A CLIP OF fan footage from the preliminary quarter-final between Monaghan and Kildare captures the patience and precision of Conor McCarthy’s winning point.
The scene, filmed by Monaghan photographer Glenn Murphy, lasts for roughly one minute as Vinny Corey’s side spray the ball over the back through hand and foot. The background noise in the crowd is a mix of Kildare fans mimicking full-time whistle sounds, and the anxious Monaghan faithful willing their boys on for one last charge.
They were trailing by three points at one stage, and now they’re level in Tullamore with McCarthy kicking a crucial score as part of the revival. The Kildare blanket is tight. No pockets of space appear to be opening up. Extra-time is looming.
And then the break comes. Substitute Kieran Hughes offloads the ball to Jack McCarron who hits a pass to Sean Jones out on the off the inside of his left boot. Jones throws his fist up to signal a mark but the referee doesn’t permit it.
Amidst the confusion, Jones swivels free and spots a darting run from McCarthy across his path. There’s nothing but grass in front of the Scotstown man as the space finally materialises for him to drill the ball between the posts. The screen on Murphy’s device is now covered in hands, blue and white jerseys and the only sound is a collective cheer as the full-time whistle finally arrives.
Cool, Calm & Collected as Conor McCarthy & @monaghangaa pip @KildareGAA at the post on a score line of 1:11 to 0:13 to go through to the @gaa All Ireland Quarter Finals. @PhotoMurp @MonaghanGAAFans @gaa_monaghan @ScotstownGAA @BlayneyFaughs pic.twitter.com/3DEZUCOkXb
— GlennMurphyPhotos (@PhotoMurp) June 24, 2023
It’s not the first time this season that Monaghan have rescued themselves from disaster. Nor is it the second. A late burst of energy was their saviour against Derry, and against Tyrone. A Karl O’Connell point and a goal from Ryan O’Toole punctuated those performances.
Monaghan’s reward for their resolve is a place in the All-Ireland quarter-finals for the first time since 2018. It’s quite the turnaround for a team that was feeling the flames of relegation on the last day of the league.
Ending that five-year wait for a quarter-final was one of the first things McCarthy mentioned to the media when the microphones were turned on to pour over his heroics. He was wearing number seven on his back for that game, and the wing back position has been his home on the team of late. But when he first broke into the Monaghan seniors, McCarthy was operating the forwards.
“He would have come in at the start with us as a corner forward and then he slowly drifted out to a half-forward role,” former Monaghan defender Colin Walshe tells The 42 having retired from inter-county football at the start of this year.
Now that Walshe has switched his view from the pitch to the stands, he can appreciate the benefits that Monaghan are earning by reinventing McCarthy’s role in the team.
“Conor’s a really talented footballer. He’s always been a big talented man coming up. He won two Sigerson Cups with UCD and he was highly regarded there too.
“I would have always thought he was nearly too selfless for the team in the half-forward line. He’d end up spending a lot of his energy tracking back and doing hard work. And not really getting to showcase his talents in the forwards.
“But in the last year or two, I know Banty [Seamus McEnaney] would have tried him out as a back and then an attacking wing-back. He would have been given the freedom to go forward. And that was his purpose in the team. It wasn’t so much to be chasing back.
“I know he started against Tyrone in the first round as a half-forward in the first half. And he probably struggled to get on the ball going forward or have an impact. But they flipped it at half-time and he went to half back and I think since then he’s really taken off in the championship.
“He kicked a couple of points that day in the second half. He scored a goal against Clare, a breakaway goal. He’s a very athletic player well as being really talented on the ball and he really showed that off in the middle third.”
McCarthy kicked two points in that Ulster quarter-final against Tyrone, and just as he did against Kildare, he churned out 1-2 in their All-Ireland series clash with Clare. He didn’t get on the scoresheet the first day out against Derry but helped himself to three points in the All-Ireland series meeting between the sides that ended in a dramatic draw.
Whether he’s attacking from deep or attacking from closer to goal, McCarthy’s radar is on point.
Walshe knows the devastating impact of McCarthy’s attacking strengths as a club player too. His side Doohamlet have veered between the senior and intermediate grades over the years, while Scotstown have won seven Monaghan senior titles since 2013.
They also reached Ulster club finals in 2015 and 2018 where they came up short against Crossmaglen of Armagh and Donegal’s Gaoth Dobhair respectively. However, McCarthy scored a combined three points in those deciders.
Walshe remembers the last time Doohamlet faced Scotstown, and the imprint that McCarthy left on the game.
“I think he scored a hat-trick of goals against us. So we know him fairly well.
“He’s one of the most dangerous in Monaghan football. He tends to play for Scotstown in the corner or in very close to goal because they probably don’t need him out the field as much. That’s where he really is at his most dangerous in club football.
“But I guess with county, there would be other players in that full forward area in the last couple of years like Jack McCarron and Conor McManus so he would have naturally come out further from goal.
“Every [Monaghan] manager has started him between Malachy [O'Rourke] and Banty. Everyone in Monaghan knows how talented he is. It’s just about trying to get the best out of him, and they’re probably getting that out of him in the middle third to get him on the ball as much as possible.”
McCarthy may appear short in size but Walshe points out that he has added bulk to his diminutive frame to make him equal parts strong and fast.
“He has actually put on a lot of size in the last two years. He would have been a slight enough figure. And as a forward, he would have been more elusive. He still has a really good sidestep, but he probably wouldn’t have had as much power behind him now. But you can see that he hasn’t lost any pace.”
The All-Ireland quarter-final pairings will see various classic rivalries renewed this weekend. Kerry have beef with Tyrone; Dublin and Mayo go way back and people who remember the 1993 All-Ireland final between Derry and Cork will look forward to another battle between the counties.
Similarly, Armagh and Monaghan share a long history of tormenting each other in Ulster. Due to the restrictions of the draw, Kerry and Dublin were the only other teams that Monaghan could have been paired with this weekend. A chance to take out Kieran McGeeney’s side and advance to the semi-finals will have to do instead.
“I’d say probably both camps are content with the draw,” says Walshe who adds that he has no regrets about hanging up his Monaghan jersey this year.
“Look at this stage, you know, you’re going into the last eight. Every game is a massive challenge for both teams and I suppose, Armagh had bought themselves that week off last week having topped their group.”
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