Monaghan lack killer instinct to expose Cork

WHEN Cork clipped Monaghan’s wings in the first ever competitive meeting between the sides on Leeside this time last year, we saw for perhaps the first time in Seamus McEnaney’s tenure as Monaghan manager, the frailties in his team that were to emerge a few times since.

Some weeks later, Westmeath pipped them at home in Clones to deny them the opportunity of playing Division 1 football in 2009 and shortly afterwards, Fermanagh well and truly burst the Farney bubble in the first round of the Ulster Championship. A sustained period of introspection followed that galling defeat and while Monaghan recorded good wins over Derry and Donegal before a decent showing and honourable exit against Kerry, it was hard to avoid the conclusion that the gloss had gone off the achievements of McEnaney’s regime and it would take something special to restore the sense of anticipation that abounded before Easter last year.

The rehabilitation appeared to be going quite well with three high scoring wins in the opening three rounds of the 2009 league campaign. A narrow three-point defeat to Kildare in Round 4 didn’t appear too upsetting but it did offer context to those three opening wins. For their first six league points Monaghan had to beat two newcomers to this level of league football (Wexford and Fermanagh) and a seriously depleted Armagh team that are only now finding their stride with the addition of the Crossmaglen contingent. A home defeat to Kildare (minus Johnny Doyle for much of the second half) and a late, late draw against a Meath team that wouldn’t have any opposition quaking in their boots is probably more representative of where Monaghan are at as we face into the final two rounds of league football. The recent history of Monaghan football is littered with references to near misses and patronising platitudes about ambushes and gallant defeats but you really do sense at this stage that the current crop of footballers in Kavanagh country are always going to be that one tantalising win away from being a good team.