Somewhere along the way, Malachy O’Rourke has completely transformed the landscape of Monaghan GAA. So much so that most of us hardly even bat an eye at it anymore.
In the space of two years, the Fermanagh native has made success in the Farney county almost routine.
It’s nearly expected that they reach the All-Ireland quarter finals, win silverware, contest Ulster finals. That’s just what they do all of a sudden. Now, in his third season at the helm, a Division Two title under his belt, O’Rourke takes Monaghan into the top flight of league football in what star forward, Conor McManus, describes as the most competitive division in a long, long time.
You wouldn’t put it past O’Rourke to work more magic up with the big boys either. The Derrylin club man, who extended his contract until 2017, is masterminding firsts all over the county and, in a winter of so many high-profile retirements, Monaghan start 2015 as strong as ever. As keen as ever. And McManus credits that verve to the new era.
Monaghan has always been littered with talent, with potency. Under O’Rourke though, they’re so much more than just your one-punch wildcard. They’re a bona fide force to be reckoned with. And that’s the secret to a happy camp.
“Every year you go in hoping you’re going to win something but, look, there’s nothing guaranteed. I think it’s maybe more a sign of the boys that are there at the minute are enjoying their football,” Conor McManus reflected on his county squad. “We have a few older guys, the likes of Owen Lennon, the likes of Dick [Clerkin], Vinny Corey, a few of them boys that are playing county football 12, 13, 14, 15 years, whatever it is. I suppose, with the rough patch we went through there, we’ve had a fairly good two years of it and the boys are enjoying that. When you’re enjoying it and things are going relatively well and you’re fit to play on, I suppose they’re thinking, ‘why not?’
“It’s no secret that Malachy has been excellent with us since he came in. He has really turned things around for us and this group of players. Once he came forward and said that he was staying for another two or three years I think, for anybody who was considering leaving, it made their decision to stay a whole easier, I’m sure.
“It’s certainly something we’ve been looking to do [play in Division One]. The last two years in the league we were looking to get promotion and this year we’ll be looking to consolidate our Division One status and that will be our main target I’m sure. It would be an achievement because there are going to be no easy games, there’s nothing guaranteed particularly with the draw that we have, we have three home and four away so it’s going to be difficult but we’re definitely looking forward to it all the same.”
What Monaghan’s prized number 15 is looking forward to most is a clean run of it. His Ulster championship was interrupted with injuries, cards and sickness and, even when he got the afterburners pumping with six points at Croke Park in the quarters, the rest of the machine had run out of legs against Dublin that day. He wants to put it right this time around.
“I got the injury seven weeks before the Tyrone game and I hadn’t trained at all,” he revealed. “I trained on the Saturday morning before the match just to see where I was at so, from that point of view, I probably wasn’t 100 per cent going into that and I suppose my performance that day probably showed that as well.
“From there on, to be fair, once I got that game under my belt, it helped me. The next game obviously was the Armagh game and I didn’t even last the whole game with the black card. After that, I was grand but then, funny, going into the Ulster final I took sick two or three days before it and didn’t eat for two or three days, I couldn’t eat, so I suppose that wasn’t ideal either.”
It’s a new campaign now though and McManus has been watching on at the McKenna Cup madness as he continues to shake off the last of the knocks from what was an extended 2014 for the Clontibret man. Four saw red in Monaghan’s clash with Cavan at the weekend, whilst Tyrone and Armagh were hardly keeping their distance in their opening game, and all this at the start of January. It’s too early in the full forward’s eyes for all of that nonsense but he knows that the league might stoke a few fires with practically a headline clash every week.
Monaghan and Tyrone come face to face in Setanta Sports’ opening night on January 31, but sure they’re all going to be as manic as the next.
“Well, I suppose both teams are well accustomed to playing each other now at this stage. We’ve come up against Tyrone on numerous occasions over the years so both teams would know each other fairly well,” he said. “Both teams are going to be looking to get off to a good start so it’s going to be a fairly competitive one, you know.
“There are no games where you can look to and think, ‘ah, we’ll pick up two points there,’ because it’s just so competitive. We’ve been in Division One several times before – it’s been three or four years since we were there – but I definitely think this is the most competitive Division One that there has been in quite a while. Particularly from our point of view with three other Ulster teams in it as well, there are going to be a lot of local rivalries there with ourselves and Tyrone and ourselves and Donegal and Donegal and Derry and Tyrone and Derry, there are a lot of rivalries there so it’s going to be very competitive for all the teams I think.”
Another feat for Malachy O’Rourke’s CV, steering Monaghan through encounters with Tyrone, Armagh and Kildare at the height of the summer with McManus in and out of full strength as he was. That first game in Clones was huge for the county if for no other reason but shaking the red handed monkey off of their backs.
“Probably at the time because there was so much made of us going into that game, that we hadn’t beaten Tyrone in years in championship football and we had lost a number of Ulster titles and that – at the time, it probably was a big thing. Now, it’s done and dusted. It’s a new year and it means really nothing to be quite honest. I’m sure Tyrone won’t be dwelling on it and we’re not going to be dwelling on it either.
“It’s a totally different year. At the time, surely it was a big thing and it gave us a lot of belief going forward into the Ulster championship. Now, it’s irrelevant at this stage.”
Malachy O’Rourke’s Monaghan don’t lie back and spark up a cigar reminiscing about past first-round wins. Irrelevant. Irrelevant to what’s ahead of them. What’s ahead of them is all that matters now.
Monaghan don’t settle anymore.
