By Niall Gartland

MONAGHAN camogs haven’t competed in any sort of meaningful capacity at adult level for more than a decade at this stage, but don’t rule out a comeback in the not-so-distant future.

Last weekend a talented and ambitious group of Monaghan u-14s participated in the half-time parade during the All-Ireland Intermediate final, but they did a lot more than get a look around the grand amphitheatre of Croke Park.

They also played their part in the National U-14 blitz day and didn’t come home empty handed, landing a Shield title with a hard-fought victory over neighbours Cavan.

Vindication for the renewed effort that’s been put in at underage level in the county, and the hope is that such effort will bear fruit in the reformation of a senior adult team in future years.

For the uninitiated, Monaghan camogie was actually reasonably strong and stable during the eighties and nineties, but the emergence of a generational ladies team in the county (as commendable as that was!) moved girls in the direction of a football and camogie hasn’t really recovered.

There was an All-Ireland Junior ‘B’ Championship title in 2011 but it proved a false dawn and efforts to field a team in the Nancy Murray Cup as recently as 2021 didn’t come to fruition.

But don’t consign Monaghan camogie at intercounty level to the scrapheap just yet as the signs for the future are very much positive.

Inniskeen’s Gavin Dooley is helping to coach a new u-14 team with real talent and potential, and there’s plenty of backing from the county committee headed up by chairperson Dympna Hughes. Already, girls who struggled with so much as lifting the sliotar off the ground are comfortably striking the ball off both hands, and Dooley says that it all comes back to one thing – commitment.

“We had problems in previous years with girls not showing up. I came in this year with Sinead Lynch, and we put it to the girls who showed up to trials that we’re not interested in those who don’t really want to be here.

“We sometimes had training at Sunday at 9am and when girls show up at that time, you know they’re really determined to get better.”

Dooley’s own involvement stems in part from his daughter Jessica, but he’s also an established and experienced dual player still lining out for his native Inniskeen at the age of 37. They won last year’s Monaghan Senior Hurling Championship, and they’re one of four camogie clubs in the county alongside the three Cs – Carrickmacross, Castleblayney and Clontibret.

He says one of the reasons why the county’s promising young camogs are making such a concerted effort is that the grown ups in the building have adopted a flexible and understanding approach to their commitments.

“There’s good communication between the football contingent and the camogie which wasn’t always the case. 28 out of our 30 girls are dual players who play both camogie and football. Four or five of them play county football as well, and there’s good correspondence between both sets of managers.”

Different girls have different abilities and some were entirely new to the sport when they rocked up to trials at the beginning of the season. It didn’t take them long getting up to pace, and Dooley has been gratified to see their development.

“Some girls couldn’t even strike or pick up the ball but we took things step-by-step and trained everyone together, we didn’t take anyone out and train them separately. Now every one of our 30 girls can strike with their left and right side, and that ability makes a player very hard to stop.”

Dooley is happy to admit that they’ve taken inspiration from some of their neighbouring counties, including Cavan and Tyrone who have taken massive strides in recent years after a period in the doldrums where they too didn’t field at adult level.

“You have to look up to the likes of Cavan and Armagh and Tyrone and Derry, and try to replicate what they do at underage level. They could have two teams at blitzes and tournaments, they’re trying to keep hold of 60 or 70 girls and develop them into senior players. It gives them a bit more leeway than we have at the moment but we’re going in the right direction.”

A strong club scene is also of crucial importance, and the Inniskeen clubman hopes that they make the right moves on that front as well.

“We’re having a senior championship type tournament this year and that’s great, it’s only a few clubs. There used to be a lot more clubs in Monaghan but some have fallen by the wayside over time. It’d be great to see the likes of Truagh and Latton coming back into the fold. It’d be better for the club and county scene, there’d be more girls available for selection so hopefully that’ll come down the line as well.”

Dooley, who makes a point of thanking their sponsors SFS Steel and Raymond Watters, was delighted with their u-14’s success in Dublin last weekend. It was more evidence that things are on the right track, and he attributes their Shield victory to the players on the pitch who did the business on the day.

“it was a great experience against Cavan in the Shield final, it was very close until the last couple of minutes so fair play to both sets of girls, it was a great game.

“We were thrilled to win but it’s all down to the girls themselves, we can only do much but ultimately it’s down to the effort on the pitch and there was certainly no shortage of that.”