Walshe: The only way is up for Monaghan

Monaghan were one of the success stories last year, but Colin Walshe is convinced they can achieve even bigger things in 2014.

In Malachy O’Rourke’s first season in charge, Monaghan made an important breakthrough, most notably by winning a first Ulster senior championship title in 25 years.

There were a lot of goals set — and attained – with the Anglo Celt Cup that many of the older players had chased for so long finally brought home.

Inevitably, those looking on will question whether Monaghan have the hunger to do it all over again. Will they be ‘one-season wonders’ or can they build on what’s been achieved?

Walshe, who deservedly won his first All Star for his displays in helping the team reach the All-Ireland quarter-finals, sees no reason why it can’t be the latter.

“We will reassess where we’re going and hopefully things will keep going up,” he said.

“Obviously last year, after back to back relegations, the only way was up and it was a great year on all fronts.

“The minors won their first Ulster title in over 60 years, the ladies got to the All-Ireland final and we won the first Ulster senior title since 1988.

“We gave ourselves three targets for the year– to get promoted, to win a game in Croke Park and win Ulster, and we ticked them all off.

“When you look back at the year, obviously we’re a bit disappointed at the defeat to Tyrone but on the whole the year went very well.

“It was Malachy’s first year in charge and we can build on it surely. We’re already looking at ways we can improve.

“He’s not starting off from scratch this time, he has something to build on and the players want to keep improving and get to the latter stages of the All-Ireland series.”

Monaghan beat Meath in an exciting Division Three league final in Croke Park but there was nothing in their subsequent performances against Antrim and Cavan to suggest they could topple All-Ireland champions Donegal in the Ulster final. However, as Down had proved in their semi-final loss to the champions, Jim McGuinness’ tired side were there for the taking. And Monaghan took full advantage.

Despite the historic Ulster title success, they were brought crashing back down to earth in the All-Ireland quarter-final against old foes Tyrone.

It’s a game remembered for Sean Cavanagh’s infamous rugby-style tackle on Conor McManus, but Walshe still looks back on the game with a tinge of regret.

” I wouldn’t say we should have won it – but we definitely had chances. “The goal chance (for Stephen Gollogly) just after half-time, with them just after getting a man (Martin Penrose) sent-off, is what I remember more so than the whole Sean Cavanagh thing.

“Once we got a man (Kieran Hughes) sent-off, it played into Tyrone’s hands then.

“The tackle was the big talking point after the game, and there wasn’t too much analysis that I saw anywhere about the game itself. The game wasn’t broken down the way it normally is.

“I have watched the game back and there’s definitely players, myself included, who didn’t play up to the standard we had been playing at, and that’s probably why we didn’t get over the line.”

With the possibility of meeting Tyrone again in an Ulster quarter-final, if the Red Hands can beat Down in the preliminary round, there’s every incentive for Monaghan to continue their upward curve. They will learn very quickly that it’s a lot harder to be chased than to do the chasing, but Walshe insists they will embrace the challenge of being the team in Ulster everyone wants to beat.

“That’s the challenge every team that wins is looking forward to the following year,” said Walshe, who also captained DIT to the Sigerson Cup in an unforgettable 2013.

“It’s going to be a lot tougher this year. Teams set out to beat Donegal last year and now teams in Ulster are going to be setting out to beat Monaghan.

“Hopefully we will rise to that and the experience we’ve got will help us push on. We go into a very competitive Division Two league campaign, and from there into an Ulster championship as champions.

“Everyone will be looking to knock us off the top but we’ll be hoping to make a good stab at retaining Ulster and then look to push on and get past the August bank holiday weekend.”