Now Ulster’s second longest-serving manager behind Mickey Harte, Malachy O’Rourke starts his fifth season in the Monaghan dugout when his side jog out against his Fermanagh on January 8.
With tactically astute man-manager O’Rourke at the helm, the Farneymen captured NFL Division Three (2013) and Division Two (2014) to go along with Anglo-Celt Cup triumphs in 2013 and 2015.
Last season was the first without a trophy on his watch and ended with defeat to Longford in the Qualifiers but O’Rourke expects his side to be back in the mix in 2017. Andy Watters spoke to him...
AW: The core of this Monaghan side has been around for a few years now. Are the players still as hungry as ever?
MO’R: We’re confident and we feel we have a lot of ability in the squad. We’re looking forward to the season and we feel we have a lot of experience there as well and a lot of boys who have performed well in Championship football and had a lot of success.
There’s still ambition in the group and a lot of drive. We have changed up the backroom team. Finbar Fitzpatrick, who was an integral part of the team, has left but we’ve brought in Owen Lennon and Colin McAree.
They are two fellas with a lot of experience and it’s good to have because they’ll bring in fresh ideas, fresh thinking and new voices.
AW: After three Ulster finals on the trot, bowing out in the Qualifiers last season must have been a disappointment?
MO’R: We were very disappointed with the way it ended although Longford were the better team on the day and we’ve no complaints. We know we’ve a lot of work in front of us.
Every team around us is improving, every team is chomping at the bit so we have make sure that our preparations are really good and that the boys are prepared to work hard.
If we do that, we’re confident we’ll have a good year.
AW: Tyrone won the Ulster title last year and will be hard to shift next season. Is there a sense in the Monaghan panel that you have to prove you’ve still got it?
MO’R: At this stage we want to get our panel really focussed and get as fit as we can and get all the injuries cleared up. We feel we have a strong enough panel to make an impact.
The McKenna Cup will get us ready for a really tough Division One campaign and that’s enough to keep us going - that’ll tell us all about where we are and the strength of the panel.
It leads us into the Championship and the first round against Fermanagh who have been going really well. We feel we have the hunger, we have good enough players to be really competitive this year but we have to prove it.
There’s no point in looking back to what has gone before - we have to work hard and see where it takes us.
AW: You mentioned injuries. How has Conor McManus wintered?
MO’R: Conor needs a bit of time off at the end of every season - he has on-going problems with his hip, so he has been doing a lot of work making sure that, once he gets into the full rigours of the season, he doesn’t have any problems.
The more conditioning work he can do now, the more it pays off as the season goes on. We want to make sure that once the league starts he’s going well and doesn’t have any setbacks.
He could play in the McKenna Cup, but not the first game or two - possibly if we get an extra game or two, he could be back for that. It’s just a case of being careful and making sure that boys are coming back at the right time.
I’ll be guided by the physios and the medical team as regards all the players. Vinny Corey is just back doing some rehab work and we’d be hopeful that he’ll be back at the start of next year.
Stephen Gollogly hasn’t joined up with the panel yet and we’d be hopeful that he’ll join up in January too. You don’t want to rush boys at this time of the year because, if you do that, they’ll break down and you’re just giving yourself problems going forward.
AW: Not having Dick Clerkin or Paul Finlay - both retired - in the dressing room this season will take a bit of getting used to.
MO’R: Losing the two boys was a big blow to us. Even though they wouldn’t have been playing regularly over the last couple of years they still made a big impact coming in as subs and also their presence around the place and the experience they brought.
The standards they set were very important to the squad, so we’re very disappointed to lose them but I can understand why they decided to move on.
They’ll be hard to replace, but it’s up to the younger lads to come in and try and cement their place on the team.
AW: Both of them played around midfield. You lost Owen Lennon last winter, so are you short of options around midfield now?
MO’R: We’re always looking at players in the county who could come in and play there for us. Midfield has changed over the last number of years.
There’s not as much direct competition for the ball around the middle from the kick-outs, it’s a lot more to do with mobility and being able to get up and down the field.
But it’s still an area that is very important and with Dick and Paul moving on it’s an area we’d like to have a bit of cover for. We’ve got Darren and Kieran Hughes and Neil McAdam and Karl O’Connell played there for a while last year.
Gavin Doogan has played midfield in the past and we’ve a couple of lads who have come in from the U21s - Niall Cairns, Aaron Lynch and Mickey Murnaghan.
They could fit the bill but it’s a case of giving those fellas a run-out and seeing how they get on in challenge matches and in-house matches because it’s a big step up to senior level.
For them, it’s about working hard in training and trying to improve every night they’re there.
AW: Monaghan haven’t won the McKenna Cup since 2003, but the competition has allowed you to improve fitness levels and run the rule over new hopefuls. Is that how you’ll look at it this year?
MO’R: We want to have a good, solid McKenna Cup campaign and win as many games as we can. It’s getting the mix right between looking at a few new fellas coming in and getting game-time into some of the more experienced players.
It’s about getting everybody well prepared for the National League. Every year, Division One is very competitive and it’s going to be even more so this year and you want to be hitting the ground running and getting points on the board early on to give yourself a bit of breathing space.
We want to stay in Division One, so there’s a lot of tough work ahead.
AW: You made the Division One semi-finals in 2015 and won three games last season. How important will that experience of top flight football be?
MO’R: It should stand to us but if you’re a wee bit off on the day or you’re preparation hasn’t been right or you’re missing a few - especially away from home against the top teams - you’re in for a tough afternoon.
We know how tough it’s going to be, we know we have to be well prepared but it’s a great place to play your football and you find out an awful lot about players.
It leaves you better prepared with a good idea of the strength of your panel going into the Championship and that’s what it’s all about.
