Monaghan still stepping safely through Ulster minefield

Considering the proverbial minefield that is Ulster football, Monaghan’s safe passage to a sixth successive semi-final could be about luck as much as experience. Malachy O’Rourke, at the county helm for the last five of those, prefers to put it down to the latter.

Because this, says O’Rourke, is arguably the strongest Monaghan panel since his arrival, the main reason they’ve safely negotiated a path to Saturday’s semi-final against Down – beating Antrim first, then Cavan – being the knowledge that has come from already being there.

“There’s no doubt, these boys have come through a lot of tough championship games,” says O’Rourke, “and the boys are well experience at this stage. They don’t make all of the right decisions all of the time, but a lot of the time that experience does help.

The next day will be harder again, because every step you take through Ulster, it gets harder again

“There’s no doubt as well that competition for places is very strong. A lot of boys are putting up their hand in training, and there’s no point having boys mad for action, and showing good form, if you don’t give them a chance. We have team that starts every day, and a team that finishes every day, and we just have to assess it again after every game.”

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Horses for courses

Their quarter-final win over Cavan epitomised that: O’Rourke made three late changes – starting Owen Duffy, Kieran Duffy and Dermot Malone, although the players they replaced, Dessie Ward, Shane Carey and Conor McCarthy, all came off the bench. Horses for courses, in other words.

“And also knowing the way Cavan would set up, defensively, breaking out, we wanted to make sure we had ourselves an extra body at the back. And someone like Dermot (Malone) has a good head on him, gets about the field, puts tackles in and so on, and with an extra man at the back, he was going to do more work up around the middle third.”

Also coming off the bench late on, to warm applause, was Darren Hughes, his first appearance this summer after sustaining a knee injury in the league. Monaghan still relied on Conor McManus to see them through – his 60th minute goal the ultimate difference.

“We just had to be patient, and the boys have played enough championship matches to know these games ebb and flow, it always comes down to the last 10 minutes, so just keep the head, and work the scores. And that’s the way it turned out.”

Second-half collapse

So to Down, who last beat them in the 2012 Ulster semi-final, the year before O’Rourke took change, in a game marked by Monaghan’s second-half collapse. Since then O’Rourke has guided them to four of the last five Ulster finals, beginning in 2013, when they beat Cavan in the semi-final – then triumphed over then All-Ireland champions Donegal in the final. It was Monaghan’s first Ulster title in 25 years.

Last year, however, Monaghan won their quarter-final by 17 points, 2-22 to Down’s 0-9. Monaghan are expected to progress again, although O’Rourke received suitable warning about Down’s potential for an upset after their surprise win over Armagh. The winners will play Tyrone in the Ulster final on July 16th.

“And I was up at that game, and Down were very impressive. And even at the end of the league, they did finish off very impressively. Their form against a very fancied Armagh team was very good, they’ve a lot of very sharp forwards, and I was very impressed. We know we’ll need to improve again to beat them.

“The next day will be harder again, because every step you take through Ulster, it gets harder again.”

Which is where experience, not luck, really counts.