The return of the final of the Ulster senior football championship to St. Tiarnach's Park after its dalliance with the bright lights of the capital for a couple of years was for many the highlight of the GAA year in the Clones area. They felt that at least part of the old order had been restored. Club chairman Tom Kelly and secretary Ben Quinn were foremost in acknowledging that the return of the Ulster final was a major boost to the club, the town and indeed the local economy generally. The decision to play the Ulster final in Croke Park had met with some very strong opposition and had generated some very heated debate over the last couple of years and understandably so as Clones had come to be regarded as the spiritual home of the final of the Ulster senior football championship. "Practically every Ulster final from 1944 when St. Tiarnach's Park was opened has been played here and over the years the place had established itself as both the spiritual and ancestral home of the biggest day in the sporting calendar in the province. When that was taken away it proved to be a painful experience because people felt that they had been robbed of almost part of their birthright such was the level of feeling. "We in the club felt it as much as anyone else because we have worked very hard over the years in conjunction with the Ulster Council to develop Clones in to the provincial ground and make it almost the Mecca of gaelic games in Ulster. It was fitting too that this year the final should come back to us because Monaghan were involved and what a fantastic day it was as the blue and white of Monaghan vied with the red and white of Tyrone for supremacy on the day. I think we could best sum it up by saying that Monaghan won everywhere that day other than on the field which of course was where it mattered most but it was a fantastic experience and a great occasion that was enjoyed by so many people. It was bitterly disappointing for the boys but they could still hold their heads high and hopefully they will be back again in Clones in July of next year". The return of the final of the Ulster senior football championship to Clones though is not an end in itself as there will be an ongoing struggle to achieve the upgrading of the stadium to where it will be again regarded as the provincial venue. That idea was mooted some years ago and a special committee was put together to try and further that idea and see if there could be anything generated by way of grant aid for the development project. Initially the indications were good but there always seemed to be some little pitfall along the way and none more so than when the question of floodlighting a major venue in each county came up for discussion. No provision was made for floodlighting at any venue in Monaghan but the provision of floodlighting in St. Tiarnach's Park would certainly be a major factor in increasing the use of the stadium and even diversifying into staging other events. The news then that this is under active consideration is very welcome and it would be a very positive development after experiencing the disappointments of recent years. St. Tiarnach's Park and the whole business surrounding it is not of course the only thing that is going on in the Clones club although it could over shadow the main work that the club is doing. The club fields teams in all the various underage competitions although they would be unhappy with some decisions at Youth Board level that put them into sections in competitions that just simply proved too strong for them. "The one thing that will put young lads off is if they are getting hammered and suffering heavy defeats every time they go out and that has happened to us quite a bit recently because we simply were not nearly as strong as the teams we were playing against. It is something that will have to be looked at," explained Tom Kelly. "I did bring it up at the county committee meeting but nothing could be changed at that stage but we will be addressing it now at the end of the year to see if any improvement can be got going into 2008. We were definitely out of our depth in the minors this year because the thinking seems to be that town teams will be strong. Against that we did very well in some other competitions with our U14's getting to the final and playing some great football in the process. We lost out to Sean McDermotts in the final and probably produce our best display in the semi final against Ballybay but full marks to Paul Connolly and Packie McCarville for the work that they did with this squad. "One of the very positive things in the club at the moment on the under age scene is that so many of our senior players are also involved with under age teams. Declan McKernan is coaching the U10's, Darragh and Eugene Holland are working with the U12's and Donal Quigley works with the under 16's. The under 16's in fact did very well to reach the semi final and there are a couple of those lads on the county under 16 Development Squad. Declan McQuaid, John Jenkins, Edward Treanor and Ciaran Morgan have all been called into that squad which will have great benefit for them and ultimately for the club here as well. "We are also putting in a special effort with our U10 and U12 squads. Gerry Rehill and Declan McKernan take that squad on Wednesdays and then Eugene and Dara Holland work with them on Saturdays. We have had to put in that work because over the years we have been in a position where there was no playground at our local primary school so there was nothing done there although there will be facilities now at the new school which will be a big help to us. A couple of our players also made national headlines this year because of their talent. "Young Mark Connolly, who is a great prospect, was on the county minor team this year at just 15 and played in an Ulster minor football league but Mark has now gone to join Wolverhampton Wanderers as an under age player and we wish him every success. He is following in the footsteps of course of another former player, Jonathan Douglas, who also represented Monaghan at minor level. He joined Blackburn Rovers and is now with Leeds United as well as having been called up to the Ireland national squad". Tom is enthusiastic about how well people from the club have done elsewhere pointing out that those two young players are not the only people from the club who are making an impact elsewhere. "Barry McLoughlin of course is working with the Currin club but is also involved with the county under 14 Development Squad, Gerry Rehill trained the Newtownbutler team that won the Fermanagh senior football championship this year and Michael Slowey is involved in team management down in County Clare with Lissycasey so the Clones influence is being spread far and wide," he added with a grin. Back to base though and the U21 team had quite a good season when they got to the final of Division 2 but lost out to Inniskeen but Tom did admit that it was a disappointing season at adult level. "Yes we had a disappointing year at senior level but our run of results and performances have to be taken in the context that we had some serious injuries to key players and we were forced to use some very young players so we never really had a strong settled team at any stage of the year. The young players all did very well and the experience will stand to them and we will hopefully be challenging for honours in the not too distant future." Looking to the future the club is also deeply involved in a Sports Partnership project that will develop a range of new facilities on land that the club and the athletic club have bought adjacent to the pitch that has become known as Coyle's field. This project like some others of its nature has also experienced a number of setbacks. "We applied for funding from the National Lottery but were rejected on the grounds that the project was too big so it has been resubmitted now under the SEUPB, Specific European Union Programmes Body that has a fund in the region of ?500 million to be dispensed with in the period 2007 to 2013. Our application is in and we hope to have a decision soon and if we are approved it will see the provision of a second pitch as well as a running track and all ancillary facilities that will service the needs of both sports. In facilitating our application I have to pay tribute to the Interreg Program and those who administer it for providing very necessary funding to the tune of ?50,000 that went towards the professional fees that were necessary in setting up the project. "We're very fortunate too, and I have to express our appreciation to Monaghan County Council who have come in as the Lead Partner in the project as projects of this nature have to be led by a public body in that the aim the programme is to produce "shared public spaces". To raise extra finance we joined with the athletic club in organising a draw the top prize of which was a car and that too has generated a great response in the local community and further afield so we are very optimistic that this project will come to fruition and that those very necessary facilities that we need for the promotion of gaelic games among our young people will be available." The club too is very fortunate in that it attracts very generous sponsorship. "The Credit Union is our main sponsors but in that regard I have to also pay tribute to Ross Mealiff of the Kilmore Hotel who put a very generous sponsorship package together for our U12's." Sponsorship will be an increasing element in gaelic games going forward and Clones will be up there with the best of them. The Clones club is in a very healthy state and showing great imagination and no small degree of ingenuity and initiative as they tackle the huge workload that is involved in not only fielding teams on a season by season basis but in planning for the future. But then as Tom Kelly and Ben Quinn would say "failing to plan is effectively planning to fail." CLONES have played THEIR PART The echo of the call issued by Michael Cusack and his co-founders of the GAA in Thurles in 1884 did not reach Clones until some two years later but when the call reached Clones a branch of the GAA was immediately formed under the leadership of Mr. Peter McAviney, butter merchant, Mr Charles McKenna, butter buyer and Mr Edmund Maguire. By John P. Graham Noble's field in Lisnaroe was procured for training and the young men of Clones readied themselves for whatever competitions the fledgling association had in mind. From that day to this Clones has played a full part in the affairs of the GAA in Monaghan and has also played a very important part in the life of the local community by being at the heart of whatever activities or movements were in hand at any given time. Progress was swift for the new club and Clones first affiliated to the GAA in early 1887 and like many other early teams in Ulster at that time took the name of Red Hands, a name they were known by up to 1913. The first recorded outing for this new club was against nearer neighbours Currin with the game in Noble's field ending in a draw while the return meeting at Annaveagh is recorded as being unfinished. Clones went on to have a major bearing on the GAA be coming firmly established in Monaghan and took part in the first Monaghan senior football championship in 1888. With the town being a major railway junction at that time there was an influx of railway personnel from various parts of the country which may have helped them field strong teams in those early days. Whatever the reason since then Clones has played a major part in the development of the GAA in Monaghan and theirs is a contribution that is peppered with the names of some very famous people and some legendary figures. General Eoin O'Duffy was involved with the club and acted as secretary for a number of years while other famous names that appear in the annals from time to time were the great Standish O'Grady who captained the club for many years, Major-General Dan Hogan who was the brother of the 1920 Bloody Sunday victim Michael Hogan and a Colonel Tom McNally who all figured prominently and were regarded as great exponents of the arts of gaelic football in those early years. Rolling back the years and taking local talent only into account there are a number of names that stand out and none more so than in the late great Pat McGrane after whom the McGrane stand in the present St Tiarnach's Park is named. In his heyday Pat McGrane was regarded as "the bane and heart scald of every centre half in Ulster" and was described as "a strong elusive and surefooted player" making him an ideal centre threequarters as they were known in the game at that time. He made his football debut in 1929 and helped Clones to win the Toal Cup out right and the following year he was on the Monaghan panel that reached the All Ireland senior football championship final only to lose out to Kerry. He represented Ulster in the Railway Cup in 1936 and won an Ulster senior championship medal with Monaghan in 1938. At local level he won junior championship medals with in 1939 and 1941 and in 1943 picked up a senior football championship medal. The name McCarney has been synonymous with Clones and football over many generations and none more so than Peter McCarney who even as a very young man, a student in St Macarten's Seminary in 1940, he had earned himself a huge reputation for his general all-round ability and his unerring accuracy especially from free kicks. He captained St Macarten's to the MacRory cup title in 1940 and represented Ulster in the inter-provincial colleges championships in both 1939 and 1940. He was on the Monaghan minor team that reached the All Ireland minor final in 1939 and was on the Railway Cup team in 1942 and in 1943. '43 also saw him win a Monaghan senior championship medal. Another player who set standards that others still seek to emulate back in those days was the late Eugene McDonald who first came to prominence when Clones won the junior championship in 1941. He made his inter-county debut in 1943 and still short of the 21st birthday he won a Monaghan senior championship medal that same year. It is not without coincidence that all of his sons later represented Clones at various levels. One son, Donald, showed all of the class of his late father and was on the verge of a promising inter-county career only to have it cut short through serious injury. Over the years Clones has had the knack of producing very talented skilful players that have all caught the eye and not just at club level as names like Curran, McGuigan, Duffy and Murray roll easily off the tongue. Gerry Curran was another Clones player who sprang to prominence through the colleges system and went on to represent Monaghan for many years. Following Monaghan's defeat in the 1930 All Ireland final they did not get back onto the inter-county scene with any success until 1938 when Pat McGrane was still holding down his place and was in action in Mullingar when Monaghan lost narrowly to Galway in the All Ireland semi-final. Monaghan's next big breakthrough was in 1956 when they won the Ulster and All Ireland junior football championship titles with two Clones players playing prominent parts. The late Dennis McGuigan held down the position of wing half back on that team and while small in stature he lacked nothing in heart and courage, qualities that saw him meet and match the best that there was at that level at that time. In the All Ireland semi-final replay of that year he was in direct opposition to the legendary Mick O'Dwyer and his ability to limit the maestro played a big part in Monaghan's victory. Another key player in that great success was Ted Duffy who was a great exponent of all of the skills and artistry of forward play and his scoring ability also went a long way in Monaghan's path to glory at that time. For his exploits he was recently inducted into the Monaghan GAA Hall of Fame. Moving on into the 60s Clones produced another very accomplished player in Eamon Kelly who perhaps was not given the chance to realise his full potential coming as he did from what was probably then regarded as a less fashionable club. His ability though has him up there with the best the club has produced. Around this time too the phenomenon of the journey-man player was again emerging for Clones as it was a border town which meant that many members of both the Gardai and the Customs and Excise service were posted there from other parts of the country with quite a number plying their wares for the club. Pascal McArdle is just one name that springs to mind from that period. As a club Clones probably has not enjoyed the level of success in the county that successive generations of members and players would have craved but there have always been glimpses of greatness with teams coming through to take junior and intermediate honours. Names that come easily from that period would be Paddy Tighe, son of the legendary Tony Tighe, Ronnie Flanagan, Sean Bonner, Gerry McGarry and Vincent Maguire. Coming up to more modern times the names that will figure when the stalwarts of the club over the years are assessed will be players of the calibre of Fergal McFarland, Colin McCaughey, Declan McKernan, his brother James McKernan and the Murray brothers while young Jonathan Douglas after representing Monaghan at minor level went on to carve out a very successful career with some of the major soccer clubs in England. Two names were ever present on Monaghan teams in the heady days of the 80s, the Murray brothers Ciaran and Brendan two of the most high-profile and most accomplished players that the Clones club has ever produced. After achieving honours at colleges and third level Ciaran Murray started his inter-county career on the county minor team in 1980 and picked up minor player of the year in 1981. He represented Monaghan at U21 level in 1982, 1983 and 1984. He made his debut on the senior team in 1982 and went on to play in every Ulster championship match with Monaghan between 1982 and 1989. 1985 was Monaghan's most successful year ever as they took National Football League and Ulster championship honours with Ciaran Murray a central figure at the heart of the defence. The game of football was changing rapidly at that time and Ciaran Murray had both the ability, the attitude and the vision to take those inherent changes on board and indeed even perfect them such was his dedication to fitness and preparation. His biggest sporting thrill by his own admission was when he captained Monaghan to the 1988 Ulster championship, lifting the Anglo Celt Cup on his home patch of St Tiarnach's Park. '88 was also a year that saw him represent Ulster in the Railway Cup for the third time. 1988 also saw him pick up an All-Star award at centre halfback and he had the privilege of representing Ireland in against Australia in 1986 and 1987. Truly a remarkable talent, Ciaran Murray has made an indelible mark not only on the history of gaelic games not only in Clones but in Monaghan and even further afield. Ciaran was forced to retire from inter-county football in 1990 with a knee injury. His brother Brendan won Ulster championship medals with Monaghan in 1985 and 1988 and created for himself the reputation of a very efficient defender whose great powers of concentration made him a man marking specialist. More recently Declan McKernan has represented Monaghan and picked up a National Football League Division 2 winners medal in 2005 as well as Dr McKenna Cup honours. His younger brother James has also represented the club with distinction and enjoyed a spell in the county colours. More recently one of the younger players from the club to make an impact was Jonathan Douglas who is now playing with Leeds United having been on the books with Blackburn Rovers for a number of years. Following in his footsteps as a very young skilful player is Colm Connolly who has joined Wolverhampton Wanderers while young Darren Freeman of the present St Tierney's team is one to watch going into the future. These are just some of the names who have figured in the annals of the history of the games since the Clones club was first set up in the latter days of 1886. They are names that are in keeping with the ancient and honourable tradition that has been a hall mark of this famous club and their efforts along with those of countless others have helped to sustain and enhance the proud tradition that the St Tierney's club has built for itself. Tweet

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