Jason Hughes is the sort of fella you'd want on your side in a time of war. In 2007 he's hoping to battle his way back to the very top of his game. Jason Hughes loves a challenge. Just loves it. If it's not facing down a serious illness, racing up and down some of the country's highest mountains, it's knuckling down to rewind the clock and prove his doubters wrong. By dint of his performances for Blayney in 2006, those closest to the galloping midfielder reckon Jason is in the kind of form that will see him surmount the challenges he has already set himself for the coming year. The Faughs witnessed a revitalised Hughes in '06 but the man himself insists that there is more in the tank and '07 should see him consolidate his rejuvenation as one of the best midfielders in the county if not the province. "I'm looking forward to the new season," Jason enthuses. "I thought I had a good enough year in 2006 by my own standards but I'm hoping to build on that in the new year." All belonging to the Faughs and indeed Monaghan football per se will be keeping their fingers crossed that the dynamic Hughes can belie his 31 years to star for club and county in 2007 and beyond. As is his wont, Jason is brimming over with hope and optimism ahead of the new season. On the club front, he was pleased to see quite a few Faughs youngsters bedding down at senior level over the past year and with that experience under their belts, Jason is expecting them to be even better in the coming months. That said, as a natural-born winner he admits to being more than a tad disappointed with the way things panned out in 2006. "We made shapes at winning things in 2006 but it didn't come off for us. "At the start of the year, I thought we had a good chance of winning the senior championship but it didn't work out. "I suppose we're still going through a transition phase, having lost at least a half a dozen fellas who were the more experienced fellas in the squad and who held key positions down the middle. "But a lot of the young boys who have come through stood up during the year like men and they'll be all the better for their experience when next season kicks off." Jason is acutely aware of Blayney's pristine past and how dominancy of the domestic scene was almost taken for granted by the Faughs faithful. Now he accepts the club is playing a foreign game. Playing catch up doesn't come naturally to Blayney but it's something the club has to cop onto and pretty quick, he suggests. "No club can continue to go on and dominate although Crossmaglen are doing a fairly good job of it in Armagh," he quips. "It's a whole new environment now for us because after winning so many things at juvenile level and then again at senior, it takes a bit of getting used to when you look and see other clubs grabbing the headlines," says Jason, winner of six SFC medals and a brace of SFL honours as well as a McKenna Cup medal. Clontibret, Latton, Magheracloone, 'Blayney. The Mick Duffy Cup has been on its travels in recent years. Time for the Faughs to gravitate to the top again? "Definitely, but we can't take anything for granted. "It's probably the longest period of time that the club has been out of the Ulster club that I can remember. "It's important that we don't let that gap grow any more because then you start to lose faith in yourself and losing can become a hard habit to break." For a year and more, Jason got out of the habit of enjoying his football and his own standards dropped drastically, he admits. He had other priorities though. Marriage and becoming a father changed his perception of life and his management of time took on a whole new outlook. Football took a backseat for him to a large extent in 2004/05. A job in van sales didn't tie in too well with the hours Jason needed to punch in for training and matches and he freely admits that he lost his appetite for football. What a time to lose his appetite though! Just when Monaghan seniors go and feast on a never-to-be-forgotten day out at Croke Park, culminating in the division two league title. "I had been asked by Seamus (McEnaney) to into county trials but I didn't think my fitness was up to scratch and the hunger just wasn't there to be honest," Jason explains. What did he make of the NFL heroics? "I was absolutely delighted. "Of course I had some regrets that I hadn't linked up with the panel that year and I wouldn't be honest if I said that it didn't bother me that I wasn't part of the league win but I was genuinely delighted for the lads who were there. "It was definitely a great day for Monaghan football." Jason agrees that after failing to consolidate their progress in 2005, Monaghan could do with another boost this year to regain the momentum of yesteryear. "The team worked hard last year but you need a bit of luck along the way and I don't think Monaghan got that last year. "The county (Monaghan) isn't that far away though and we're still there or thereabouts in terms of being in with a shout of winning the Ulster title in 2007. "I think the players are there and it's just a matter of getting everyone playing well at the same time and getting that bit of confidence going." Jason says he will be giving football 100% commitment in 2007 and he hopes to reap the benefit of his imput. "If I make it with Monaghan next year I'll be delighted but if I don't it'll won't be for want of trying. "I feel good about my own form at the present time and feel I'm in good tune but we'll see how it goes." For a man who, at the beginning of 2006, was "considering packing it in", Jason Hughes has certainly drank from the well of enthusiasm in the interim. He says that taking a break from football from January '06 to the following April did wonders for the re-charging of his batteries. "It did me the world of good, both physically and mentally," he explains. During his sabbatical from the native game, Jason tried out other forms of physical exercise and sporting activities. Jason was part of the Blayney Rockets seven-man team (including two drivers) who joined with 75 other teams from around the country in "racing" up and down the country's top mountains. "I did other things while I took a break from the football, like climbing of four mountains in Kerry, Mayo, Down and Wicklow, over three days, for the charity Focus Ireland. "It turned into a race half the time so that helped keep me in shape." Jason's philosophy has always been to get fit to play football and not the other way around. In that respect, he believes that he can never hope to do himself justice if his fitness is not up to the required standard. And those who have followed Jason's career down the years would doubtless agree because there's scarcely anyone as strong or blessed with a greater engine than him when he's at the top of his game. "I know myself I'm not the most skilful so if my fitness isn't what it should be I'm in trouble," he confesses. Jason, a rep these days for Monaghan Bottlers - covering counties Louth, Monaghan and Cavan - has clocked up close on a dozen years at senior level for the Faughs and, when in top gear, has consistently been one of the top performers in Monaghan football circles over that period. From a midfielder's perspective, he has seen the game change at local level somewhat with a plethora of 'breaking ball' now dominating proceedings around the vital diamond area of the field. "It's whoever wins the most of the breaking ball wins the games," he suggests. Meanwhile, at inter-county level, he's adamant that if Monaghan gets the break of the ball in the coming year, a provincial title is well within its grasp. He remembers back to 2003 when Monaghan - under the management of Colm Coyle - made hay against the much vaunted men from Armagh in Clones. "That was a brillant result for the county but we didn't build on it the way we should. "I thought we played even better the next day out in the semi-final against Down but we just couldn't put the ball over the bar," says Jason who made his Ulster SFC debut against Fermanagh (alongside Aughnamullen's James McElroy) in 2001. Jason believes that Monaghan's lack of a winning tradition does seem to kick in when push comes to shove, especially in the championship arena. He says it's up to the current Monaghan squad to begin to build a winning tradition and he says an Anglo-Cup triumph in 2007 is a realistic starting point. "I don't why the county can't go the whole way in Ulster. Winning the Sam Maguire might be too optimistic and too big a target but not the Ulster title. "Our best option is to go for the Ulster title and forget about using the backdoor - it shouldn't be even given a mention." But what of the 2007 NFL campaign in the meantime? "Definitely we should be treating it seriously because it's very important that we get a winning run going. "You need to be playing the likes of Tyrone and Dublin every week to improve. "We need to be giving the supporters something to shout about because they've been very loyal over the years when the results were very frustrating. "I'm optimistic on both fronts, club and county, for the coming year but it's all down to what happens on the field. "Everyone has to give it their best shot." Leave it to Jason to hit the target. His team-mates couldn't have a better role model. Hurlers see red The Castleblayney hurling club had every reason to look forward to 2006 with confidence but in the end while they had certain things to celebrate the overall feeling could be described as one of disappointment and indeed slight disenchantment given the events that unfolded around their Ulster intermediate club championship campaign. By John P Graham. At the start of the year Castleblayney were basking in the reflected glory of a good year in 2005. They came into the New Year on the back of having completed the Monaghan senior double in 2005 and having annexed the inaugural Ulster Junior hurling club championship title as well as giving a good account of themselves in the All Ireland series before going out to the Cork junior hurling champions Fr Cleary's. "It was a great experience for our lads and that's our philosophy in the club, that we are building all the time and always wanting to push ourselves that little bit further," said team manager Jarlath Denny. "We played in the Ulster hurling club league which I think is a great competition and we did very well in that competition against teams from Antrim which is one of the stronger hurling counties, so we felt that it was good preparation for our plans to retain the Monaghan senior hurling championship and then move on to the Ulster intermediate championship. "When we won the Ulster junior last year we knew if we won the Monaghan title this year that we had to move up to the next competition level so that was motivation for us. We prepared well and we did retain the Monaghan senior title but only after a very tough final against Inniskeen but I suppose later on they got their revenge on us when they defeated us in the league final. None of us though would begrudge Inniskeen that league title because they are a great bunch of lads and they have put in a serious effort over the last few years. "Having got over Inniskeen we were due to play in the preliminary round of the Ulster intermediate club championship which we were looking forward to because when we found out that we would be playing Gort na Mona form Antrim we were convinced that we could beat them. But instead of being another big lift for us it turned out to be a very bittersweet experience and I don't think it would be an exaggeration to say that we are not happy with how certain matters were handled after our game in Casement Park." In that preliminary round game in Casement Park the Antrim champions Gort na Mona grabbed a late goal that robbed C'Blayney of victory but it was a sometimes controversial match and none more so than with a referee's decision near the end. "We more than matched them in most departments but we just failed to get the nod or the rub of the green as some people say in a few vital decisions." Approaching the final stages Castleblayney had edged in front only to present the opposition with a gift wrapped opportunity from a short puc out that went wrong for the goal that robbed them of the chance to advance. "It was bad enough to lose the game but certain other matters caused us a lot more annoyance. The crux of the matter was that the referee issued a red card to a Gort na Mona player who had come on as a sub. He left the field but was later allowed to come back onto the field after the Gort na Mona mentors complained to the referee and convinced him that the yellow card the player had got was his first and not his second. At that stage too the game was held up for at least four or five minutes as they argued with the referee and that didn't help us as we were ahead at that stage. The end of the matter was though that the player was allowed to rejoin the game and to rub salt in the wound he scored the winning point. We don't dispute that the red card may have been a mistake by the referee but to us the crux of the matter was whether it was within the rules for a player who had picked up a red card even in error to have been allowed to come back into the game by the referee. We objected to the result of the game to the Ulster council but we got no satisfaction and we were very disappointed with how the matter was handled as it was deemed to have come under the rules of play and that it was a matter that the referee was in charge of. We didn't agree with that and on advice from a number of people who had experience in that area we appealed the decision to the Central Appeals Committee in Croke Park but again we came away disappointed." One report on the matter described the outcome as generating "disappointment and even a degree of dismay" when the news broke that Castleblayney's appeal against the decision of the Ulster Council to allow the result of their game against the Antrim intermediate hurling champions, Gort na Mona to stand, was turned down by Croke Park. "We had appealed on the grounds that the referee could not rescind a red card even if the red card had been issued in error." The appeal against the Ulster Council decision was heard in Croke Park with the Central Appeals Committee (CAC) ruling that the Ulster Council had not breached any rule in their handling of the original objection. "That was fair enough as far as it went," said team selector Kevin Moloney "but what was disappointing was that the CAC refused to address, skirted around and just simply avoided the substantive issue of whether a referee, having issued a red card can then rescind that card before the end of a game. The outcome of our case would suggest that the two rulings at Ulster and national level would say that a referee can do that. I would have to say though that scenario would be a most disastrous one and could lead to all manner of problems for disciplinary bodies and players alike. It was an issue that needed to be sorted out with a definitive ruling as to what the referee can and can't do in those circumstances but we didn't get that and the whole thing has left a bad taste. We had nothing against Gort na Mona and we wished them all the best for the remainder of the competition but we still need an answer. The Management Committee of Monaghan County Board told us they would be seeking clarification on the issue but to date we haven't heard anything". On the more positive side of things though, two C'Blayney players had reason to celebrate personal achievements. Michael McHugh was chosen of the Nicky Rackard Cup champions 15 for his performances for Monaghan while Rory Woods was called onto the Ulster Railway Cup squad following his performance against Gort an Mona. He didn't get to take part in the semi final against Leinster but it was a great honour for him. The last Monaghan player to be chosen on the provincial panel was Mick O'Dowd of Clontibret. Team and Scorers v Gort na Mona: Hugh Cullen, Stephen Lynch, David Connolly, Gordon Coleman, Declan Crowe, Jim McHugh, Paul Murphy 1-0, Alan Lambe 0-2, Paddy Kelly, Barry Reilly 0-1, Stephen Lambe, Patrick Conlon, Michael McHugh 0-2, Rory Woods 0-7, Brian McGuigan. Subs used: Gary Boyd 0-1, Ciaran Connolly, Bernard O'Connor. Others who took part during the year were: Patrick Collins, Daniel Duffy, Padraig McKenna, Wayne Funcheon, Cathal O'Flaherty, Kyle McArdle, Patrick McArdle, Peter Treanor, Tom Byrne, Phelim McGurgan. Tweet

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