By Shaun Casey

FROM the dizzy highs of kicking scores in All-Ireland finals and climbing the steps of the Hogan Stand to patrolling the sideline at St Tiernach’s Park, Clones, Kevin Nolan’s football journey has been a roller coaster ride.

Marriage took him to Monaghan, and he has settled in nicely at this stage. Nolan is now part of the furniture at the Cremartin club, and he is enjoying the role as Monaghan Minor manager this season.

A Kilmacud Crokes clubman back home in the capital, Nolan experienced the highs and lows of Dublin football. That was before they became the dominant force that regularly collected the Sam Maguire Cup at the end of each season.

He broke through during Paul ‘Pillar’ Caffrey’s tenure, but it was under Pat Gilroy in 2010 when he really nailed down a place. Gilroy wanted to change the culture in the Dublin dressing room and decided to give youth a chance.

A Leinster semi-final defeat to Meath, when the Dubs conceded five goals, during the 2010 season was the catalyst for Gilroy’s change in approach. Nolan got his chance and never looked back.

“We lost to Meath in a Leinster semi-final in 2010 and I basically got into the team off the back of that,” recalled Nolan. “I was there two years previous to that with ‘Pillar’ Caffrey but in 2010, the younger lads got a chance from Pat and the management team.

“We took it. We came up against Armagh in the qualifiers and took off from there. I’m always using that experience as every manager and every player does – you’re trying to pass on all of that experience from years gone by to the younger generation.

“That’s why I’m in it. I’m teaching and coaching for a reason, because I enjoy it and you’re constantly meeting new people and yes, it might not always go right or go well for everyone, but it’s an enjoyable career and hobby to have.

“’Pillar’ Caffrey would have set the stall out for a lot of what Pat then built on. They broke down the barriers that we would have had in our own heads and then Jim (Gavin) took it on to the next level after that.

“It was great to experience everything with them, but I had some great club managers as well and was lucky enough to play under some serious managers at Kilmacud Crokes and to win an All-Ireland against Crossmaglen.”

Nolan kicked an important score late on against Kerry in the 2011 All-Ireland final and earned the Man of the Match award for his display that day as the Dubs ended their 16 year wait for an All-Ireland title.

That was the win that kickstarted their journey into the best team of all time. The side was filled with some of the greatest players to have ever laced up a pair of football boots. The talent was there, but their success was down to one thing. Hard work.

“We played A vs B games a lot of the time, so I wouldn’t have been coming up against the likes of Diarmuid (Connolly) and Paul (Flynn) but you were always marking lads that were just as good but maybe didn’t get the limelight,” added Nolan.

“At underage level, Diarmuid Connolly would have been the year above me and usually the centre back was marking the centre forward so I would have marked him quite a bit but all those lads were serious footballers.

“The big thing that those lads brought was their work rate and that’s the big thing that I’d try to install in this Monaghan team, that talent looks after itself when you work really hard.

“All those Dublin players in the past, the legends that have won six All-Irelands in a row, yes they were good footballers but first and foremost they were serious workers and that bonded the team together.”

Nolan’s Dublin career was cut short when Jim Gavin omitted him from the squad for the 2015 season, the first of the six in a row. When he moved further north, whispers circulated that he could be back in the blue and white, but with Monaghan this time.

Malachy O’Rourke was the Farney boss then and Monaghan were experiencing a golden age. Two Ulster titles in three years saw them dine at the very top table, but the image of Nolan in a Monaghan shirt never came to pass.

In truth, it was never going to happen. Two back operations put Nolan out of action and left it clear that his inter-county days were numbered. Club football was still there of course, and he hasn’t quite hung up the boots just yet.

“No, it never happened,” Nolan said of the possible county switch. “I had a back operation right before I moved up here and then had to have a second operation. The L5S1 disc wasn’t great, and I had to have it operated on twice, four years apart from each other.

“Playing for Monaghan was never going to happen but it’s just great to be up here and involved with elite level football with the development squads and now the minors but also the club as well.

“I married into the club with the wife and her brothers so it’s class to be up here now. I live across the road from the club so I couldn’t look beyond that. I took a bit of a break from playing because of the minors, you can’t be out of the house every night of the week.”

Most of his time is of course taken up by the Monaghan minors. He’s been involved with this team over the past few years and has helped their development and rise, even turning down a spot in Vinny Corey’s management team to stay with this group.

Monaghan are one win away from a place in the Ulster Minor Championship final and take on Tyrone this Saturday evening in the semi-final. Win, lose or draw, Nolan will stay with this squad until the bitter end.

“It’s my first year with the minors but I’ve had this group the whole way up through u-14s. I was interested in the development squads and Paul O’Connor got me a role years ago with the u=-14s, 15s, 16s and so on.

“Vinnie (Corey) actually asked me to go in with the seniors but because this group that was coming through, I wanted to hang back and see if it was possible to take them to minor. A lot of those lads in the group are playing since u-14s.

“It’s nice to be involved in a group like this because I played as a Dublin underage player and there was a Monaghan man over us, so the roles are sort of reversed now where there’s a Dublin man over the Monaghan minors.

“They’re a great bunch of lads and I would actually teach a load of them in the school (Our Lady’s Castleblayney). They’re genuinely lovely lads off the field but on the pitch, they might be able to take your head off as well.

“There’s a lot of different clubs involved in our school which is nice because football is a religion up here in Monaghan, which is the same in a lot of counties, whereas in Dublin, it’s diluted a bit, but up here it just means so much to everyone.”