Oram: Back to the future

By Shaun Casey

SOMETIMES to move forward, you have to look backwards and Oram Sarsfields tied the achievements of 30 years ago with the future last Saturday night in a juvenile fundraiser.

Back in 1995, the club had an unprecedented run of glory, bringing home five pieces of silverware. They won trophies at u-16, minor, reserve – a double – and and senior level, clinching the Junior League title that year.

Thirty years on and Oram are starting to make strides again. They’re back celebrating underage success in the club and have a few players that are representing Monaghan at the highest level. They’re a club on the up.

Saturday night was about bringing people back to the club, looking back on the accomplishments of three decades ago, and inspiring the next generation of footballers coming through the club.

“You could wait 30 years to win one cup, and we won five in one year, it was unheard of,” said clubman Tony Graham. “For five years before that, we were in five u-16 finals from ’91 to ‘95, we won three and naturally that fed into our reserve and our senior teams.

“There were fellas there that you wouldn’t have seen in years, fellas that had moved away and they made special efforts to be there. I’m thinking of Joe Laverty there, his son Conor is the captain of the Dromintee minors that are in the St Paul’s tournament.

“The likes of Phillip Mone, a serious GAA man, he’s been a constant figure in the club over the last 30 years and was manager and trainer of the seniors in 1995. And Martin Fox as well, he was our main sponsor on the night.

“Unfortunately, Declan McBennett couldn’t make it. His daughter Lily was getting her u-16 All-Ireland medal, I think she might have got Player of the Year as well at the Armagh dinner dance on Saturday night.

“Declan was a big player for us and he practically would have trained all the teams back in ’95, he had a big role in coaching those teams and playing on the senior team.

“At that time, he would have been at Queen’s University and playing football with Kieran McGeeney and Diarmuid Marsden and was coming back to Oram with training methods that were probably ahead of his time.

“We had people interviewed on stage that were linked to all those teams, and we had the matches running on the screens behind so people were watching them as well as listening to stories and the conversations.”

Thirty years on from their last minor success, Oram once again claimed silverware at that level and 2025 marked a season to remember at underage level for the club, as Graham explains.

“We won four cups this year which is unheard of for us but there’s been a major drive this last few years at underage. We won the minors for the first time in 30 years, and the link between both teams, Justin Mone was captain in ’95 and he was the manager this year.

“We won the u-16s, the u-14 B team won their cup and our u-12 team won their cup so we’re making strides. We kitted out a new gym this time last year, we’re into a strong S&C programme with our younger players.”

Now, it’s about focusing on the future. It’s coming up on 30 years since Oram last won the Junior Championship and at the end of the day, that’s what all the hard work is for. For their senior team to taste championship success.

It’s not going to happen overnight, and the club know that, but with the strides they’ve been making in the past few years, they’re certainly trending in the right direction and sooner or later, they’ll have another big night to celebrate in the club.

“The last time we won a Junior Championship was 1998, it’s a long time and we haven’t been in a final since that,” Graham continued. “We’ve been knocking around semi-finals but we haven’t been fit to bridge that gap and it’s a long time.

“We’re realistic enough to know that at the minute, we’re not in a position to win it because the Monaghan Junior Championship is one of the strongest in Ulster with the likes of Emyvale coming down, it’s very difficult to win it.

“We believe that if we put the right structures in place at underage level, we can win it in the next four or five years with the players that we have coming through.

“We have players that are representing Monaghan, Jason Irwin on the senior team. We have Ryan Mitchell on the minors, Cathal McCooey on the u-20s, Lorcan Bishop and Jamie McLoughlin on the u-16s and that’s testament to the work we’re doing at underage level.”