"I learned a lot. I hope I taught the Monaghan hurlers a lot and it is sad for me to be leaving but I feel that we both need to move on to pastures new." With these words, John Andrews took his leave last May as Monaghan's senior hurling team-manager. For both Andrews and hurling in the county, the parting of the ways - following defeat to Down in the Ulster Junior Hurling Championiship - was a sad occasion but one which may yet mark a watershed in the evolution of the ancient game in the county. With the continuing emergence of fine hurling talent at underage level, the legacy left by the personable Andrews may well be suitably embellished in the years ahead if his good work is consolidated. In attempting to become the fourth force of Ulster hurling, nobody said it was going to be easy, least of all John Andrews. And as if the 27-strong panel needed a reminder of how difficult a task there was at hand, defeat was the order of the day in the team's first NHL fixture when a sharper, more mobile Tyrone team triumphed in their Division 3B clash in late February at Gavan Duffy Park. It was a game in which little went right for Monaghan. The game represented a real 'welcome home' message to the Monaghanmen, not long back from their training trip to Gran Canaria. The homesters were forced to chase the game for all but the first four minutes of the game when they eased ahead by two points. Monaghan played in fits and starts and even though David McGahan scored a fine goal in the 24th minute, Tyrone remained in pole position at the interval as they led by 1-7 to 1-5. The concession of a rather freakish, unfortunate goal six minutes after the restart served to compound Monaghan's travails. On the back of the team's defeat to Longford in the Kehoe Cup, Monaghan's eventual 1-10 to 3-11 defeat to the O'Neill County certainly represented an eye-opening beginning to 2004 for the white and blues. Morale was pleasantly restored in the camp though with a subsequent 1-12 to 1-11 victory over hosts Cavan the following Sunday. The visitors showed plenty of passion and determination to hold off the blues who made a strong comeback in the second half after falling behind by 1-7 to 0-5 at the interval with Robbie Healy's 19th minute goal giving Andrews' charges a timely leg-up. In the end, it took a converted free by top scorer (0-9) Michael McHugh three minutes from the end of normal time to seal the victory for Monaghan. It was a welcome if nervy triumph for the team-manager. "It was very tense for most of the second half and I was glad to hear the final whistle . . .we lost our shape a bit in that middle ten minutes of the second half and when they drew level we were living dangerously," Andrews said afterwards. The following round saw Monaghan attempt to record their eight league win over Fermanagh in ten meetings since 1978. Sadly it was the Erne County who emerged victorious. It was the same story in the following round too as Louth proved best in a stirring encounter. The defeats to Tyrone, Fermanagh and Louth left Monaghan with two points from their four NHL Division 3B matches. A place in the Shield competition now awaited them. The first game in the second series of matches saw Monaghan take on Longford at the midland venue on Sunday April 11th in what amounted to a re-run of the teams' Kehoe Cup fixture, won by Longford by nine points. Once again the innate spirit of the county hurlers came into focus as they battled back from being nine points adrift, 0-6 to 3-6, at the interval to grab a deserved 2-12 to 4-6 draw in a captivating Shield contest. Three soft goals in the first half seemed set to catapult Longford to a comfortable victory but the visitors had other ideas and in a brillant recovery managed to hold Longford scoreless for the full 35 minutes of ordinary time which followed. Monaghan were simply a changed team on the restart with a goal by Shane Sullivan after just four minutes just the inspiration the team needed to claw their way back into the game. A string of points followed for Monaghan as Longford were made to backpeddle in furious fashion. By the 20th minute Monaghan's deficit had been reduced to just two points and it looked as if there was only going to be one winner. However the concession of yet another soft goal in added-on time appeared to drive a knife into the heart of Monaghan's drive for victory. But the visitors refused to give up and a converted free by Michael McHugh and an opportunist goal by Conor McGinnity conspired to snatch a draw for Monaghan which was the least they deserved on the day. Predictably, team-boss Andrews singled out his team's defensive faux-pas and their second half rally as key aspects of the game. "There were two aspects to the game, the soft goals but a brillant second half that was as good as I've seen since I came to Monaghan. "The commitment, the will to win and the skill of our players was outstanding but we have to stop these easy goals." Monaghan's Jekyl and Hyde persona was duly maintained as late April showed its face with the team's 1-8 to 1-17 defeat to Donegal in Emyvale the second of their Shield ties. Monaghan had no excuses with their opponents easing their way into a 10th minute lead they never subsequently looked like relinquishing. Ultimately it was a devastating ten minute spell in the run-up to the interval which wreaked most damage. In that period, the north-westerners notched 1-6 without reply to storm into a 1-10 to 0-4 lead. Monaghan produced a much better second half display and after opening the second half scoring looked capable of putting their opponents under rare pressure. However it was to be a false dawn and even though Michael McHugh later goaled from a free, it had consolidation stamped all over it. With the Ulster JHC looming large on the horizon, team-manager Andrews didn't attempt to play down the degree of work needed to be done on the training field in the interim. "We have a lot of work to do in the three weeks before we play Donegal or Down in the championship but I think we are prepared to do the work and we have every chance of progressing," he said optimistically. In the event, a Jerome McCrickard inspired Down demolished Donegal by 3-18 to 0-7 and so no one in the Monaghan camp could have been under any illusions as to the task they faced in taking on the Mourne County in the semi-final on May 16th at Clones. As things turned out Down got much more than they arguably bargained for while Monaghan came away with 'the one that got away' syndrome ringing in their ears from team-boss Andrews. Indeed, the final scoreline of 2-10 to 3-5 in Down's favour fairly reflected the closeness of the exchanges and Monaghan's achievement in coming so near to pulling off a big shock. Monaghan might even have won the game had they managed to translate some of their dominancy from open play into scores on the board. The homesters posted notice of their intention to push Down all the way by steering their way into a five points lead early on but Down later hit back with a 1-4 tally by the 18th minute to really make a game of it. However goals by Robbie Healy and Pat Walsh later had the Mourne County rocking but, to their credit, they held firm to leave Monaghan 2-3 to 2-6 in arrears at half-time. It was tit for tat on the restart but when Shane O'Sullivan rattled the Down net in the 23rd minute to leave just a single point between them, a shock looked on the cards. But three wides by Monaghan in the following five minutes let Down off the hook and they made Monaghan pay dearly by pointing late on to wrap up the spoils with two points to spare. "We should have won the match," team-manager John Andrews commented after the game. "Everything we worked on in training all year and in particular the tactical elements that we worked on for the past three weeks all clicked in on the day. I have always said that if our hurlers get a good day, a good pitch, a good surface then we can play great hurling and can live with the best of them and that match proves that. Clones was in fantastic shape and we hurled well." And with that, Monaghan hurling's outgoing supremo announced to his charges that he wouldn't be seeking another term as team-manager. One era over, another one about to begin. The following week the regional heats of the McDonald's Lift and Strike competition kicked off with the best of primary school talent from around the county demonstrating their skills. The juxtaposition between the two scenarios, the narrow defeat to Down and the youngsters' skills routines couldn't have been more startling. Hurling in Monaghan continues to have a heart beat. Tweet

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