WITH 15 minutes to go, and at three points up, it looked like it would be Cavan’s day. Too many of Monaghan’s key men were having a bad day the office.
But we can look at two very simple reasons why the momentum switched in favour of Malachy O’Rourke’s men.
The introduction of substitutes Dick Clerkin and Colin Walshe helped to turn the tide. Not only did they bring an extra steel and fresh energy to their team, but they also kicked important scores.
The second reason was the complete turnaround in performance of what I would call Monaghan’s most important players. Urgency set in with Dessie Mone, the Hughes brothers and Vinny Corey as they dominated exchanges and carried the fight to Cavan with their trademark surging runs.
The defensive strategies of both teams focused on where the biggest threat lay in the opposition attack. Cavan flooded their defence with 12 or 13 bodies and the tactic was extremely effective, particularly in the first half when Monaghan just couldn’t penetrate. But I felt the sweeper role played by Jason McLoughlin in an attempt to help Feargal Flanagan curtail Conor McManus was unsuccessful.
Initially, it worked to the point that the Monaghan man was forced into wider areas further from goal to win the ball. But that was as good as it got. Between what he scored from play and fouls committed on him, I counted six scores that came off McManus directly.
The key in playing with a sweeper is two-fold. The first part is to either cut off the supply to the forward or at least force him to win the ball in an area far from goal.
The second part is to make sure that both defenders are on him as soon as he gets the ball so that he can’t get past, reducing the chance of a free being given away. Cavan only got the first part right.
To be fair, the way Monaghan dealt with Cavan’s dangerman wasn’t much better.
The placing of big Michael Argue at the edge of the square was one that few seen coming. Drew Wylie struggled with his physicality and Dessie Mone’s sweeping was largely ineffective as very little was bouncing off him when the ball was good. The tactic worked really well at times, but the problem for Cavan, at times, was that passes were over hit or the poorly timed.
How often do you see Kerry coming up the centre of the pitch and launching a ‘hoof’ ball into Kieran Donaghy? The pass is always hit on the diagonal. Gearóid McKiernan, along with Cian Mackey, looked like the only Cavan players capable of punching holes in the Monaghan defence.
McKiernan’s score at the start of the second half was a piece of art as he soloed with the right before striking it over with the left.
But when you analyse it over the course of the 70 minutes, Monaghan’s running game churned out a much bigger return and eventually wore Cavan down, as their defence struggled to maintain the same discipline and shape.
The direct running and frightening pace of newcomer Karl O’Connell was responsible for a point at the beginning of each half. Dessie Mone should have had a penalty as the tackle was nowhere near the ball. But as he was released from his sweeping duties, he, along with Vinny Corey and Darren Hughes, brought an urgency to the Monaghan game.
Perhaps when Cavan manager Terry Hyland looks back on yesterday’s game, he may rue the moment when Jason McLoughlin had the opportunity to take Darren Hughes, ball and all, in a 60-40 which was heavily weighted in his favour.
You wonder had the scenario been reversed would the Monaghan man have been so generous? I think not. A key moment no doubt, but the reality is that Monaghan outscored Cavan 0-6 to 0-1 in the last 10 minutes, when their experience really counted.
I predicted Monaghan would come through this game narrowly, pointing to the fact Cavan just don’t possess a match winner in the mould of the outstanding Conor McManus.
ALL week, we have had the tit-for-tat accusations coming out of Tyrone and Donegal about this poorly named ‘sledging’ thing, which seems to have no boundaries when it comes to how low people are prepared to stoop.
Given the landscape, and perhaps the need for a more light-hearted anecdote, I feel it is the right time to come out and admit that I once wore a pair of tights (some people call them skins) during a senior league game for my club against our nearest and fiercest rivals Rasharkin.
I should point out this was due to a hamstring injury and, as a result, I found myself the victim of some, well in this case I’d prefer to call it ‘slegging’, from the opposing supporters.
As I prepared to hit a free-kick out near the sideline, I was greeted by a gentleman: “Hi Madden... those are nice tights. Where did you get your tights Madden?”
After a few chuckles and applause from his fellow cheerleaders and a short pause, I replied: “Do you not recognise them big fella?”
Again a short pause and a look of puzzlement on his face was greeted by my smug reply: “You should do, they’re your sisters”. It was the most pressure I was ever under hitting a free-kick in my life.
But it is important to point out there is a clear distinction between a bit of slagging, banter, two-way verbals and deeply hurtful and personal remarks.
Adrian McGuckin commented on Twitter over the weekend that ‘sledging’ has been going on in Gaelic football for over 50 years. But there is always a line that should never be crossed.
My own feeling on it is that the exposure in the press over the last week has started to strip back a dark side that the majority of players, managers and supporters don’t want to be associated with. It is out there now more than ever, but it is now going to take strong leadership from all quarters to get the message across that there is no place for it in our games.
