Evergreen Karl O'Connell still leading the way for Monaghan

SPLENDID ISOLATION: Monaghan's Karl O'Connell surrounded by Joe McElroy and Armagh colleagues. Pic: INPHO/Ben Brady

The first thing to say about Karl O’Connell is that he doesn’t look anything like a man who will celebrate a 35th birthday next month. One glance at the Tyholland defender and he could pass for a guy 10 years younger. His performances buy into that.

Monaghan manager Vinny Corey spoke on Saturday night about how they had taken their evergreen defender off with five minutes of extra-time remaining against Armagh only for O’Connell to berate them for the act and demand a reinstatement.

He played what turned out to be another seven-and-a-half minutes.

This is extraordinary on one hand and yet perfectly consistent with a county that harnesses the energy of players in what is supposed to be the twilight of a career better than any other inter-county team in either code in the entire country.

This was their third week on the spin, a 100-plus minute affair on the back of a two-point loss against Donegal and a one-point win against Kildare. This shouldn’t have favoured the old dogs but they stuck with it. The question is how.

How do they keep on keeping on?

“I don’t know what it is,” said O’Connell. “The older players going back were the same: Dick (Clerkin), Eoin Lennon, Tommy Freeman, Paul Finlay, Jinxy (Stephen Gollogly), I could list them all. Even (selector) Dermot McArdle in there as well.

“The number one thing is just give it your all, that’s the bottom line. It means a lot to the players and to the fans but we have to get into a situation where we’re not allowing ourselves to be in a dogfight.

“It’s nice to have that ability (to win tight games) as well but there will be teams in the semi-finals that have the ability to just blow you away rather than get into a dogfight so it is something maybe we need to get away from.” 

O’Connell has been Monaghan’s best player this season. He has a young family now and he’s long beyond the point where most players expect to hand in their playing privileges but there is a sense of unfinished business about this group.

It’s five years since they bridged too long a gap and made what had been their last All-Ireland semi-final. That ended with a one-point loss to Tyrone, but the goal since Corey took over last September has been to make a first decider since 1930.

They’re one more shove away from that now.

“The ambition has been there for a long time, even with Malachy O’Rourke and Seamus McEnaney. Nothing has changed with Vinny. It’s unreal, 2018, it's five years ago, but it does feel longer. Vinny came in, set out his stall and everyone just jumped in behind him.

“We feel we haven’t performed to the best of our abilities yet and we need to get that out of us. It can go any way in the semi-final stage. It’s a serious opportunity. I said it last week, all eight teams would be seeing this as a big chance to go forward.”