John Andrews is approaching his second season in charge of the Monaghan senior hurlers. Here he reviews the past year and looks ahead to the coming season. John Andrews remembers the picture painted by Monaghan County Board officials when he was approached at the tail end of 2001 to become the county's new hurling supremo. It wasn't pretty picture. The vista was as black as coal. Players felt listless, interest among them was at a very low ebb and an average of eight players was the norm for training sessions. So John was invited to do what exactly? "The county board wanted me to rekindle an interest among the players in the game and in playing for the county. It was as simple as that," the Meathman explains. Twelve months on and John can safely say he did what was asked of him. Meanwhile county board officials and the hurling fraternity further afield are in no doubt but that the new team-manager has indeed re-ignited the players' passion . . and achieved a lot more into the bargain. To Monaghan folk in general Andrews' success in energising the county's best hurlers might have been a surprise but to those au fait with the man's hurling pedigree, it was more on the predictable side. For ten years, 1986-96, John Andrews had been a cornerstone of successive Royal County senior hurling teams. He starred on some of the best ever Meath teams to take the field. For instance, he manned the full-forward berth on the Meath team which beat an Offaly team containing 12 of their All-Ireland winning side in a national league clash in Athboy. The following Sunday in the league, he was on hand again to help his county beat Wexford in Enniscorthy and again the following week for a win over the Dubs. An All-Ireland 'B' medallist from 1993, John was also on Meath team that bravely went under by 2-10 to 4-18 to Antrim in front of 10,000 fans (Meath's following was estimated at 8,000) at Castleblayney in a cracking All-Ireland quarter-final tie. John Andrews and co. were one game away from playing in Croke Park then. And while he understands that he has little hope, in the short term, of leading Monaghan out at headquarters, he he truly believes that his adopted county is heading in the right direction. We know what Monaghan required of him, but what attracted him to link up with the hurling minnows? "I had been asked to stay with my own club Trim for another year. We had won the Meath senior hurling championship title in 2000 and 2001 and the prospect of guiding them to a three-in-a-row was very appealing. I thought about staying on but then the Monaghan offer came in and I looked upon it as an even bigger challenge. Monaghan hurling was nearly at rock-bottom, hurling seemed to be in the doldrums in the county and I believed that I could do something to alter that position. I got the impression from talking to the county board officials that the people involved in the four hurling clubs in the county were very passionate about the game. So I went away and did a bit of asking around, did my homework on Monaghan, so to speak. I quickly decided in my own mind that seeing as the county had won the All-Ireland 'B' title in 1998 under Joe Hayes, I saw no reason to believe that if things were run on a professional basis and the right support structures were put in place then similar success could be achieved down the line." On January 14th, 2002, new Monaghan senior hurling team-manager John Andrews had his first look at Monaghan's finest - 29 in all. "We organised a trial game in Aughnamullen. I wanted to see what level of hurling the fellas were playing, the style of hurling and that sort of thing." And his first impressions? "It was obvious that we needed to speed up our hurling dramatically and fitness was going to be very important too. We needed to improve the lads' hurling skills but that would be done in conjunction with stamina training. We did a lot of stamina work during the months of January and February in Kilmore, training each week on Wednesday, Friday and on Sundays on various pitches. Every player had a sliotar in training, even while he was doing the stamina training. We worked on speed on Sundays mostly, striking, moving, scoring. Training went well from day one and the attendances were excellent." John Andrews stresses, time and time again, that "there are a lot of good hurlers in Monaghan." He says the players are as passionate as any you'd find among the power-brokers of the game. He approached the 2002 season with confidence, enthusiasm and with a clear set of objectives. "I spelt it out to the lads the night we met for our first get-together on January 14th. I wanted us to qualify for the semi-final of the league which meant we had to win at least two games. A few weeks later though, I had changed my mind. I had seen enough of the lads', their abilities and their commitment to make me decide to raise the crossbar. I felt we were selling ourselves short with our initial goal so before the first round of the league, I told the lads I wanted the team to make it to the league final." And with at least 24 players turning out for every training session, Andrews duly got the commitment he wanted, and more along with it, he says. "You had fellas coming up to training from Dublin during the week and even some coming home early on Sunday from having gone to a football match in England the day before." Before too long, the maxim that 'you only get out of something what you put in' came home to roost for the Monaghan hurlers and mentors. The target set at the start of the year was achieved. The team progressed to the league final courtesy of a 14 points win over Tyrone in their opening game (a 28 point turnaround from the corresponding clash in 2001) and a five points victory over Cavan at Breffni Park. Monaghan's third game in Rooskey saw them take the field minus regular 'keeper Michael McHugh and eventually lose by nine points to league favourites Mayo. The team rebounded from the setback suffered at the hands of Mayo to win by a resounding 15 point margin away to Leitrim in Carrick-on-Shannon. The win over Leitrim propelled Monaghan into the league semi-final where they crossed swords with Tyrone at Healy Park, Omagh. Again, Andrews' men rose to the challenge and triumphed by ten points. A place in the league final in Mullingar was booked - mission accomplished. "We had managed to get to the final as we had set out but it could have gotten even better for us. We could and perhaps should have beaten Mayo in the final, first time around. We played poorly in the first half and ended up being eleven points down at the interval. And even with ten minutes to go in the match, we were nine points behind but we played some really great stuff to come back and draw level. We were in the ascendancy in those final minutes but unfortunately no extra-time was played. We ended up missing the boat because they improved a lot in the replay and deservedly beat us. Mayo were fitter and sharper but they'd only three hurlers that I'd say were better than what we had. We were disappointed with the way the replay went but overall we were delighted with the way the league went for us. The team improved with each game, both in terms of their stickwork and their fitness and progress was definitely made." Enough progress to close the gap on, say, the likes of Meath? "I'd say there's still a sizeable gap between the Meaths of this world and Monaghan but that gap was a lot greater at the start of 2002 than it is now. I would have no hesitation in saying that five on the current Monaghan team would find a place on the Meath panel and two of them would make the first fifteen." John says that closing that aforementioned gap even more will be difficult but nonetheless possible. Whatever the Monaghan lads fall short of, it won't be fitness or lack of belief, he contends. Increasing the players' physical strength and skill levels to sufficient degrees will be the major challenge. Training for the 2003 started last November with some gymwork in Carrick and hurling sessions on Sunday mornings. Andrews and his assistants, Paul Ward (Clontibret), Noel McGuigan (Castleblayney), Jim Dalton (Monaghan Harps) and Gerry Murphy (County Hurling Coach) and his charges can't wait for the new season to come around. Competing for the first time in Leinster's Kehoe Cup will be an added attraction. John says he is happy with the make-up of his panel as we go to print "but I'm still working on getting another two or three accomplished players to join us." "The big problem in Monaghan though is that there's no glamour involved in playing hurling for Monaghan. It's a lot harder to play hurling for Monaghan than to play football for Monaghan and that creates a problems for us in getting good footballers who are good hurlers as well to play for us. But there's no doubt but that those who play for the county hurling team have a great passion and a great pride in playing for Monaghan and when you have that, it's a great foundation on which to build." And what of the Eamon Cregan/Noel Lane line that hurlers must give their sole allegiance to the hurling camp? "While I understand where they're coming from and I can respect their stand on dual players, I don't agree with them on that score. I will try my best to facilitate any player who wishes to play both games. Players should be given every opportunity to play for the club and county as often as they wish. And that will be my policy as Monaghan manager." Tweet

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