National League Division One Round One

Galway v Monaghan

Sunday, Pearse Stadium, 2.30m

DESSIE Mone announced his retirement after 16 long seasons with Monaghan in November with with the briefest of tweets, saying he had “no regrets”.

And in his head, he thought it’d be for the best to take a brief break from even watching Monaghan matches.

A third round league match against Dublin at Croke Park on February 8 seemed like a good time to get back on the wagon, but as fate would have it he ended up co-commentating on Monaghan’s McKenna Cup final defeat against Tyrone on Sunday for local station Northern Sound.

Mone was congratulated after the match by veteran members of the press for a polished performance in front of the mic, and he admits that he’s coming to terms with his retirement.

“It’s not going too badly. I intended on making a slow start in going back to matches – I’d targeted the Dublin match but then I got the phone call to do a bit of radio with Northern Sound.

“It was something different. Usually I get the bus into matches, this time I was walking in but I didn’t feel any pressure, I wasn’t as tense for sure.”

Players commonly cite leaving the team Whatsapp group as the moment when it finally hits home that they’re no longer going to be part of things. Be that as it may, Mone says he’s made “friends for life” during a career which saw him pick up two Ulster titles among a host of other accolades.

“They’re all good lads, they’re friends for life and we had a really steady period of seven years there with Malachy as the manager. That was the best thing about it really, the friends and the memories you make, it’s fantastic.”

While Monaghan were pretty poor in their 0-11 to 1-5 victory against Tyrone, Mone assures that the players won’t be long getting over it. They have a huge battle ahead away to Galway this weekend, and even the early rounds of the league are crucially important.

“The main focus is the league. The McKenna Cup will be brushed over and you just have to move forward. There’s no point mulling over something that you can’t change. Players will get up and get on with it, and the way things are set up they usually have a training camp the week before the national league anyway so the McKenna Cup doesn’t matter that much.”

The Malachy O’Rourke era may be over, but Monaghan have a proud record to maintain in Division One. It’s been their home for the last five years, and Mone says that’s a great source of pride within the county, and also says it’s one of the reasons why Monaghan have been able to hold onto their players at youth level.

“It’s important for the county, especially the young people to see Monaghan playing in Division One. It’s where you want to be – when you open up the papers in the morning it’s all focused on Division One games.

“It’s stood to us and helped us over the years and probably been a reason why we’ve won the last two Ulster minor titles. People want to come out and play for the county so it’s important we keep it up.

Monaghan fielded a fairly inexperienced line-up against Tyrone, and it showed. Superstar players like Conor McManus and Rory Beggan didn’t play any part whatsoever, but the introduction of Karl O’Connell, Dermot Malone, Ryan McAnespie and Kieran Hughes in the second-half did seem to have a positive impact. Niall Kearns also did well in the midfield sector as he continues his long battle back to full fitness after heart surgery, while Shane Carey and Conor McCarthy were also decent. Worryingly, Colin Walshe had to be taken off after three minutes. He’s done his cruciate before but Banty McEnaney said after the match that it’s an ankle injury so he shouldn’t be missing for too long.

Mone commented: “It was good for our more experienced lads to come after the break and get a bit of game-time. They would’ve been playing a challenge match anyway ahead of the Galway game.

“When they came on there was a better shape to things. They knew their roles whereas some of the younger lads are still adjusting to playing at this level so it should bring them on as well.”

Monaghan won’t need reminding that they’ve lost their league matches against Galway in the last two seasons. It’s a new era for the Tribesmen as legend Padraic Joyce has come in as manager. Kevin Walsh, who was in charge for five years, was a fairly divisive figure in the county for his defensive brand in football, and Joyce apparently expects big things from his players, so it should be interesting from a neutral perspective as well to see how they’re shaping up.