Tommy Freeman has been a revelation for several seasons now. 2007 brought him due recognition, albeit belatedly. Apart from a few Kerry nuggets, there were few shoo-ins for this year's football All-Stars. Monaghan maestro Tommy Freeman was an exception in that regard though. Inner satisfaction and belief was Tommy Freeman's lot in 2007. It was a year in which he came of age. Perhaps like the county of Monaghan itself. The Magheracloone magician idled his way to the top table and fed off the applause and plaudits of an admiring audience. 2007 saw him break out of the egg and mature beyond belief. He played his heart out and had lovers of pacy, skilful football eating out of his hands by year's-end. The man is a born winner and, as such, he is inclined to measure his seasons by the amount of silverware which he manages to get his hands on. The harvest of silverware in 2007 for Freeman is a source of some obvious disappointment, frustration and regret but such barren times can prove a huge motivation. "We performed exceptionally well as a team during the year and worked really, really hard to get among the medals but it didn't work out for us," the gifted attacker reflected. "We're bitterly disappointed not to have anything to show for the year and, at the end of the day, we have to face up to that fact and use it in a positive way for 2008. "The county was unlucky to be pipped in the Ulster final by Tyrone and then after that we gave Kerry their fill of it but again came up just short of what was needed." Not that Freeman could be accused of falling short of the target in any regard during that scintillating 1-15 to 1-13 provincial championship final. Indeed the final will be best remembered for the enthralling duel between Freeman and the O'Neill County's Conor Gormley. The Farneysider nabbed 1-3 in Clones while the Carrickmore clubman was at his imperious best over the 70 minutes-plus as he vied with Freeman for the man-of-the-match award. "The Championship starts for real now," Monaghan boss Seamus McEnaney declared defiantly after the final. "There was some wonderful effort out there. Every player emptied the tank and I'm very proud of my fellas," the Corduff clubman added. The manager's belief in his charges and his resolve rubbed off on the players and they were to do themselves proud in an even bigger way later in the year against Kerry. Despite the fact that the defending All-Ireland champions were odds-on with the bookies to make it through to the last four, the Oriel County were unlucky to lose by 1-11 to 1-12. Once again Freeman was in electric form while the midfield triumvirate of Dick Clerkin, Eoin Lennon and JP Mone were superb in providing the ammunition for hitman Freeman. Freeman says he's genuinely unsurprised by Monaghan's performances during 2007 and reckons he felt at the start of the year there was something big in the offing for the county. He says there was great satisfaction and pride amongst the squad when they topped Division 2A of the NFL but a feeling of having underperformed in Croke Park in the league semi-final. "We set out our goals at the start of the year and promotion was one of those; it's just a pity that we didn't do ourselves justice against Meath. "But we didn't let our heads drop after that league game and that's a credit to everyone from 1-30 on the panel because it would have been very easy to have done that. "I knew that the character and determination was there in the panel to pick things up for the championship and that we'd later go places. "I was always confident in the panel's ability to succeed and even though no medals came our way, we were able to hold our heads up high at the end of the year." There's little doubt but that a lot of things worked well for Monaghan during the past year. The players and the team-management deserve all the kudos afforded them. While Freeman and Co. did the business on the field of play, Seamus McEnaney and his backroom team did everything possible to get rid of their 19-year Anglo-Celt itch. Those who have worked with Thomas Freeman would tell you that he's a real manager's player. It's plain too though that a mutual appreciation society is at play here. "Seamus (McEnaney), Adrian (Trappe) and Marty (McElkennon) couldn't have done any more for us - they were incredible all year," the lightning-quick attacker explains. "They picked the best players they could assemble in Monaghan and went about inspiring us and giving us the confidence to give our best on the field. "Banty (McEnaney) is a great football man, a Monaghan man who has a great passion for competing and winning and he's the sort of fella who wears his heart on his sleeve. "Marty is a top class trainer and together with Seamus, they left no stone unturned in getting us right for the matches in the league and the championships." Tommy Freeman had an outstanding championship year, notching 3-23 with just one of those points emanating from a free and one from a penalty. It's to him that the Monaghan think-tank will be looking to to consolidate the massive promise that they showed in coming within a whisker of an All-Ireland SFC semi-final. Of course, Freeman will need all the support he can muster to make sure there's a better division of labour up front in the coming year and, in that regard, fans are hopeful that the likes of Castleblayney's Ciaran Hanratty and Stephen Gollogly will step up to the plate in the coming months. There is also the option of Monaghan's joker in the pack Vincent Corey - the epitome of versatility who can act as the perfect foil for supremely alert and opportunist Freeman. From Down to Kerry though, Freeman was the main man up front for Monaghan by a country mile in 2007 and just how much support the Magheracloone ace is afforded by his colleagues next year could determine whether or not Monaghan regain the Anglo-Celt Cup. "Our number one goal in 2007 was to win the Ulster championship but two bad starts in each half of our game with Tyrone let us down badly. "We had gone back to basics from the start of the year and things were going well even when we went into the backdoor because we felt that it didn't do Tyrone any harm when they won the All-Ireland and so we had no reason to be afraid of falling flat on our faces after the Ulster championship was finished." Dynamic against Derry, deadly against Donegal, and terrific against Tyrone, he was a class apart against Kerry and duly picked up the Player of the Month award for July. Freeman's heroics against Kerry were all the more meritorious given that the popular carpenter needed surgery on an injury to his right hand just a week prior to the Kerry game. All told, Freeman's performances over the course of the entire '07 season were a mirror image of what he has produced for Monaghan, Ulster and Ireland for several seasons now. But he's not one who wishes to dwell on the individual merits of particular players on the squad, never mind himself. For him it's all about the collective. The 2007 Ulster Player of the Year boasts a clinical edge to his game and a finesse which contrasts beautifully with his steely determination to succeed. He says the past year was a "bitter-sweet" one but he declines the invitation to cherry-pick and finger one game or incident as representing the highlight of '07 for him personally. "Obviously playing in Croke Park is something you want to do every year because it's the biggest stage around and it's where every footballer wants to play. "It's a great place to play but an even better place to win and that's what we want to be doing next year. "Impressing people and gaining moral victories is something that you can get used to and some teams might be lulled into accepting that that is going to be as far as it goes for them, but we're determined to move on in 2008 and actually win something of major significance." Tyrone, Armagh et al, ye have been warned! Tweet

Most Read Stories