YOU’RE probably sick of hearing talk about Rory Beggan and Stephen Cluxton but, apologies your honour, it was unavoidable this time. By way of mitigation, it has nothing to do with Allstars or who is the best even though, y’know, someone always has to be the best.
For what it’s worth, Donal Morgan isn’t even entertaining the Beggan-Cluxton comparison in this instance.
We’re talking about the last-gasp free that sent Scotstown into tomorrow’s Ulster final against Gaoth Dobhair, the one where Beggan strode towards the ball and stroked it between the sticks with the leisurely demeanour of a man booting a stray size five from the field.
Given the high stakes, in the final minute of added time after the Monaghan champions had clawed back the four point lead built up by Eoghan Rua, Coleraine, it evoked instant memories of Cluxton’s most famous hour.
You know the one - deep into added time in the 2011 All-Ireland final, Dublin and Kerry all square until Kevin McManamon is felled 40 odd metres from goal? Cluxton stepped up and did the needful to end 16 years of hurt.
For McManamon, read Morgan.
It was his burst from deep that drew a challenge from Coleraine’s Ciaran McGoldrick with the clock ticking down. As had been the case with Cluxton seven years earlier, there was a sense of inevitability about the outcome as Beggan steadied himself.
Morgan, though, is quick to point out an important distinction.
“I remember a lot of the talk with the Cluxton one was about the length of time it took him to come up and take the free – it seemed like an eternity, and there was a lot of debate about running down the clock and that sort of thing.
“When I got fouled I was down on my knees thinking ‘I’ll take my time here, give Rory a chance to get up’. But sure the ref hadn’t the whistle blew and Rory was standing beside me.
“I think he was actually ahead of me at that stage!”
Unlike Cluxton that famous September day, sweat was beating off Beggan’s face as he stepped up for his do-or-die kick having played as an auxiliary outfielder for much of the final 15 minutes – sprinting back towards goal when a move broke down, sprinting back upfield when An Bhoth went on the attack, contributing to the comeback.
It wasn’t the first time Scotstown have sailed close to the wind in this year’s championship voyage, having held off late fightbacks from Ballybay in the county decider and then Burren at the quarter-final stage in Ulster.
On both occasions they were well in control before loosening their grip while, against Coleraine, only that stunning late rally – and the forward forays of the man with number one on his back - stopped them heading for the exit door.
Morgan takes comfort from the character shown, but admits that is the minimum requirement for any county champion. Capable of cutting even the best sides to ribbons when they find their rhythm, the Scotstown stalwart knows they are capable of so much more.
No better place to show that than at Healy Park tomorrow afternoon.
“For every game we come through like that, we’re probably looking for a reason why it was as tight,” said the 33-year-old, whose father Cormac was captain when Scotstown lifted the Seamus McFerran Cup in 1979.
“The Burren one in particular, if we had managed that a bit better we could’ve made life easier for ourselves. The main reason we got out of the Coleraine game was because we persisted with what we had been training on and what we had been practising, and it eventually came good.
“It’s a difficult one to address. We’ve seen Gaoth Dobhair a good bit at this stage and 10 minutes here or 10 minutes there, or a strong start or strong finish, we know that’s not going to cut it.
“But we’re not going to make wholesale changes to adapt to any team, though we have to be aware of their strengths - and we are.”
The celebratory mood that filled their dressing room backstage in Omagh soon subsided when the Scotstown players took their seats at ringside to watch the other two would-be finalists slug it out.
Crossmaglen started as favourites but three first half goals from Daire O Baoill soon sucked the air from their balloon. A fourth from veteran Kevin Cassidy – superb at full-forward all afternoon – announced Gaoth Dobhair’s Ulster arrival in some style.
If ever anything was going to bring the Scotstown players back down to earth and focus minds on the job, it was watching that.
“It mightn’t have been the most positive thing to have seen them because of what they did, and we played poorly. It made us realise how much work we had to do before the final.
“In the there and then it doesn’t help your mood, everybody wants to be ultra-confident and 100 per cent sure you’re going to win in the two weeks coming into an Ulster final because then you can sit back and enjoy it.
“But, realistically, you’re never going to feel like that coming into an Ulster Club final anyway. We saw how good they can be and it gave us plenty to work on.”
At 33, Morgan knows opportunities to replicate his father’s achievement 39 years ago are decreasing with each season that passes. He was there in 2015, when Scotstown were edged out by Cross, and doesn’t want to leave the field tomorrow with that same sickening feeling in his gut.
“It’s taken us three years to get back there - if we’re beat on Sunday and it takes us another three years to get there, a few of us might not be there any more.
“You’re talking seven or eight championship games to get back to an Ulster final, and Monaghan is seriously competitive, so you have to make it count.
“You have to make hay when you get there; that’s a big thing in our club at the minute. For all our juvenile coaches and development officers, they’re very keen on not taking a run such as this for granted, and they’re very aware of the impact on future generations.
“For anyone from four or five upwards, they’ll have memories of this for the next 20 years and while it won’t be the be all and end all, it will be some sort of motivation deep down or interest developed on the back of this.
“We want to take advantage of that while we can.”
