The Currin club may be finishing the 2007 season without any major silverware on the sideboard but club chairman Aidan Quigley insists that it is still a year that the club can look back on with a great deal of satisfaction and no small measure of pride. I know we didn't win any leagues or championships this year but we still had a very rewarding year both on and off the field. On the field we came close to reaching the final of the junior football championship when we lost out to the eventual champions by just two points in the semi-final in Ballybay. Indeed on that occasion with a little bit more luck we could well have taken that result but we just missed a couple of vital chances late in the game although it was a great experience for our young players and will do them a world of good for the future. "In the league we just did not fare as well as we would have liked but injuries and the unavailability of a couple of key players for a period of time definitely affected us. We were without Dick Clerkin for quite a while at the start of the year when he was abroad on work placement and his absence along with a few injuries that we were carrying definitely did affect us. Dick Clerkin was also involved with the county team in what was a fantastic season and I think that probably affected us as well because while we had the Star games it left us without one of our key players while club we were playing against had no one absent. "I do think that the whole system of Star games will have to be looked at and some more equitable scheme brought in where if a club is missing a county player then the opposition should be pairing off in some way to compensate for that and that would leave it a much more level playing field. The way the Star games work at present it can be a handicap to have a county player which should not be the case. That however is not to say we are complaining that Dick Clerkin wasn't available for quite a time during the season. Far from it, and in fact the opposite would be the case because we are extremely proud that he is a member of the county team and played a major part in the great run of success that Monaghan had in 2007. "The county like ourselves didn't win any championships or cups but Monaghan definitely were the team of the year this year and I'm convinced that had we beaten Kerry in the All Ireland quarter-final we would definitely have gone all the way. I suppose his involvement this year brought back memories of his father's involvement with Monaghan back in the great days of 1985 and 1986 when we won the National Football League and took Kerry to a replay in the All Ireland semi final. Hugo Clerkin was a vital member of that team and now twenty years on his son is playing an equally vital role. "The highlight of the year for Dick Clerkin had to be winning a Railway Cup medal with Ulster, the first time that a player from this club has achieved that great honour. People are decrying the Railway Cup and talk about it being a thing of the past and that it is a dying competition but ask any of the players what they think about it and they will tell you that it is an honour to represent your province. I thought it was a great idea to stage the finals in Croke Park this year and what a fantastic occasion it was and what a wonderful stage it was for all of the players involved. Monaghan started the game with four players on the team and finished with five which is a fantastic achievement but I think it was only a true reflection of where the county is at this moment in time. "Dick Clerkin had a fantastic Railway Cup final and as the game wore on he became more dominant and in fact was well in the running for the man of the match award such was his influence particularly in the second half. He won a huge amount of possession and used the ball intelligently to repeatedly turn defence into attack and I think it was his play out around midfield that created most of the chances particularly for Tom Freeman and Paul Finlay. "This year too saw one of our players, Gerard O'Callaghan, make it onto the national scene in the League of Ireland. Gerard played at underage level on international squads and this was probably a natural progression that he was moving on to bigger things. Making that move though didn't rob us entirely of his services because he was there to play a big part in our good run in the junior football championship and with young skilful players like that coming through I think there are great days ahead for this club. "The club has had a tradition over the years of providing talented players to the county at the various age levels and with the work that people like Barry McLoughlin are putting in on the ground that will continue into the future. Barry has done a great job in bringing new levels of discipline and commitment to the players and they can only benefit from that in the long-term. We have to coach and develop our young players properly because if we don't then we are in danger of losing them completely. "To address that we have recently put in place new structures to bring the younger children of the area into the club and get them involved in gaelic games from an early age. We had been discussing this idea that was first mooted by Barry McLoughlin and when we get the initiative off the ground over the winter months it will see groups of 6, 8 and 10-year-olds being brought together for some introductory and fun sessions so that they will begin to get a grasp of the whole area of the skills of gaelic games and the fun that can be derived from being involved. Clubs cannot afford to miss out on any of these young people and we have to always be looking towards the future". While there was a great deal of satisfaction in the club at the progress that has been made on the playing field there was further cause for satisfaction and indeed celebration because of the work that is going on behind the scenes in providing top-class facilities at the club's new headquarters. This year saw the unveiling of a new state-of-the-art floodlighting system at their pitch and there are plans to develop a training pitch also which would further enhance the whole setup at Pairc Churrachain. "The addition of the lights has been a great asset to the club and will give us much more flexibility regarding fixtures in the years ahead. There just simply are not enough Sundays and Wednesday evenings to play all of our games so if enough clubs have floodlit pitches then we will be able to play matches on Friday and Saturday nights. The attractiveness of that and the benefit of it was seen this year when we were able to play evening matches late in the season. "One of those games was against our next-door neighbours Killeevan and the game drew a very big crowd. There were more people there than if the game was on a week evening and it turned into a presentation which was enjoyed by everyone so I think that the provision of facilities like this is vital to the ongoing success of our games. Ultimately it will help to make less demands on players because we will be able to play matches at times like Friday evenings when young lads have come home from college and will help us avoid taking them home for midweek matches". Aidan like a lot of people is concerned about the demands on young players and welcomed the publication of a recent report on the issue of Burnout. "We have to address these issues as they affect our players and while all the talk is about county players, people forget too easily that at the end of the day they are club players first and foremost." The club too is helping out at county level as well, something that gives Aidan Quigley great satisfaction as he himself has served in a number of capacities including that of county chairman and he is currently a member of the Grading and Transfers Committee and the Procedures Committee as well as filling the role of Integration Officer. "I got great satisfaction from being involved in administration and I'm delighted that a fellow clubman, John Connolly has also been elevated to the post of chairman of the county board. It is a great honour for anyone to be elected to that position by the clubs but we also have a number of other people involved on some committees at county level. "Francis O'Callaghan is secretary of the Finance Management Committee, Roger Carey is involved with the County Development Committee and Patricia Clerkin-McCarron is a member of the Coaching Committee underlining that the club has very dedicated people who are only too willing to be actively involved in the overall scheme of promoting the aims and ideals of our great association. Currin has played its part in the whole colourful tapestry that is the GAA in Monaghan over the years and will continue to do so because the association will only survive with that local input which has been its lifeblood since the founding fathers first met in Thurles back in 1884." For Currin the future is secure. Tweet

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