MONAGHAN may be unable to reach the last four of the Bank of Ireland Dr McKenna Cup but Dessie Mone acknowledged that their sights are still set on the All-Ireland semi-finals.
The Farneymen have reached the last eight of the All-Ireland series in each of the past three seasons, twice as Ulster champions, but have been unable to progress further.
Yet while many say ‘don’t look back’, Mone admits that manager Malachy O’Rourke and his men have been analysing their performances against Dublin and Tyrone (twice) to see where they can improve:
“I suppose Croke Park is a bigger set-up but I don’t think it’s that big of a difference. It’s probably just learning from those games, about what were the right things and the wrong things we’ve been doing.
“That’s all we can do, look at those videos and see what we’ve done wrong and try to put those things right.
“When you get into that end of the season, it’s serious business, every ball is vital. It’s all about inches when you get to Croke Park. Hopefully we’ve learnt from that.”
Both their losses as provincial champs, both against the Red Hands, were close enough affairs, Mone recalls: “We’ve been unlucky enough the last few years, we just haven’t made that mark yet, getting past the quarter-finals.
“But hopefully we’ve learnt from the last three years – it is a massive learning curve, winning Ulster titles and then trying to break past the quarter-finals. All we can do is keep progressing and see how our performances hold up over the next couple of months.”
Monaghan now only have one more match before their Division One campaign commences, but at least it’s sure to be competitive as they head to Kingspan Breffni Park to take on traditional rivals Cavan:
“Listen, we’ve another game against Cavan on Wednesday night, it’s another local derby, as Armagh was, so it’ll stand to us as well.
“Even if we win it that’s not going to get us through but it’s about opening up your legs, getting more boys in, getting more game-time in. Those are the big things in January because the League is only three weeks away now.”
Mone laughs at the suggestion that playing Cavan brings the risk of suspension, looking forward to the hard-hitting element: “Well, that’s the thing. Going into this game, Cavan are looking at getting into the semi-final probably and Malachy is going to bring on another few new players, which is great for them.
“It’ll be competitive and that’s what you want, same as the Armagh game was.”
Despite a second defeat in the McKenna Cup, Mone took more positives from the Armagh game than the opening loss against Ulster University, explaining:
“[Against UU] in the last 15 minutes we fell away, we weren’t happy with our own game, but [against Armagh] the team stood up and went right to the wire.
“It could have gone either way but Armagh got the winning score.
“We got a loss but Malachy has given a lot of new boys chances there and some of them were taking them there.
“We created a lot of goal chances but didn’t take them, which probably came back to bite us towards the end of the match.
“But overall, in fairness to the new lads, the younger lads, the likes of Barry McGinn and Fergal [McGeough] did well.”
Both those players are from Ulster JFC champions Rockcorry, who also had goalkeeper Jamie Smith and defender Niall McKeown in the team.
That’s evidence of the desire throughout Monaghan for the county team to keep improving, with Mone pointing to further aspects of that aspiration:
“To get respect you have to be winning titles and we have been lucky enough to win two Ulster titles over the last three years.
“There’s a lot of work being done with development squads and within the county board because we want to keep that going as long as possible. There’s no point winning titles and not trying to progress and push on.
“The mood’s good within the camp and the county at the minute and you just want to keep that mood going.
“When you’re winning it’s enjoyable. The set-up we have at Cloghan, the county training grounds, is fantastic, you can only but enjoy yourselves when you go to training sessions, and that’s great to see.”
