Family affair for Éire Óg as they prepare for Monaghan decider

By Shaun Casey

FINALS don’t come around too often for Éire Óg so boss Raymond Leonard and his team are certainly making the most of this opportunity. They take on Drumhowan this weekend in their first Monaghan Junior Championship final appearance since 2007.

Aughnamullen earned the crown that year, so you have to go all the way back to 1988 for the last time Éire Óg earned a piece of silverware. They’ve had different spells between Junior and Intermediate between those years, and even spent a brief season in Senior.

But getting their hands on the trophy is all that matters on Sunday and Leonard won’t be looking backwards to the past. Éire Óg have the chance to create their own history.

“It’s great for the area, it’s a very small wee place in Smithborough,” said Leonard, who has a son and two nephews on the team. “The pick is the problem really and it’s just a matter of trying to take every cub through.”

Conor, the manager’s son, has been on the Monaghan panel for the past few seasons and has experienced a torrid time with injuries. But he’s a key cog in the Éire Óg lineup, along with his cousins Donal and James Leonard, the spine of the defence.

“Conor has had a fierce bad run,” Leonard explained of his son’s injury problems. “He broke his back, broke his shoulder and then the jaw with the county over the last three years and just hasn’t got a proper run at it at all.

“There’s a lot of family connections in the team. There’s the McArees, they have four lads involved (Corey, Kian, Kyle and Darren). There’s two Tierneys as well (Michael and Donal), there’s a lot of family connections.

“It’s a small area so you’re relying on the same families all the time. The Monaghans (Paul and Tommy) as well, there’s brothers and cousins all playing together. We’re just a typical rural area.”

The challenge of downing Drumhowan is a big one admits Leonard, and it’s the fourth time the two sides have met this season. Drumhowan won both league encounters and shaded their championship group stage meeting as well by three points.

In the league, Drumhowan overcame Éire Óg by the minimum of margins in the quarter-final, while seven points was the difference when they clashed in round nine of the campaign. Éire Óg are hoping to make it fourth time lucky, and Leonard believes his boys can do it.

“We’ve already played them three times this year and they beat us all three times. They were close games but they won the three games so they would be fairly heavy favourites going into the game. But if our boys turn up, you just don’t know what will happen in a final.”