By Shaun Casey

WHILE we’ve become accustomed to teams attempting to avoid Division One National League finals, Monaghan celebrate the 40th anniversary of their one and only top tier crown this month, won in 1985 at Croke Park.

Football has of course changed during the last four decades. It’s changed during the last four months. But medals are medals and the success of that Monaghan team moulded memories that will last a lifetime.

There aren’t too many national titles floating around the Farney County. In footballing terms, Sam Maguire has never visited that part of the country, so that Division One league triumph meant an awful lot. And still does.

Bernie Murray was one of the heroes of that team and that period was truly a golden age for Monaghan football. Murray missed out on the Ulster Championship success in 1979 but was around in ’85 and ’88. They also reached the Centenary Cup final in ’84, but lost to Meath.

The league was different back then as well. Monaghan finished top of Division Two, losing just one of their seven games, which saw them qualify for the knockout stages of the competition.

They eased past Kildare in Larry Tompkins’ second last game for the Lilywhites, but needed a replay and extra-time to defeat Ulster champions Tyrone. That set up an all-Ulster finale against Armagh, who had ended Monaghan’s provincial journey almost 12 months earlier.

“For the first time ever, there were four Ulster teams in the semi-finals and a double-header in Croke Park,” Murray recalls. “We played Tyrone and Down played Armagh. As you can imagine, there was a serious crowd and two serious matches.”

Two late Tyrone scores sent the game to a replay, fixed for the Athletic Grounds in Armagh, and victory there sent Monaghan through to the decider. Having beaten old rivals Down, the Orchard County were the favourites for the trophy.

But a rousing speech from manager Sean McCague, a Scotstown clubmate of Murray, fired up his team before the match.

“Fr Sean Hegarty was the Armagh manager and Eamonn Coleman was his coach.

“McCague’s team talk, he asked us what was going to be said in the Armagh meeting that morning. What was Fr Sean Hegarty going to say to his players? He went around everyone of our players, he always did.

“He went through us one by one, saying what Fr Sean Hegarty would be saying in the Armagh changing room. He didn’t run us down, but poked us. He said things like that I was too young and I wouldn’t survive in a game like that.

“Monaghan were too young and wouldn’t cope with what Armagh had. I looked round the group and as he talked about each player, you could see them sitting up a bit straighter in the seat with the chest out.

“When he came to me, I remember leaving the changing room and I knew we were definitely going to win. You could just feel it in the lads. We felt nervous, but we felt confident as well and we knew we’d be flying.”

A converted penalty from Eamonn McEneaney gave Monaghan a three-point lead at half time after a very even first half. Armagh fired the kitchen sink at them, but couldn’t make it count on the scoreboard and Monaghan saw the game out.

For such a young team, with 10 of the starting team all under the age of 24, they were in dreamland. Murray himself was only 20 years old at the time and thought days like these would become a regular occurrence.

“We were unbelievable for the last seven or eight minutes and we’d weathered the storm. We broke down the field and we’d five attacks and five scores. It finished 1-11 to 0-9 and the place went mental at the final whistle.

“For us, it was unreal,” Murray, who played in every minute of those 10 league outings, continued. “We were so young and we were walking up the steps thinking we’d be back up again a number of times in our careers but obviously we never got that far again.”

Unfortunately for Murray, that was the Scotstown man’s last involvement in the blue and white that season. While Monaghan went on to claim another Ulster crown and were so close to reaching an All-Ireland decider, Murray missed out on the entire journey. A leg break in May of that season ended Murray’s campaign. He wasn’t on his own on the treatment table however. Declan Loughman broke his leg in the aforementioned Tyrone tussle, while Gerard Hoey tore ligaments in his ankle.

“It was life changing really from a football point of view,” Murray said of the injures. “We’d established ourselves on the team, we were in good form, full of confidence and it was very tough for us.”

Sean McCague’s men still had enough to win the Ulster Championship, seeing off Donegal, Armagh (after a replay) and Derry, which sent them through to the last four of the race for Sam Maguire.

“It was brilliant, but it was also bittersweet for us to miss out at that age, especially the fact that we were on the team and established, to miss out on winning the Ulster title that year was so disappointing.”

Standing between them and a first ever appearance in an All-Ireland was Mick O’Dwyer’s Kerry. The Kingdom had won four All-Irelands in a row (1978-81) and were the reigning champions, who were in the middle of another three on the bounce.

“Monaghan had Kerry on the ropes,” Murray insisted. “Kerry shot for a point and it came back off the post into Ger Power’s hands and he stuck it in the net but Monaghan were still five up at half time, I think it was.

“We were three or four up with 10 or 15 minutes to go and then Mikey Sheehy and Jack O’Shea kicked a couple of scores to put them one up but McEneaney kicked a big free at the end to equalise.

“The draw, I was just so disappointed for everyone. Then the replay, there was a huge crowd for the replay, Monaghan were to come out first and the three injured lads decided to walk out and the place was packed.

“Next thing you could hear the studs on the concrete and the roof lifted. I remember starting to cry and the other two boys had tears in their eyes, it was just so emotional and yet we were missing out.”

A red card early on for Eoin ‘Bomber’ Liston should have boosted Monaghan’s chances, but in the end it was Kerry who came out on top and went on to defeat their old foes Dublin in the All-Ireland final.

After a replay, Kerry advanced to the decider and Monaghan were sent packing with dashed dreams and thoughts of what ifs. Was that Monaghan’s greatest ever chance to get their hands on Sam?

“That was the chance, that was the chance,” Murray continued. “The other semi-final, Dublin and Mayo actually drew and Mayo should have beaten them so it could have been Monaghan and Mayo in the All-Ireland final. After winning the league, winning Ulster and if we’d beaten Kerry, we’d have had no fear of Dublin. That obviously doesn’t mean we’d have beaten them but I do think if we’d have beaten Kerry, we could have taken Dublin. Of course I’m going to say that!”

Monaghan made it back to the league final the following year but lost out to Laois. They did retain their spot in the top tier for four seasons after that glorious campaign in 1985 and were constantly challenging.

“For those five years, ’84-88, we were so consistent. Obviously there was no Qualifiers but if there had of been (Monaghan could have pushed on), we were definitely in the top five or six teams in the country and maybe at a stage, in the top two or three.”