Dick Clerkin retires: 'Even in our darkest, heart-breaking hours, Monaghan stuck together'

Announcing his retirement from inter-county football after 180 outings with Monaghan, Dick Clerkin offers gratitude to the remarkable attitude and resilience of his Farney team-mates who stepped up — and then stepped up some more...

As a 17-year-old, on a typically wet and miserable September evening in 1999, my father Hugo drove me to my first trial game for Monaghan in Louth. Growing up, watching re-runs of old Monaghan games from the 80s on old Sony Betamax tapes, all I ever wanted to do was emulate him by having a long career with Monaghan.

After watching him tussle with Jack O’Shea in the middle of the park, myself and my brother Ben would tog out in his old jerseys and do battle on our homemade field of dreams.