GARLAND’S READY TO HIT INTER-COUNTY TARGET
DAVID GARLAND has given up his ‘American dream’ and hopes his spectacular form with DCU will help him crack the inter-county game at the second attempt. After playing a key role in DCU’s Sigerson Cup success in February, including scoring 0-4 in the final against IT Carlow, Garland was recalled by Seamus ‘Banty’ McAnaney to the Monaghan senior panel just prior to the shutters coming down on the season. And that was enough to convince the 22-year-old to stay at home — he had planned on moving to America prior to the lockdown — and have a go at the inter-county game after admitting his confidence took a beating in his rookie season in 2018. Garland started three League games that season, but as Monaghan went on to reach the All-Ireland semi-final, he only made one appearance from the bench. He said: ‘I was doing well, but I didn’t get on against Tyrone or Fermanagh but played against Waterford and scored two points. ‘We were playing Leitrim the following week and I was really disappointed not to get game time there but you have to trust the management. ‘It was obviously frustrating not to play but it’s just a learning curve and you have to get on with it,’ said Garland, who received his Electric Ireland Higher Education footballer award yesterday. Garland left the Monaghan panel prior to the start of last year’s Championship, admitting that he found the experience of being a fringe player had damaged his form and limited his opportunities to play for club Donaghmoyne. ‘When I first started county football, your football time gets limited so much that you’re on the panel but you can’t play club action in the summer. That’s what happened me in 2018, you suffer a wee bit in terms of, “Jesus, am I good enough? Am I ever going to make it?” ‘You’re missing out on so much football that you become a bit rusty. It takes you a couple of months to get back to yourself so when that happened in 2018, and I saw the way 2019 was going, I said, “I have to do something quick here” because you can find a couple of years going away from you very quickly.’ Garland left the panel to get ‘back on the right road’ and now he’s ready for the intercounty ranks again. He said: ‘After winning the Sigerson player of the year and getting on the team of the year, I feel a lot more confident whenever I go back into the Monaghan set-up.’