LEARN your lessons or deal with the consequences – that’s the ultimatum facing Monaghan Harps ahead of Sunday’s Monaghan final against Scotstown at St Tiernach’s Park.
In the round 2A exam between the teams, the Harps were schooled by Mattie McGleenan’s side, 2-15 to 0-12. Now, just over a month later, they have the opportunity to show they have taken their punishment on board and are stronger for it. Their manager Cathal McAnenly knows that first match will play its part in the build-up to the game, but he is confident they have improved significantly from that contest.
“That’s what we have to work on, we have to learn from the first day and, hopefully, we will get the rub of the green too,” said the former Tyrone minor and U21 manager.
“We’re up against a good team here; a very, very strong team, not just in Monaghan, but also in Ulster. They have a good tradition behind them and they’re going into their third final in-a-row. It’s a challenge, but it’s one we’re going to embrace.”
This is the club’s first final appearance since 1991, when Castleblayney beat them comfortably, and it’s no surprise the green and white flags are bedecking most poles in and around Monaghan town. McAnenly is enjoying the hype that only a championship final can bring, but he doesn’t expect his players to get too caught up in the fanfare.
“It’s the first final since ’91, so that means it’s the first final for every one of these players,” he said.
“It’s new territory, but they are a great bunch of lads and their feet are on the ground. They’re just focused on their job of getting out and playing another game of football on Sunday.”
The Harps should go out onto the Clones pitch full of confidence given their performances since losing out to Scotstown. They took their time to get going against Magheracloone, but they eventually had four points to spare at the full-time whistle.
It was in the semi-final, though, that they really announced their arrival as they dumped out reigning champions Clontibret, this time by five points, with Fearghal McMahon and Michael Galligan scoring their goals.
“We have known there is something about these lads since we took over,” McAnenly said.
“They won a lot at underage and it was just about making the breakthrough. They won the intermediate in 2009 and they have stuck together since that. We always believed that they were able to match up against the best.
“Every victory has given them that wee bit more confidence. The Magheracloone game and then the Clontibret game has given the lads that self-belief and hopefully that takes them through on Sunday.”
Scotstown enter the match as strong favourites to lift a second title in three years, but McAnenly is focusing solely on what they can worry about.
“It’s been a good couple of weeks for us since the semi-final, the boys have trained well” he said.
“Whenever you set out at the start of the year, it’s the final you want to get too. But you just don’t want to get there, you want to win it too and that’s exactly what we will be trying to do.
“Everyone should be fit, the boys are working very hard and, now, we’re just looking forward to the game itself.”
