Never underestimate what you can do with a shoestring.
In the 2011 census, the population of county Monaghan stood at 60,483. It’s the fourth smallest county in all of Ireland.
When you drill down into those figures though, you get to the real core of what Malachy O’Rourke is actually working with.
Of those 60,483, roughly 5,000 of them are reported to be men between the ages of 20 and 34.
5,000.
Of those 5,000, how many are interested in sport?
How many are able to play sport? How many are bothered?
How many would never be any good no matter how much they tried?
And how many are willing to commit specifically to playing Gaelic football?
From just 5,000 men of senior playing age, you’ve an awful lot of fractioning to do to get to a realistic football sample population.
And yet despite that long series of divisions and despite what you’re left with to pick from, Monaghan have remained one of the most competitive sides in the entire country for over a decade.
Winning two Ulsters in the last five years doesn’t tell half the story when you consider that they’ve also reached the All-Ireland quarter-finals five times in the last six attempts too. Population-wise, resource-wise, they have been consistently punching way above their weight but they keep coming.
They’re an example to the rest. When the talk is about B championships and unrealistic expectations and how some counties would simply never be able to compete, Monaghan just go about their own business, ignoring that nonsense, scaring the life into anyone who crosses their paths.
I look at the example of my own county, Derry. Derry are a Division Four side now, basement stuff. They’ve been dreadful in the championship for far too long but not one person there would ever, ever ask to be put into a second-tier championship. No-one’s feeling sorry for themselves or looking to give up because, frankly, the solution is very simple: just go and get a better team.
Go and build it. Do better work. Create better coaches. Get the buzz back in the county and, sure enough, if you do build it, they will come.
Don’t look for someone else to dig you out or to settle for a life of mediocrity. Derry won’t do that – they’ll do what they can internally to get back to where they want and another county will continue to do it even better.
Monaghan have one of the smallest picks in the land but they’ve brought along some sensational talents with what they’re working with. If they’re not a lesson to every Gael, there’s no point in even trying to talk sense anymore.
So, from 5,000 men who fit the age profile, from less who are involved in the GAA, and less who are good enough, Monaghan have somehow blessed these games with nine of the finest footballers we’ve seen.
- Rory Beggan
- Drew Wylie
- Vinny Corey
- Fintan Kelly
- Karl O’Connell
- Dessie Mone
- Kieran Hughes
- Darren Hughes
- Conor McManus
That isn’t a list of good players – they have been some of the best in Ireland and they’ve all come from Monaghan.
Dessie Mone and Vinny Corey mightn’t be at the peaks of their own powers anymore but they are still relentless, still inspirational and still going. They are still leading the way, even after all the years of service they have already given.
To produce so many of these world-beaters in the one age demographic with such a small population sample is extraordinary economy.
But then what would you expect of a county that never offers excuses? All they do is put their hearts on the line as a sacrifice.
