No joy
December 08, 2006
Two-thousand-and-six was a thoroughly disappointing year for the county's U21 footballers. Despite boasting considerable senior intercounty experience, Eamonn O'Hara's Monaghan side exited the Ulster stage at the first hurdle and also failed to make an impression in the four-team Cremartin Shamrocks U21 football tournament, losing all three outings. Alas, four narrow defeats was the story of
their season…
Monaghan had the luxury of naming a fairly strong side for their 2006 Ulster U21 football championship first-round clash with Derry at Celtic Park on Saturday March 18. The starting team boasted eight players with senior intercounty experience garnered under Banty McEneaney and a strong midfield pairing in Paul McGuigan and Benny McKenna.
Thus, Eamonn O'Hara selected an XV that looked capable of recording a much-needed victory. Unfortunately, the Oak Leafers, who had even more senior experience in their ranks, made for formidable opposition, particularly on their own patch, and the outcome was a 2-13 to 1-10 defeat. In fairness, Monaghan's preparations had not been ideal, as they were hampered by some injury concerns and senior commitments during the national football league. All in all, they gave a decent account of themselves and did their bit for Monaghan football in '06.
Playing away to Derry was always going to be a daunting prospect and Monaghan went into the game as underdogs given the fact that they were facing a side packed with players from the Derry senior panel and who had already enjoyed relative success at underage level. Monaghan manager Eamonn O'Hara pointed out the enormity of the challenge: "This is sudden death and you only get one chance at it and I am fully aware that we are going in against a team where members have been Hogan Cup winners. They have been Ulster finalists at under 21 level and have won All-Ireland medals but I hope that we can rise to the occasion."
Some of Monaghan's players had featured in the 2004 MacRory Cup final with St. Macartan's, but collective preparation was not what the manager would have liked as training was affected by having players on the county senior football and hurling panels. Monaghan wound up these preparations with a challenge match against Roscommon the previous weekend - O'Hara had his strongest team out so it was a worthwhile workout.
One source of concern was that Paul McGuigan was carrying a niggling injury (just a week earlier, he had to retire from the national football league game against Kerry inside the first quarter). Derry were a strong side physically, with Mark Lynch already holding down a central position on the senior team, while Daniel Bateson and Patsy Bradley were others of a similary high calibre. Their experience at colleges and underage level over the years certainly gave them an edge and a number of players (Ryan Kealey, Enda Lynn, Sean McGoldrick etc.) had already filtered through from the previous year's minor team.
Alas, it was no major surprise when the hosts prevailed with six points to spare.
A purposeful finish saw Derry hit five points without reply in the final ten minutes of normal time to ease to victory at a cold, blustery Celtic Park on the third Saturday in March. Things looked good for Monaghan by the 48th minute when they had clawed their way back into the game with an opportunist goal by Brendan McKenna (which left just a point in it) but they were unable to capitalise and it was the home side who responded strongest to cruise home.
Mark Lynch, who will be eligible for the under 21 grade for another year, was literally the difference between the sides on the day. His towering performance on the 40, complete with two first-half goals, was crucial to Derry's victory and it was his intelligent promptings that often saw the winners turn defence into attack with deadly effect. Lynch added two points to his two first-half goals to emerge top scorer while James Bateson at right half forward finished with five points and full forward Barry McGoldrick caused Monaghan numerous problems.
The Monaghan defence was under pressure from the start. Paul McGuigan and Brendan McKenna worked hard in midfield but the loss of Sean Downey with a hip injury was a big blow. Downey had been playing well and his ability to win possession and deliver pinpoint passes saw Monaghan create a series of chances, many of which were spurned.
Derry drew first blood when full forward McGoldrick picked out Lynch on the overlap and the latter crashed to the net for an ideal start. James Bateson fired over a point two minutes later to put the home side four ahead and Bateson added his second from a free in the 11th minute after Shane Smyth had opened Monaghan's account in the seventh minute. Monaghan might well have had a goal at this stage but Eoin McNicholl pulled off a great save from Smyth after Downey's assist. Downey himself got on the scoresheet in the 12th minute and, in Monaghan's best period in the first half, they rattled over three further points in as many minutes without reply from Donal Morgan (13), Ronan Meegan (14) and Eoin Duffy (15) to level the game for the first time.
Almost immediately, however, Derry were back in front, as Lynch played a quick one-two with Cathal O'Kane and drove forward to crash in his second goal after 16 minutes. Paul McGuigan pulled back a point from a long-range free in the 20th minute and both sides were off target before McGoldrick put Derry three points ahead five minutes from the short whistle. By the midway stage, Monaghan had the margin down to the minimum thanks to two unanswered points in the final five minutes from Donal Morgan and Eoin Duffy to leave the half-time score: Derry 2-3, Monaghan 0-8. Critically, Monaghan had scored three times more than their opponents but still trailed by a point.
Within a minute of the restart, Monaghan had a good point from Bernard O'Brien but Derry picked up the pace almost immediately to hit five points without reply between the second and twelfth minutes. Substitute Ciaran Hanratty pulled back a point from a free in the 13th minute after he himself had been fouled and Monaghan were right back in the game some five minutes later when McKenna was on hand to slide the ball home for a goal after a McGuigan 45. But Derry then hit a crucial purple patch with their second run of five points without reply in the half, while Monaghan finished the game with 14 players following the dismissal of Neil McRory for a straight red card just seconds after he was sent in to replace Ciaran Hughes.
The county U21s had opened their year against Meath in the Cremartin Shamrocks intercounty tournament in late January. Monaghan fielded an understrength team and were unfortunate to lose to the game's only goal in the last minute - 1-11 to 0-11. On Saturday January 28th, they played their second match in the tournament at Mullaghbawn, losing to Armagh by 1-12 to 2-5, the goals coming from William Gillard and Darrach Mooney in the second half. And, on Saturday February 5, Monaghan U21s lost their third game in as many weekends when Louth prevailed by 0-16 to 1-10 in a cracker at Gavan Duffy Park. It got no better in the championship. Some things aren't meant to be.
Monaghan V Derry in the 2006 Ulster U21 FC at Celtic Park: Declan Callery: Owen Duffy, Eoin Greenan, John Flannery: Darren Hughes, Ciaran Hughes, Donal Morgan (0-2): Paul McGuigan (0-1), Brendan McKenna (1-0); Eoin Duffy (0-2), Sean Downey (0-1), Michael Lennon; Bernard O'Brien (0-1), Shane Smith (0-1), Ronan Meegan 0-1. Subs: Ciaran Hanratty for M Lennon, Mark McNally for S Downey, Darrach Mooney for E Greenan, Stephen McAleer for R Meegan, Neil McRory for C Hughes.
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