FARNEY RESURGENCE A LONG TIME BREWING
Monaghan’s semi-final spirit from ’85 will be needed again
AS ONE impressive group of Monaghan players spends this week preparing for the county’s first All-Ireland semi-final in over 30 years, it is worth reflecting on the last great collection of Farney footballers and how close they came to causing a sensation against the greatest side to ever play the game.
Next weekend, it will be 33 years since Monaghan came within touching distance of an All-Ireland final. They just couldn’t get over the line. Long before the world had heard of David Clifford, Kerry were haunting Monaghan.
Only 22,746 turned up in Croker, and the vast majority of them were wearing blue and white.
A decade of dominance from the Kingdom had enshrined the Kerry practice of waiting until the final. Those that stayed away missed a classic.
Sean McCague had been developing his Monaghan team into a force for six years. They had won an Ulster title in 1979, the county’s first in 41 years, and along the way, players like ‘Nudie’ Hughes, Hugo Clerkin and Ray McCarron became legends.
They ran head-first into a Kerry team at the peak of their powers after that Ulster title and were crushed by 22 points.
Six years later, Monaghan were far better-prepared for what Mick O’Dwyer’s side would throw at them. They had won the National League title earlier that spring and reached the Centenary Cup final the previous year. They believed they were meeting Kerry on the same level.
On the morning of the match, in the Skylon Hotel near Croke Park, McCague convened a team meeting with his players.
He took out a newspaper cutting from the 1979 All-Ireland semi-final when Kerry had wiped the floor with Monaghan and reminded those who had played that day of how they felt — as well as firing them up with the names of Kerry players they would be playing in a few hours.
McCague spoke of the journey that the players had gone on together for the six years since that humbling defeat. Of how they climbed the divisions, eventually winning a League final. As one Monaghan player recalled later, he wanted to run through the walls of the hotel just to get to Kerry after that speech.
The great Kerry team were slipping, their focus wavering — Eoin ‘Bomber’ Liston was summering in New York and commuting for Championship games.
A decade of dominance was taken its toll on their bodies — Mikey Sheehy, Pat Spillane, Sean Walsh and Tommy Doyle were all injured during a brutal Munster final. McCague observed all of this and sensed the opportunity of a lifetime.
With McCague’s words still ringing in their ears, Monaghan tore into Kerry from the throw-in. In midfield, David Byrne gave Jack O’Shea one of the most difficult afternoons he ever had in Croke Park. However, just before half-time, Byrne went off injured and the whole complexion of the game changed.
The Kingdom also got a stroke of luck. John Kennedy’s shot came off the upright and landed into the grateful hands of Ger Power, who smashed the ball to the net. This was usually the cue for teams to wilt against Kerry when they felt the gods were against them. Not Monaghan.
Every time Kerry went ahead, Monaghan came back. The teams were level three times going down the stretch. With time almost up, Sheehy landed a massive free that looked like it would edge the All-Ireland champions back to the final. Instead, they gave the underdogs one final chance.
Fifty metres out, against the wind, Eamon McEneaney nailed a monstrous place-kick that enshrined him in Farney folklore.
The game was considered the best football match of the decade up until that point. Both RTÉ and the GAA ignored the clamour to televise the replay, so over 53,000 people turned up at Croke Park for the second act, parting company with more than £250,000 at the gate.
Officials were so unprepared for the crowd that turnstiles were closed at 2.30pm.
The sequel failed to match the original, though. Kerry weren’t going to be caught on the hop again. By the 27th minute, they had hit 2-3 while holding Monaghan scoreless.
The game was over as a contest and Liston’s sending-off had little influence on proceedings. Kerry held their opponents at arm’s length for the game, eventually winning by five points.
That Monaghan side would have one last surge, claiming a third Ulster title in 1988. It was a fitting end for players who had spent almost a decade in rarefied air for the county.
It would be 25 years before another Monaghan team would climb back to the summit in the province — and it’s that side, after five years of hard work, who enter Croke Park next Sunday, hoping to go one better than ’85.