A FOOT IN EACH CAMP
Monaghan ace seeks a way past neighbours
THE name McAnespie will forever be associated with that small strip of land that separates Monaghan from Tyrone — and north from south.
It was there, on a February evening in 1988, that 23-year-old Aidan McAnespie was shot and killed by a British soldier. He had been on his way to a GAA match at his local club, Aghaloo O’Neill’s, close to the heavily fortified checkpoint between Emyvale and Aughnacloy. Authorities would claim that the soldier’s wet hands slipped on the trigger, but that version of events was discredited by a Police Service of Northern Ireland Historical Enquiries Team report in 2008.
Gaelic Games has always been an important part of life for the McAnespie family and Aidan’s memory is honoured by a GAA club in Boston that is named after him. And last Saturday night in Salthill, Ryan McAnespie – Aidan’s nephew – came of age for Monaghan as he scored four points from play in an excellent performance that propelled the Farney side to top of their Super 8s group.
‘It’s probably one of the better games that I have played,’ admitted the Ulster University student. ‘But it was just about getting a performance and getting a result. It doesn’t matter who is on the scoresheet as long as we are getting the scores.
‘But it is a great way to get to the semi-finals, to be topping the group. We came into the Super 8s to play every game as it comes. And we got two wins and a draw out of the three games.
‘You have to be happy with that. We have a week now to prepare for the next game. It is nice to be going in with momentum but it is going to be a tough challenge.’
Things may be a little strange for McAnespie over the next few days. His family live in Tyrone, having relocated to his father’s native Aughnacloy from Emyvale when McAnespie was still in primary school.
He didn’t transfer from Emyvale, though, which is why he has followed in the footsteps of his mother Brenda, who won two All-Ireland Ladies football titles, in representing Monaghan. His three sisters – Ciara, Aoife and Aisling – have also played for the Farney County.
But there will be plenty of friends and neighbours who will be in Croke Park, bedecked in the white and red of Tyrone. McAnespie has long grown accustomed to this situation – he made his senior county debut against Mickey Harte’s side in the Allianz League in 2015 – so it won’t bother him.
He has come a long way since that Healy Park bow when he was still a teenager.
The talented 22-year-old is now a vital cog in the Monaghan attack. If Tyrone neutralise Conor McManus – and Harte will no doubt have been formulating a plan to do just that – it will be up to the likes of McAnespie to step up.
But what makes this Monaghan team so good is that everyone knows their role within the structure.
And while they were left dazed by Fermanagh’s late sucker-punch in the Ulster SFC, it was the only poor display of a season in which they beat Dublin in Croke Park in March.
‘Fermanagh probably was our weakest performance,’ McAnespie conceded. ‘But we’ve learned a lot from that game. We will just take every game as it comes. And it will be the same next week.
‘We can’t look any further than the semi-final. That’s our last game, in our eyes so we’ll just have to get another performance and hopefully that is enough to get us over the line.’
Malachy O’Rourke’s team have been a signed-up member of Gaelic football’s top table for the past five years, but the quarter-final stage was supposed to be their level. However, it is through the Super 8s that they have broke through that glass ceiling – and with such modest resources in a county of just 60,000.
‘Through the whole Championship, the support has been crazy. Every Championship game,’ McAnespie says.
‘We have had a couple of away matches now where we had more support behind us than the home teams.
‘They have been fantastic and especially when you are out there playing, when we score or block, you can hear them. It drives the whole team on and hopefully, they will be in Croke Park cheering us on again.’
It promises to be a unique atmosphere in Croker this Sunday, when these next-door neighbours clash for a place in the All-Ireland final. And it may be a strange situation for Ryan McAnespie, who has a foot in either county.
But once the ball is thrown in, he will be doing everything he can to ensure there will be another chapter left to write in the footballing story of the summer.