Darren Hughes pictured at the eir Sport Allianz Leagues coverage launch on Wednesday.
By Cian O'Connell
The summer of 2016 ended in deep disappointment for Monaghan footballers. Crushing Championship defeats to Donegal and Longford in quick succession ensured Monaghan had plenty of time to reflect on what might have been.
Darren Hughes, such a central figure in Monaghan’s Ulster Championship triumphs in 2013 and 2015, occupied himself by helping Scotstown to a third County title in four years which eased the pain slightly.
On the eve of the Allianz Football League, though, Hughes is encouraged about Monaghan’s health despite the recent retirements of two Farney warriors, Dick Clerkin and Paul Finlay.
Hughes acknowledges that the Monaghan dressing room is a different place now. “Yeah, it is,” Hughes smiles.
“Funny enough the couple of younger boys, we have a few characters there too, but Dick and Jap, they were great fellas to have about the place. Their experience on and off the pitch. They will be big losses, but them boys can't hang about forever.
“They felt it was the right time to go, we feel that the young players have the potential to come through. Obviously they aren't going to turn it on overnight by being the next Paul Finlay in the next match, but it is about nurturing them boys in, about getting them experience and game time. Hopefully they will have a tale to tell later on in the year.”
While the loss to Longford was a setback Hughes admits that Monaghan are eager to move on ahead of what promises to be another interesting campaign. “We haven't really looked back on it as a group as such,” he says.
“Malachy (O’Rourke) pulled us in and we just got back into training. My personal reflection on it was - people say we took our eye off the ball - but we prepared for that game the same as any other game.
“We made a few changes to freshen the thing up, but Longford came with a game plan. We could still be there and we wouldn't beat them. That day they were kicking them over from everywhere, we had no answer to what they threw at us.
Malachy O Rourke remains in charge of Monaghan.
“It was just one of those days at the office. Some days you just have to take that on the chin and congratulate the better team. I suppose it gave us plenty of time to reflect. The one thing was when boys came back, nobody had a prolonged club season so boys came back a bit fresher with a few niggles cleared up.
“Most of the boys are fully training from January. In previous years maybe we would have been training in January with 18 or 20 boys, with 15 boys getting rehab or going through different programmes. A lot of the boys are chomping at the bit.”
Even though 2016 brought tough moments Hughes feels there is significant talent in Monaghan. “If we look back on the League everything last year, we had a poor McKenna Cup, we won three League games and bar the Down game we had a poor Championship. Overall we had a poor year.
“We still feel we have the nucleus of a good squad to compete in Ulster, we had proved that over the years. I suppose we are going to have to back that up by having a good National League and summer.”
O’Rourke, such a shrewd sideline operator, remains in charge for a fifth year which is crucial according to Hughes. “That was imperative for us as players. We knew after four years and a very disappointing Championship loss, it would have been easy for Malachy to walk away, but we knew we still had the nucleus of a strong squad.
“We won the Ulster Under 21 championship last year and have good players coming through with winning experience. Them boys are in the senior dressing room with a winning habit. Years ago we’d have been coming into the dressing room and the seniors hadn’t won anything and the underage boys hadn’t won anything and there was no winning mentality in the team.
“These boys are coming in and they want to win and they know the feeling of winning and the craic you can have after it and everything that goes with winning.
“They want more of that, that’s why they are there. For the work Malachy and his backroom team put in this last four years it would have been too much to throw away and where would you get a top quality manager that is going to want to come to Monaghan. They had all the work put in and it was vital we kept them to keep the machine moving.”
**Dublin’s Ciaran Kilkenny and Monaghan’s Darren Hughes were in Dublin on Wednesday to announce details of eir Sport's expanded coverage of the 2017 Allianz Leagues. eir Sport will broadcast a total of 23 live games, an increase from the 17 which have previously been broadcast. ***
