Moynagh keeps his eyes focused on ancient local rivalries as Cavan square up to Farney friends and enemies
CONOR MOYNAGH has a way with words that paints perfect pictures.
Today, he eyes up Monaghan in a derby game which is the be-all and endall for his Cavan tribe who live on the border. His Drumgoon base – also the club of GAA president Aogán Ó Fearghail − is so close to the peace line that even the postman is confused. ‘My postal address is even Monaghan,’ laughs the 24year old.
‘Look, it is a game for the ages, we love playing them, they love playing us and yet we both hate playing each other at the same time,’ he explains.
That’s the dilemma that is perhaps the GAA’s most potent hook summed up in a single sentence.
But then that’s his gift. When he captained Cavan to their fourth Ulster Under 21 title in a row back in 2014, his acceptance speech went viral.
It was no quick ‘hip hip hooray’ job, but rather seven minutes of considered reflection as well as celebration.
He flipped protocol; hushing the Cavan supporters to allow the players applaud them for their support, while also bowing at the altar of his county’s history.
‘We follow in the footsteps of footballing greats; we stand on the shoulders of giants,’ he told the gathered masses at Armagh’s Athletic Grounds.
And yet for all his keen sense of history and place, he was close to being lost to Cavan because of talents that pulled him in other directions.
Growing up, athletics was his first love. His father Patrick, who currently works in Saudi Arabia where he is also chairman of the Middle East GAA Board, represented Ireland at junior level, so it was in the genes. He was good too; representing Ulster and Ireland at middle distances.
‘I have a couple of AllIrelands and six or seven Ulster titles, between 800 and 1500 metres,’ he reveals modestly.
He was keeping other balls in the air at the same time, playing Gaelic for Drumgoon and soccer for Monaghan United.
In the end, he pulled the plug on Gaelic for a year as his soccer career got momentum.
He was only 15 when United’s then-manager Mick Cooke gave him his first team debut in the League of Ireland’s First
Division, having already been capped at Under 15 level by the Republic of Ireland in a friendly against Qatar. There was even talk of a trial across the Irish Sea for the promising young central midfielder, but he had his head turned by a call from closer to home from Cavan’s minor manager Mickey Graham.
He has no regrets; he has an Ulster minor medal, along with three U21s and when added to the half dozen he has from athletics, he might just be the most decorated Cavan footballer since the 1940s when they had trouble counting them.
For all that, though, he is in the quality rather than quantity business.
‘I have four Ulster medals with Cavan but not the one I am looking for,’ he admits.
The search begins again today, but even after a spring where, even if they did not survive, they showed they could compete in Division 1, the market is dismissive of their chances of winning a first Anglo Celt Cup in 20 years.
Big early summer wins by Donegal, Monaghan and Tyrone have reinforced the theory of Ulster’s big three, and that Cavan are making up numbers with the rest.
‘Obviously within Cavan, we are going to say that is very harsh because we think of ourselves as being nearly there. But if you look at the hard stats, Tyrone did well in Division 1 this year, Donegal gave 10 U21s game-time and they did very well in that division, Monaghan came up to Division 1 a few years ago and finished third this year.
‘We went up and came straight back down. If you look at the hard stats on paper like that then you can’t argue with that.
‘People say that we are knocking on the door and we have had this underage success and it is time that we started showing that.
‘We certainly believe we can do it within the county. It is not going to be easy. ‘
They will get a taste for just how hard it will be today, as they eyeball the best of friends and enemies.
He shared a house with Shane Carey for a year in Dublin when at college and a dressing room with Dermot Malone for a couple of seasons at Monaghan.
‘He was a Mullicker; he was a hooligan going around the place kicking lads, he still is as a Gaelic player,’ Moynagh chortles.
‘Nah, he was a good player. He used to play right wing or up front, he was very fast.’
Kicks and laughs, love and hate, nothing beats days like this.