THE GAA’S COMMUNICATIONS department organised a media day last week, to promote the Monaghan-Meath league game.
It was held on the grounds of Bective Stud, sponsors of Meath, and Monaghan captain Micheál Bannigan was dispatched from the Farney camp.
Chances are his employers were happy enough to give him the day off.
“I work for the sponsor, Activ8,” smiled Bannigan. He does digital marketing with the Carrickmacross based solar energies firm who are in their second season backing Monaghan.
Bannigan, no doubt, is as skilled in his day job as he is leading the Monaghan front line. They know how to look after their own in Monaghan all the same, a tiny county of just over 65,000 – Tallaght in Dublin has over 80,000 – which is the very essence of self sufficiency, perhaps even overachievement.
Over 20 different sponsors are listed on the Monaghan GAA website, the majority of them thriving local firms, from ‘second tier main sponsor’ McAree Engineering, based at Ballinode, to the support provided by Monaghan Electrical, The Four Seasons Hotel outside Monaghan Town and Smithborough based Greenfield Foods. Even the Monaghan County Council supports underage coaching and games development.
Combilift, with 800 employees and annual revenue reportedly exceeding €500m, is headquartered at Annahagh and is the lead sponsor of Monaghan LGFA.
The lack of any great multinational presence is offset in Monaghan by an entrepreneurial spirit and a resilient, can-do attitude. A sheer refusal to embrace mediocrity. Exhibit A, the Monaghan senior footballers.
They must have enjoyed being ranked as underdogs by many people heading to Navan for that tie against Meath last Sunday. This was, afterall, a team that contested an All-Ireland semi-final in 2023, and spent 10 seasons in Division 1 between 2015 and 2024, being told they’d do well to break even with a Meath side that had shown a little promise under new manager Robbie Brennan but, in truth, nothing to deserve such expectation.
At half-time, Monaghan were 1-20 to 0-8 ahead. They won by nine points in the end, are now two clear at the head of Division 2 and will immediately return to Division 1 this Sunday if they draw with, or beat, Down in Clones. Even a loss may be enough.
Monaghan feel that it’s where they belong, even though the only four counties on the island that have smaller populations – Fermanagh, Carlow, Longford and Leitrim – are all in either Division 3 or 4.
The latest figures from 2022 state that Monaghan has a little over 3,000 males between the ages of 20 and 29 in the county. And how many of them even like football let alone play it?
Monaghan make the numbers work by maxing out talent and wringing every last ounce of ability out of those at their disposal. Throughout those 10 years in Division 1, they consistently fielded the lowest number of players, relying on a tight core.
Take 2019, for example, Monaghan used 27 players in that Division 1 campaign, 10 less than Dublin. Galway used 38 in 2020, to Monaghan’s 28. Yet the following year, 2021, Monaghan beat Galway in a play-off to stay up, their bond unbreakable as they scrapped all the way to the end of an extra-time epic in Clones.
It takes a band of brothers to do what Monaghan have been doing and their unity is always apparent. Gap years, extended travel breaks and early retirements are a rarity in the Farney. When Conor McManus eventually retired last winter after 18 seasons, it was mainly because of his battered hip. His retirement announcement even mentioned the ‘physios (who saw plenty of me), doctors . . .’ A hip replacement is on the horizon.
Darren Hughes, a full-time dairy farmer with 105 cows, turned 38 last month, has two young kids and suffered a torn MCL and broken leg last April. Anyone else would have called it quits. But he’s already back, coming on as a sub three times so far in this season’s campaign.
Karl O’Connell, 37, is going again too and has a similar tale: wife, young family, busy job. He suffered a torn adductor muscle in 2024 which brought all sorts of physical complications. “I was walking like a penguin,” he said of the injury, acknowledging he was even concerned “about the impact on everyday life”.
But once you’re in with Monaghan, you’re in. Just ask fellow 30-somethings Rory Beggan, Jack McCarron, Ryan Wylie and Kieran Duffy. Conor McCarthy, Dessie Ward and Ryan McAnespie are almost in that bracket too.
The funny thing is, anyone who has watched them this season, and particularly against Meath, was struck by the team’s power, pace, their sheer vitality. Stephen O’Hanlon, McCarthy and Bannigan are effervescent. So is Sigerson Cup finalist Ryan O’Toole and, when fit, Michael Hamill. There’s still a crew of minors from the 2023 All-Ireland final team to come through at some stage.
Many interpreted last year’s horror season – Monaghan were relegated and lost three Championship games – as a line in the sand moment after a decade of high performance. Best of luck convincing any of the Monaghan players of that. Team skipper Bannigan was asked at the media event if he thinks there’s still an All-Ireland in the group?
“Yeah, I do,” he replied.
Why so?
“It’s knowing the confidence that’s in the group,” he said. “Just knowing the players and the trust and faith I would have in my teammates. That’s what I think about that.”
Wouldn’t lace Leitrem’s boots.
@James Murphy: Leitrim wear slip-ons ffs