail Control Ltd (TRC) which has its headquarters in Dundrum, Dublin 14 and employs a staff of 42. Established in 1991, TRC are one of Europe's leading providers of solutions for both the retail and hospitality industries in Ireland and the UK. TRC are dedicated to developing, installing, maintaining and supporting leading point of sale solutions which will assist clients to meet their operational and financial targets. With over 15 years of experience, TRC offer a credible, reliable and flexible service. In addition to providing their own EPoS systems, TRC are also business partners with a number of leading edge solutions providers including Microsoft and PixelPoint POS. Like all Monaghan supporters, Patrick was thrilled by the county's team resurgence in 2005. "I was delighted with the team's progress this year. The dramatic victory over Meath in the National League Division 2 final will never be forgotten by Monaghan fans and it gave the team a huge lift going into the championship. They had their best championship run in years and I'm eagerly looking forward to seeing them playing in Division 1 next year. "As someone who spends a lot of time travelling around the country, it was uplifting to hear people talking about Monaghan's achievements. They had a fantastic year and let's hope there is more to come in 2006," he concludes. Tweet

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