Football

Down gave me my worst day in football - Owen Lennon

Former Monaghan captain Owen Lennon tries to block an effort from Down's Ambrose Rogers in what Lennon describes as his worst defeat in inter-county football <br />Picture by Colm O'Reilly
Former Monaghan captain Owen Lennon tries to block an effort from Down's Ambrose Rogers in what Lennon describes as his worst defeat in inter-county football
Picture by Colm O'Reilly
Former Monaghan captain Owen Lennon tries to block an effort from Down's Ambrose Rogers in what Lennon describes as his worst defeat in inter-county football
Picture by Colm O'Reilly

OWEN LENNON doesn’t have to search too deep into the archives to pull out his worst day in inter-county football.

The former Monaghan captain, who was forced to retire from club and county action at the start of the year because of injury, was the lucky man to climb the steps and lift the Anglo Celt in 2013. It was the county’s first Ulster title in 25 years but, just 12 months earlier, it had seldom looked further away.

They were in cruise control against Down, romping into a 0-11 to 0-2 lead after 34 minutes in Armagh’s Athletic Grounds. An Aidan Carr penalty just before half-time sparked Down and they were within a point inside 15 minutes. Even Tommy Freeman rattling the top corner wasn’t enough to secure an Ulster final place, with the Mourne men scoring four unanswered points in the final five minutes to secure a remarkable victory.

“That was probably the worst inter-county defeat of my career,” recalls the Latton man, who has dipped straight into management with the club’s senior team.

“That was a serious blow, to be so far ahead and then lose that match. There were loads of reasons why. I suppose, around the middle area, we didn’t win many kickouts. We lost a heap of break ball. They had the momentum and we failed to stop it. They brought on Benny Coulter and a few boys like that and he always brought a bit of jizz when he came on.

“But we met up after it and we said we’d a good group of players and we needed to get back at it, try and get as good a manager as we can and get back at it the following year. Thankfully, we did. It would have been easy to walk away at that time, probably.”

It was a hard loss for them to stomach, but Malachy O’Rourke’s introduction that autumn put the spark back in them. Hindsight will put that galling defeat in the box marked ‘valuable experience’: “It certainly was. We had plenty of defeats over the years to learn from, but that was the most bitter one we’d ever had," Lennon added.

But as dominant as Monaghan were for 34 minutes that day, they weren’t facing a Down side at the ebb the current crop find themselves at. James McCartan was able to call upon Benny Coulter and Liam Doyle for valuable late cameos and had 10 of the 19 players from the 2010 All-Ireland final still available.

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Éamonn Burns does not have that luxury this Sunday: “I suppose they don’t have that calibre of player at the minute. They’re down a lot of players, so it’s hard to compare this Sunday’s match with back then,” said Lennon.

“That team had a lot of players that had played in that 2010 All-Ireland final, so they had quality. For Sunday, they maybe don’t have that same quality. But looking back, that will be in the back of the Down players’ minds and Monaghan players as well. Even this year in the league, Monaghan could never shake them off and only beat them by a couple of points in the end. There’s always that wee thing and Monaghan need to be ready for that this weekend.”

Earlier this week, Malachy O’Rourke played down the significance of Monaghan breaking their All-Ireland quarter-final duck, having failed to progress from any of the three they’ve played in recent years. Lennon says his former boss will have the players focused on a historic back-to-back Ulster success, but that again failing to make the last-four of the All-Ireland series would ultimately be a disappointment.

“Malachy will just take a step at a time and concentrate on an Ulster Championship. If they could try and go back-to-back, he’ll be putting that [an All-Ireland semi-final] on the backburner. 

"But if he’s sitting back in November or December and looking back, that’s a box he’d love to have ticked, I’m sure.”