Having led Monaghan to the national football league Division Two title in 2005, county captain Damien Freeman endured a busy time with both club and county in '06. Banty McEnaney's charges competed in the top-flight but lost their league status amid a flurry of unfortunate results, while Magheracloone qualified for both the senior football championship and Division One league deciders, losing both. Two-thousand-and-six was a defining year for Monaghan and Magheracloone Mitchells. Monaghan were back in the big time, plying their trade in Division 1A, and it would be a major challenge to see if they could preserve their top-flight standing. Magheracloone, meanwhile, were faced with the considerable task of trying to regain the county SFC. Neither side could have gone much closer but, unfortunately, both endeavours proved fruitless. Looking back on the year, Damien Freeman is understandably disappointed that the investment of so much effort and determination over the course of a long season culminated in very little payback. Monaghan finished bottom of their section of the league after losing their decisive final match to Cork. Victory over Dublin in Parnell Park was the high point of their campaign but the real story of their league season was one of near misses against the likes of Kerry and Tyrone as well as four home defeats. The championship was also a case of what might have been: defeat to Armagh after a replay followed by a thumping win over Wicklow and a poor performance against Wexford in Clones. Magheracloone - Monaghan senior football champions for the first time in 2004 - reached their fourth consecutive SFC decider. However, for the third time in four years, they were beaten at the ultimate hurdle, going under to Clontibret in a repeat of the '03 showcase. The Mitchells also lost the '05 final to Latton (surrendering the crown claimed with a facile victory over Scotstown twelve months earlier). An opportunity to set the record straight and extract some satisfaction from the year presented itself when Magheracloone squared up to Latton in the '06 Division One league final. Could they make amends for losing the championship decider? Could they also avenge the previous year's SFC final defeat? Alas, they fell to yet another major final defeat - their second of the year and their fourth in as many seasons. Little wonder the eldest of the inspirational Freeman brothers looks back on recent occurrences with a touch of despondency: "It's heartbreaking, to be honest. It could have been a massive year but it ended up being a bad one. I suppose it proves that the line between success and failure is a very fine one. On the club front, it took an awful lot of work from everybody concerned to get to the two finals - to lose both was very disappointing." That's putting it mildly. Magheracloone proved that they were consistently the strongest side in the county by mounting concerted efforts on two fronts, but that consistency counted for nothing as a propensity for losing finals cost them on the double. Losing the SFC final for the third time in four years proved particularly hard to digest: "The championship is the one you really want but we didn't show up on the day of the final. We had been focussed on the championship all year but it was just one of those days and Clontibret definitely deserved to win it. The league final was a different story. We felt that we possibly played well enough to win but things went against us. We just couldn't get the equaliser and Latton held on. "Both defeats were frustrating but the main aim all year was definitely the championship. Clontibret played well as a team. On the day, they seemed to want it more than we did. It was very disappointing to lose, especially after losing the 2005 final as well. I've played in four county finals now and have only won one, which isn't a great return." Many might assert that Magheracloone have been the best club side in the county over the past four-five years, yet just a solitary SFC success doesn't quite bear this out. The Mitchells are always in the shake-up but struggle to get across the winning line. Does Damien feel that the club should have collected more trophies? "It's probably been between ourselves and Latton over the past four or five years. We've been the most consistent sides and there hasn't been much between us, but the just reward is to win trophies. "They've won two in the last two seasons and we haven't won any. But we'll keep at it anyway and I'm sure we can win some more if we keep putting ourselves in winning positions…" Is there a sense that Magheracloone can genuinely turn it around? "We still have a very strong, young team and there are plenty of lads coming through, so we're expecting to do well again next year. We'll certainly be aiming for the SFC again." On the intercounty front, how disappointing was Monaghan's relegation back to Division Two? "We went up against the elite teams and we were only narrowly beaten by Kerry and Tyrone. We beat Dublin and drew with Offaly. All in all, it wasn't a great year but it could have been so much different if we'd held on for a couple of wins. There's a thin line between winning and losing at the highest level. If we'd stayed up, it would have been seen as a successful year but our inexperience showed. Eoin Lennon and Gary McQuaid were two big losses at the start of the year and we probably needed everybody available for the whole season to compete in that company. "Having said that, we had chances in a lot of matches and didn't take them. You won't get away with that against those teams; if you make a mistake you'll get punished and that's what Monaghan learned in 2006. It was a good learning experience playing against the best teams and our aim now is to bounce back up." This Monaghan team has been threatening a breakthrough for a while now but they have yet to look like realistic contenders in Ulster. Is it time to stand up and be counted? "It's still a young Monaghan team but we've been there for a few years now and it's definitely time to start getting to Ulster finals. That's the bottom line. There's no reason why we can't compete for an Ulster title if the effort is invested. Club football in Monaghan is as good as you'll get so the county team has to go out now and show how strong Monaghan football is." For the past twelve months or so, Damien has been employed by the Heiton Buckley Group Ireland's leading builders' merchants brand, Heiton Buckley offers a complete range of building materials and Damien Freeman works as a sales rep, covering the Monaghan/Cavan area. Tweet

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