Opinion: The measure of success

Maitiú Monaghan

What does “moving the goalposts” mean?

That’s the question on everyone’s lips after Gabriel Bannigan’s bombshell statement last week.

The Aughnamullen man was first involved with Monaghan as part of Vinny Corey’s backroom team.

Corey, a schoolteacher by trade, had managed Monaghan football like a classroom. The team played organised, highly-structured football. Corey’s Monaghan were always hard to beat and generally they gave nothing away – on or off the field.

Covering Monaghan for The Northern Standard at the time, it felt like there was an impenetrable wall around Cloghan. Outsiders could not get a look in.

The 2023 season felt like a greatest hits tour, with Corey getting a tune out of the old fan favourites and leading Monaghan all the way to an All-Ireland semi-final.

By contrast, 2024 was like the final days of Oasis (the first time). Karl Gallagher went to Australia to play in the AFL, Rory Beggan missed much of the season in America, on trial as an NFL kicker. Monaghan were relegated from Division 1, and were also-rans in the All-Ireland series; an opportunistic goal from Micheál Bannigan saving their blushes against Louth in Clones.

As Conor McManus called time on his inter-county career, Gabriel Bannigan took over a Monaghan side in desperate need of a makeover.

He plucked some upstart coach from obscurity in Leitrim, and from nowhere, Monaghan were playing front foot attacking football.

The drastic change of style on the field was one thing, but the biggest changes were in the team’s relationship with the public.

Win or lose, after a game Andy Moran would routinely spend hours on the pitch at full-time, gossiping with the oul fellas, playing keepie uppies with the kids.

The Monaghan footballers never felt more accessible.

Every child in Monaghan has had their photograph taken with Rory Beggan, and you won’t find space on a jersey for another player’s autograph.

Anybody who wants to know the thought process of the Monaghan camp could simply ask the big man or tune in as Feargal Monaghan asked him in a lengthy interview.

Andy Moran clearly played a massive role in the first year, and was dearly missed this season, his Mayo side beating Monaghan en route to an historic All-Ireland win.

Still, Gabriel Bannigan’s Monaghan leaned into a feeling of goodwill and optimism among the general public.

The build up to the Ulster final this year was the best example. Monaghan found themselves in a familiar position of being completely written off against Armagh, so obviously a big performance was incoming.

“Fifth Ulster final for me,” Rory Beggan told Northern Sound at a primary school photo launch, the week of the Ulster Final. “The first three came in a row when I was just starting out, nervy, listening to the elder players, trying not to play the occasion. I’ll not be hiding away from it this week, I’ll enjoy it this week, and I’ll enjoy it next week.”

This came three days before Gabriel Bannigan announced his team and answered questions at a supporters’ breakfast morning.

It lashed out of the heavens on Ulster Final Sunday, but there was more blue than orange dripping down off the hill.

A goalmouth scramble - Sunday, June 28.

Fast forward to the quarter-finals. I nearly choked on my eggs and sourdough toast when I was told, early Sunday morning, that both Beggan and Karl Gallagher were absent. My girlfriend- from Louth, unfortunately - enjoyed it way too much.

The injuries were a massive blow, but didn’t dampen expectations. Monaghan should still win this game - but who will be playing in goal?

By the time I reached Dublin 9, the news had already broken; Jamie Mooney would be making his Championship debut.

We all know what happened next, with the red card, and the kick-outs, and the five-minute blitz that ended Monaghan’s season, and seemingly Bannigan’s tenure.

Louth’s James Maguire was the Man of the Match – for me. The Louth midfielder plays his club football in Monaghan - for Carrickmacross, and yet this summer wearing a Louth jersey he dominated the play to knock Monaghan out of the Championship.

Crouched on my hunkers at full-time, I sent her gloating phone-call straight to voicemail. It was Wednesday before I eventually forced myself to reach out. My ego bruised - I insisted that we wouldn’t talk about the game. I had been bullish in my confidence the week before.

Losing isn’t the problem. You can’t support Monaghan without getting used to losing, but some losses hurt more than others.

That anger lasted for days, it was the hardest Championship defeat to swallow since Monaghan lost at home to Longford in 2019.

Why, I kept asking myself, were Monaghan not set up to get a kickout away - with an extra man - in the last 10 minutes?

It doesn’t matter that Bannigan’s go-to move as manager was to take risks, to blood new players, and to embrace the chaos.

If your ethos is to give nine players their Championship debut in one season, why not make a talented u20s goalkeeper the tenth?

Oisin McGorman doesn’t scream ‘modern inter-county footballer’. And yet, Bannigan took a chance on the wiry youngster. He scored a goal in the quarter-final, while playing with the broken jaw he picked up in the red card challenge.

Even now, I grimace at the thought of young McGorman playing with a broken jaw, and scowl at the final result.

Bannigan’s instinct of trusting young players to do the business was correct. He got it right almost every time and dragged a new generation of Monaghan football into the modern game.

Then, Monaghan lost to14-man Louth in an All-Ireland quarter-final.

Questions were raised as to how that happened, and it left the manager vulnerable.

An abrupt ending: Thursday, August 27

I wasn’t surprised when Monaghan GAA announced Bannigan’s departure last week. Those with their ears to the ground had sensed it was coming. There was talk of nothing else at club games.

To their credit, senior members of Monaghan GAA had briefed this paper in recent weeks that Bannigan was in the process of refreshing his backroom team, and that no decision had been made.

Yet the rumours persisted, and somehow proved founded. Bannigan and many others are left wondering why he was put through that process when in retrospect it seemed the writing was on the wall?

Asked by The Irish Times about his departure, he asserted his view, “there were some dark arts at play”.

After the news broke, again the County Board was adamant they did not want Bannigan’s tenure to end the way it did.

Unfortunately, it did.

What do we expect from the Monaghan footballers, really? Up until now, fans have relished the ‘plucky under-dog’ status.

Monaghan are known for having a ‘never say die attitude’ and celebrating dramatic survival in Division 1. It wouldn't wash in Tyrone or Armagh.

Losing in Croke Park has been heart-breaking and infuriating, but ultimately the norm- Malachy O’Rourke didn’t reach an All-Ireland semi-final until his sixth season in charge.

In two seasons, Gabriel Bannigan took Monaghan from a really low base to an Ulster Final and two All-Ireland quarter-finals.

He brought through plays a number of new players, and thrilled the fans with exciting, attacking football.

But the manner of defeat to 14 man Louth in the All-Ireland quarter-final was unacceptable.

Without us realising it, the goalposts have shifted.

Plucky performances and dramatic come-backs are no longer the barometer of success.

There is enough talent in this group, and coming through the ranks to justify that decision, but Bannigan’s departure should have been handled better.

Going forward, the bar has been raised, our expectations are higher.

We need to start judging Monaghan by their results.