‘I know we have the character to get through’
ONE of the theories peddled in the aftermath of David Clifford’s great act of larceny was that Monaghan would be too traumatised to ever recover.
Five points up with 10 minutes left, in a match where they would not have been flattered to be winning by double scores, the last-four place that has eluded them for 30 years was within their grasp.
Four times in the last five years they got to knock on the semi-final door and each time it remained unanswered, and now here it was wide open with one foot inside the porch and still they find themselves with their noses pressed against the window.
They get one last chance this evening – technically two in that a result against Galway in Salthill or Kerry’s failure to beat Kildare by a modest margin in Killarney will suffice.
History, both Kerry’s and their own, will advise them that they had better take care of business themselves. It is their biggest comfort, but not their only one, as they head for Salthill.
‘The initial feeling after the Kerry game was disappointment but we are big enough men in this dressing room to bounce back from that disappointment,’ says Kieran Hughes, their midfield/full-forward powerhouse.
‘This is where we want to be and this is where we need to be at this stage of the year.
‘I actually said to one of the boys after the final whistle how much worse it could have been had we lost it. It is in our own hands and I know that we have enough character in the dressing room to get through this,’ he adds.
In many ways, though, their character has never been the issue. If anything, they have been pigeon-holed as a team who punch above their weight.
That’s inevitable given they have become an established top tier county despite drawing from a population base of 60,000 and being painted as a feisty team who work and play hard.
There is more to them than that, or to the lie that they are a one-man attack – even if Conor McManus is a wondrous, rare talent.
If there was a criticism in the past it is that they shrivelled into their shell when they hit the business end of the Championship, which might explain why they lost those four quarterfinals – two each to Dublin and Tyrone – in the last five years.
There has been a more defined attacking edge to their play this summer, racking up 8119 – an average of 20 points a game.
While it can be argued that those numbers have been manipulated by meeting three Division 4 teams in the qualifiers, that average has held up against the elite.
They scored 1-18 taking down Tyrone and were just one point shy of that tally when they should have beaten Kerry last time out.
They have a collective attacking threat. From the quarter-back that is Rory Beggan, to the half-back menace spearheaded by the Karl O’Connell, to the impetus which midfielder Niall Kearns has brought to the party. It is all wrapped up inside the tailored counter-attacking game-plan put in place by Malachy O’Rourke. Hughes (right) believes that it is time that the outside world sees this Monaghan team for what it is. ‘There are probably a lot of pundits out there who do not respect us for our ability to play football. ‘If there is one thing we have shown this year it is how we can attack teams and defend at the same time. ‘That is something we really worked on at the start of the year, trying to break from defence into attack and you will be found wanting if you can’t do that against the bigger teams. ‘That’s the one thing we said we wanted to do this year, we wanted to test ourselves against the likes of Kerry, Galway, Tyrone and Mayo.’ Hughes will hope to play a starting role tonight – a hamstring injury sustained in the win over Tyrone and exacerbated by playing in the subsequent defeat to Fermanagh – has limited him to walk on parts in their last two games.
‘I am doing everything in my power to get sorted.
‘It is a lonely world when you are out there and you are injured. You are on your own trying to get your show back on the road.
‘The mind always wants the body to do something it shouldn’t, but I should have pulled myself. But there you go, you live and learn.’
That goes for the team, which is why they will not be fazed by what confronts them tonight.
‘The initial disappointment of not closing the deal against Kerry has been replaced by a renewed sense of purpose. If we had beaten Kerry, we could have taken the foot off the gas this week.
‘I know what has happened in previous years, we have fallen into a comfort zone and everyone pats your back around the county, telling you that you are brilliant.
‘It is nice to hear that sometimes but we have had enough bad defeats over the years so now we see this as a must win game for us and we will go down there with all guns blazing.’