Memorable days of making the grade in football-mad Monaghan

SPORTING PASSIONS TOMMY BOWE: Mark Roddenhears the Ireland, Ulster and soon to be Ospreys winger reflect on his time playing Gaelic football in Monaghan

I USED TO play a bit of most sports when I was younger. I used to try my hand at tennis, golf, football, horseriding, rugby - everything. Luckily enough, rugby was always the number one sport and I'm able to make a living out of it.

I would have played with Emyvale Gaelic football team from pretty much when I was able to kick a ball. Football is the only real sport in that parish and there were a couple of great footballers that I've played with. I'd say I started at under-eights. It was always fun then and I played at school as well.

I couldn't shoot to save my life so I used to play centre half forward or midfield. I was always relatively okay at catching the ball from kick-outs and that sort of thing and whenever I'd get the ball I was basically told to run with it. Generally the opposition team would give away a foul and then somebody else who was a bit more accurate than me would be there to put the ball over the bar.

It was a good side and I enjoyed playing it. I enjoy the expanse of the game. Rugby is seen as a hard man's game with a lot of contact, but I remember back in my Gaelic football days the way there would be one-on-one marking and you didn't want to be a pushover for the opposition.

There'd be as much messing about and sly digs in Gaelic as there would be in rugby - certainly for me on the wing anyway.

I played all the way up through the junior ages for Monaghan - under-16s, under-17s and then I trained away with the minors. Unfortunately, I was forced to make a decision.

Monaghan minors wanted me to train in the winter, but that was during the rugby season and I couldn't give them that commitment. I didn't play in the minor championships - I played a few warm-up games and that was it.

I went to school in Armagh Royal so I was having to travel up and down the road and I was having to miss training just to be able to play matches. It just got that bit awkward and once I moved up to Belfast at around 18 I had to call it a day.

I always wonder would I have ever made it. There's a lot of players on the current Monaghan football team that I would have played against and played with at underage level. There would be quite a few of them that I would have had good battles with.

To see them going so well last year and hopefully, despite the recent setback against Fermanagh, to be one of the teams to beat this year is great.

In the past, Monaghan have always been underachievers. Football is the main sport there, but we never really got anywhere with it so it was great to see them going well.

I would have played against the two Mone brothers, the Corey brothers - looking down the teamsheet I probably would have played against most of them at one stage or another. They're a fairly young side and it's great to see that Monaghan have put a lot of effort into these fellas coming through.

The run last year was great. When they hit Croke Park I think you could have driven through Monaghan and broken into any shop because there would be nobody there to try and stop you. The place just emptied and it was great for Monaghan to get some success like that. But it's very important that this year they try to replicate that success.

I remember Paul Finlay came out to mini-rugby training once. He's from Ballybay and the first day he'd ever touched a rugby ball he came out with a guy called Conor Connolly, who I would have played a lot of rugby with.

Paul came out and ran rings around the whole lot of us, all of us guys who'd been playing rugby for years.

So there's a lot of guys there who have an awful lot of talent. You can only think that if a lot of these guys were to turn into rugby players what a strong side Ireland would have, because the talent of some of those footballers is unbelievable.

There's a huge crossover of skills. Playing any ball sport there is, but there's certain things like attacking a ball. Whenever the ball is kicked to you in Gaelic you can't just sit back and wait for it or somebody will come in and take it on you and being able to attack a ball that's coming towards you involves footwork and agility.

So anybody who comes from a Gaelic football background would be able to pick up a sport like rugby very easily and vice versa.