Freak derry result ruins year
December 31, 2007
All Monaghan's good work at minor level in 2007 was undone when Bernie Murray's side suffered a freak defeat to Derry in their Ulster MFC semi-final at Belfast's Casement Park on Sunday June 24. While there had been high hopes surrounding this team following St Macartan's run to the MacRory Cup final, the county U18s - fresh from a superb win against Down - managed a measly return of just one point over the hour. The bottom line is that it's now 25 years since Monaghan contested an Ulster minor championship final.
Alas, it was just one of those days. One the lads will have to put behind them. A cruel afternoon when everything that could possibly go wrong somehow did and Monaghan - impressive victors over Down in the previous round - somehow conspired to bow out of the Ulster MFC race on a humiliating 1-11 to 0-1 scoreline.
Of course, that result doesn't do justice to Monaghan's efforts over the year (or even on the day). They had performed quite well in the Ulster minor league despite the intermittent absence of several players who were on MacRory Cup duty with St Macartan's. They also engineered a fantastic championship win over Down at Crossmaglen. The Derry game eventually descended into something of a nightmare for all concerned, but no team deserves to be remembered on the basis of one bizarre, inexplicable result.
Sport can be cruel sometimes and there's no denying that the young men on the wrong end of the score in the curtain-raiser at Casement Park on June 24 took a bit of a psychological battering. Hopefully the events of that day will galvanise this crop of players rather than demoralising them. The scoreline may have been embarrassing but, ultimately, to turn a well-worn cliché on its head, a defeat is a defeat is a defeat. Would it really be any better for Monaghan football if we had lost by a single point? 1-11 to 2-7 maybe?
Arguably not. So let's focus on the positives when looking back and put the harsh lessons to good use when striving to move forward.
Monaghan's 2007 MFC campaign got off to a super start when they defeated a highly-rated Down side by 1-6 to 2-1 at Crossmaglen on Sunday May 20. This result improved on an Ulster minor league draw with the same opposition earlier in the year, so the team appeared to be moving in the right direction. The Mourne boys had impressed during their preliminary-round victory over Cavan a week earlier and were fancied to add to that success, but Monaghan dug deep to take the spoils in a low-scoring affair.
The losers looked on course for a facile win when netting twice inside the opening five minutes but Monaghan gradually composed themselves and held their opponents scoreless for the remainder of the half to trail only marginally at the interval, 2-0 to 1-1, the goal coming from Mark McDevitt.
With Clontibret's Colm Greenan and Conor Galligan of Monaghan Harps outstanding in the central positions at the back. Monaghan gained a firm foothold in the match. They levelled by the three-quarters stage and wing back Mark McBride's point had them in front for the first time. The closing stages were tight and frenetic but Ciaran Hughes (Scotstown) clipped over the insurance point a minute from the end to send the Oriel County through to the Last Four. Full forward Gary White and midfielder David Hughes - both of Monaghan Harps - chipped in with a pair of points apiece over the hour and Donal McNally also got his name on the scoresheet.
Though Bernie Murray and Paul O'Connor made only two changes in personnel for the semi-final (with Tyholland's Brian McArdle ruled out by injury and replaced by Colm Reilly, while Wayne Carroll kept his place after coming on for Donal Hahessy in the Down game), the result was in total contrast as the lads slipped to a thirteen-point loss. Derry seem to have a hoodoo over Monaghan at this level (they also thumped them in 2005) and Mark McDevitt's tenth-minute point was the only score Monaghan managed on a day when their composure in front of the posts deserted them completely.
While Monaghan dithered is a strangely detached, disjointed manner, centre forward James Kielt and full forward Gavin McGeehan took full advantage for the more focused Foylesiders. Indeed, the final scoreboard could have been even more emphatic had not Derry struck both an upright and the crossbar early on. Afflicted by unforced errors and a failure to settle, Monaghan registered seven wides in the first half and trailed by 0-5 to 0-1 at the interval.
It was all one-sided after the turnaround as the Oak Leaf - who had also hammered Antrim in the first round - refused to stare the gift horse in the mouth. When McGeehan drove a 40th-minute shot to the Monaghan net, their day was well and truly over. A raft of switches made no difference as humiliation began to look almost pre-ordained. Derry's tactics worked spot-on, while the losers struggled in virtually every department, including the sideline.
Tyholland's Kieran Boyce made a number of impressive saves but it was Derry who progressed comfortably to a July 15 Ulster final date with their neighbours Tyrone. Monaghan, on the other hand, were left with much head-scratching and soul-searching to do as they tried to figure out what on earth had gone wrong.
Thus, Monaghan would not be participating in their first Ulster MFC final since 1983. Appropriately, on that occasion they also endured a nightmare as they were well beaten by a better-drilled and less nervous Derry side. All in all, Monaghan's record at under 18 level makes for depressing reading. Their win over Down was their first in the championship since 2002
A number of the Monaghan team had been involved in examinations since their victory over Down and the management never had anything close to a full team for two challenge games against Louth and Offaly. Indeed, only five of the team that started against Down were involved in both those matches.
Monaghan went into the championship on the back of intense preparations, although part of their build-up was disrupted as Bernie Murray didn't have a full of panel at his disposal due to the unavailability of the St Macartan's players who were involved in the latter stages of the MacRory Cup. Having said that, preparations generally went well and the weekend camp in Mullingar was a resounding success in terms of team bonding.
Monaghan began their Ulster minor league campaign with a 1-11 to 1-6 defeat at home to Armagh on Saturday March 10 - just nine days before the MacRory Cup final. Due to St Macartan's involvement therein, the county minor panel was increased from 24 to 33 players to cope with the demands of the secondary competition, so this was a decent performance from an experimental side. Monaghan actually led by 1-5 to 0-5 at the break thanks to John Farrell's late injury-time goal but that was as good as it got.
Next up were Down and Carlow on successive Saturdays in March at Clonduff and Clones respectively. Monaghan were also due to face Meath midweek between those two fixtures but the Royals withdrew from the competition due to their Leinster championship involvement. Brian McArdle pointed in injury time to give Monaghan a 0-11 to 1-8 draw with Down on March 24 and the Farney boys ran riot as they thumped Carlow by 2-13 to 2-3 at Clones on March 31. Amazingly, Carlow would go on to qualify for their first-ever Leinster MFC final in 2007, ousting Meath, Wexford, Westmeath and Louth along the way!
Bernie Murray's charges closed their Ulster MFL programme against Cavan at Breffni Park on Sunday April 14, losing by a single point - their second defeat of the campaign. Generally speaking, preparations for the knockout competition had gone reasonably well and St Macartan's MacRory Cup heroics inspired confidence in Monaghan's prospects. However, the players proved incapable of building upon their superb victory over Down at Plunkett Park and their year ended in something approaching disbelief.
The Monaghan team that beat Down in the 2007 Ulster MFC at Crossmaglen: Kieran Boyce; Declan Farren, Colm Greenan, Keith Hill; Mark McBride 0-1, Conor Galligan, Kieran Hughes; David Hughes 0-2, Emmet McArdle; Donal Hahessy, Mark McDevitt 1-0, Brian McArdle; Dermot Malone, Gary White 0-2, Donal McNally 0-1. Subs: William Carroll, Chris Callan
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