Hurling in Monaghan in 2013 was something like the curate's egg, good is spots, good as far as the minor team was concerned but disappointing at senior level with the hangover from the debacle of the 2012 Allianz league final still very much affecting the morale. It is often said that a week is a long time in politics and based on that a year is a long time in sport and the year just ended has seen a dramatic downturn in the fortunes of the Monaghan senior hurling team where they were preparing for the division 3 A final against Fingal after they finished top of division 3A having been undefeated in all of their games up until that date. That though was not how it ended and a quick fast forward to the end of the 2013 league saw a completely different picture, as a depleted Monaghan had finished pointless at the bottom of division 3A having lost all of their five matches and instead of being in the shake-up they were involved in a relegation dog fight with Tyrone to decide who would drop through the trap door into the basement of division 3B for the 2014 season.
Monaghan opened their league campaign on the 24th of February last year with an away game against Donegal, which was a rerun of their opening game the previous season but this time the tables were reversed and Donegal won a quite one-way contest very comfortably. Monaghan's next outing was on March 10th at home to the team they were due to meet in the Division 3A final in 2012 when they entertained Fingal in Inniskeen with the visitors winning by four points. It was off to Dundalk for their next game against Louth on March 18th with the home side winning comfortably but even home advantage in their next match against Tyrone which was in Clones on March 24th was of no benefit and Monaghan slipped to a seven points defeat.
Monaghan went into their final game against Fermanagh looking for their first points and again a match that they were in for long periods but the concession of an early goal and a few missed opportunities left them finishing the round robin part of the league with nothing to show for their efforts as far as points in the division 3A league table and were concerned.
It was not all doom and gloom though, as Monaghan struggled and were working from very limited resources but team manager Joe Morris did instil an increasing work ethic and their tactics and team play improved with each match. That improvement was carried into the relegation playoff with Tyrone in Kingspan Breffni Park, a game Monaghan won by two points, thereby ensuring survival in Division 3A for the 2014 season.

THE RESULTS.
Allianz Hurling League Division 3A
24/ 2/2013 Monaghan 1-6, Donegal 3-18
10/4/2013 Monaghan 1-9 Fingal 2-10
18/4/2013 Monaghan 0-11 Louth 2-13
24/4/2013 Monaghan 0-14 Tyrone 2-15
31/4/2013 Monaghan 0-10 Fermanagh 1-9
13/5/2013 Relegation Play Off: Monaghan 2-15 Tyrone 1-16.
Team and Scorers v Tyrone: Ronan McAteer, Shane McNally, Sean Leonard 1-0, Seamus McLoughlin, Jimmy Lacey. Peter Treanor, Patrick Hannon, Trevor Hilliard, Kevin Crawley, Conor McKenna.0-1, Patrick Boyle 0-1, Martin Murphy, Fergal Rafter 0-2, Michael McHugh 1-10 (0-9f), Brian McGuigan 0-1. Subs: Seamus Loftus for J Lacey, Padraig Dowdall for S McLoughlin, Nathan Adair for B McGuigan (temp).

RACKARD CUP.
County Hurling Officer, Malachy Trainor felt that Monaghan's performances in the Rackard Cup were promising, taking to within sixty minutes of a place in the final In Croke Park. "In the Nicky Rackard cup championship, Monaghan entered the competition buoyed by retaining their Division 3A status and with a renewed impetus on winning instilled in the players. The team felt that things were starting to finally click together. However, Tyrone gained revenge on Monaghan in what was their third meeting of the year when they met in the first round, leaving Monaghan in the losers section of the draw. They took on Sligo in the next round and came out with a resounding victory setting up a semi-final with Donegal. Going in as underdogs into the game left Monaghan with an up hill task from the start, but standing in the face of adversity Monaghan took to the field with an ambition to win and knew they were only 60 minutes away from a trip to Croke Park. It looked like things were going to go Monaghan's way on the day, however a catastrophe fell upon the team mid way through the second half leaving Monaghan on the losing side. Donegal went on to win the Rackard Cup beating Roscommon in the final.

THE RESULTS.
Round 1: Monaghan 1-10 Tyrone 2-19 (Killyclogher) 11th May 2013
Quarter Final: Monaghan 5-12 Sligo 2-7 (Inniskeen) 18th May 2013
Semi Final: Monaghan 2-9 Donegal 5-12 (Letterkenny) 25th May 2013
Team and Scorers v Donegal: Gerard Ruddy; Shane McNally, Padraig Dowdally, Declan Crowe; Martin Murphy, Peter Treanor, Seamus Loftus; Kevin Crawley, Trevor Hillard; Brian McGuigan (2-0), Mark Treanor (0-1), Fergal Rafter; Michael McHugh (0-8, 7f, 1 '65), Sean Leanord, Tadgh Campbell. Subs: Conor McKenna for F Rafter (48 mins), Ronan McAteer for G Ruddy (58 mins), Hugh Byrne for T Campbell (67 mins), Patrick Finnegan for P Dowdall (69 mins).

U21 LEVEL.
The county U21 team lost to Tyrone in the semi-final of the Ulster Shield championship in Omagh. Unfortunately, the team perhaps wasn't prepared fully for this competition, which is something perhaps that may have to be looked deeper into in the Strategic Plan for hurling at this grade at inter-county level.
12/6/2013: Tyrone 2-16, Monaghan 0-6.

County Minor Team.
It was at this level that Monaghan enjoyed their best results and performances as Monaghan won the Ulster MHL for the second year in succession and as Malachy Trainor stated to Convention "that this bunch of players could have been on the verge of something special this year". With the team entered in the Ulster Minor League Division 2 their campaign started with a victory against Cavan in Cloghan. This was followed up by a narrow defeat to Tyrone in their second outing but they sealed a place in the final after being awarded the points against Fermanagh and took home the silverware after a high scoring match against Cavan in the final. They followed up their league victory by qualifying for the final of the Ulster minor Championship but fell to a Donegal team who were competing at a much higher standard than Monaghan. This wasn't however to be the last action for the minor squad as they went on to compete in the All-Ireland Minor 'C' Championship. They topped their group at the blitz stage, held in Cloghan with victories over Louth, Cavan and Tyrone. This qualified the team to the final of the competition which was held in Ballinamore, where the team lined out against a very formidable Mayo team who up until last year had been competing at the 'B' grade of the minor competition and were very unlucky not to come away with victory.

THE RESULTS.
Minor Hurling
Ulster Minor Hurling League Division 2
13th March 2013 - Round 1 - Monaghan w/o Fermanagh scr
16th March 2013 - Round 2 - Monaghan 3-9 Cavan 3-4 (Clones)
27th March 2013 - Round 3 Monaghan 3-7 Tyrone 3-12 (Garvaghey)
5th April 2013 - Final - Monaghan 7-10 Cavan 3-12 (Cavan)

Ulster Minor Hurling Shield
19th April 2013 - Semi Final - Monaghan 3-7 Cavan 2-8 (Inniskeen)
26th April 2013 - Final - Monaghan 0-5 Donegal 2-7 (Garvaghey)
Minor "C" Championship Final.
Monaghan 0-8, Mayo 1-15.
Team v Mayo: Michael O'Dowd, Ryan O'Neill, Noel Flood, Neasan Mac Suibhne, Aidan Kerr, Conor Boyle, Tiernan Bramley, Aodh Curran, Cathal McAnespie, Ronan Curran, Ciaran McQuaid, Steven Mohan, Jamie Dooley, Donal Meegan (Capt.) Tony Forde. Subs: Míchéal Mac Suibhne for Jamie Dooley, Conor O'Neill for Conor Boyle, Shane Treanor for Steven Mohan. Tweet

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