MIKEY Murnaghan has set Monaghan the challenge of inscribing their name in U-21 football championship history by becoming the last Ulster county to claim the provincial title.
The underage grade will be scrapped after this year's championship and, until 2016, Monaghan had been the least successful of all the Ulster counties with just two provincial wins.
Last season's triumph, which placed them level on three wins with Armagh and Fermanagh, has raised expectations and rising star defender Murnaghan is targeting back to back successes.
Monaghan's U-21 campaign begins on March 8 against Antrim with the winners advancing to take on Derry in the Ulster quarter-finals.
"There's a bit of prestige about it this year," said Murnaghan at yesterday's launch of the EirGrid All-Ireland U-21 championship.
"Obviously you want to be known as the last team to ever lift an Ulster championship and, potentially then, an All-Ireland.
"That's definitely in the backs of our minds. Last year was the first year we won it for the guts of 15 years, the Ulster championship. I don't think it's ever been done back to back in Monaghan so hopefully we can go on and get that trophy and then build.
"Because there's still a sort of chip on our back from last year against Cork, we still feel the game got away from us and that. We were very disappointed to lose. It was a tight game. We were mad to get back at Mayo in the All-Ireland final because in 2013 they beat us at Croke Park in the semi-final of the minor championship. So we were mad to get back at them. But look, it's a new team this year and we're just trying to do back to back."
Murnaghan, a 21-year-old PE and Biology student at DCU, was part of the Monaghan minor side that won the Ulster championship in 2013. He was called into Malachy O'Rourke's senior panel before Christmas and believes it's important that new talent pushes through at the top level to sustain the county's solid form of recent years.
"It would be a fairly settled group in the seniors but you know yourself, those lads aren't going to last forever and if you're taking lads in cold that never really played before, it's a gamble," he said.
"That's why it's good to be around the setup and around boys like Vinny Corey, Dessie Mone, Colin Walshe, they're all great leaders and you learn stuff from them in training, even if you're not getting playing. You see how they conduct themselves, even how they talk, they're very helpful."
Murnaghan favours a position in the full-back line and is hoping to take his chance with the seniors over spring.
"Definitely," he nodded.
"Vinny Corey and Dessie Mone are out injured at the minute. They'll be coming back too but once they're out you're trying to get a foothold in the senior team. It's about trying to get in a bit of shape, try and get in ahead of them and make it as difficult as possible for them to get in. But they're two very good players."
Monaghan are unbeaten so far in Division 1, following up their big win in Mayo with a draw against neighbours Cavan.
"Obviously at the start of the year you'd think that six points would keep you up," he said.
"It's about getting six points as quick as possible and then trying to push on. I don't think there's semi-finals in the league this year so the aim is to get to six points and push on from there."
