McConville: Woods ready to make mark with Monaghan

INNISKEEN manager Oisin McConville is certain that we will see Andrew Woods make his Monaghan championship debut in the coming weeks.

The 20-year-old was outstanding for the Grattan’s as they came so close to reaching a first Farney Senior final since 1990, the team losing their semi-final to Ballybay after extra-time, and the former Armagh ace was more than impressed.

“For anyone who watched the Monaghan Club Championship, he was one of the best players on show,” said McConville. “There will be players who maybe wouldn’t have gotten a look in had the season developed normally.

“A lot of managers will now react to the players who are in form and Andrew fits the bill.

“He has a huge future with Monaghan but there’s no reason why he can’t feature from now. He’s 20 but he’s a man-child. The physicality won’t annoy him and he enjoys the fast pace of the game.

“We will definitely see him in the championship with Monaghan this year, in what guise or position I’m not sure though.”

McConville said that the player has made rapid improvement over the course of the season, and he expects that progress to continue over the coming years.

“I don’t think he takes a lot of management. He’s massively committed and he takes instruction really, really well. When I say he takes instruction, there isn’t actually much needed, we just tell him to go out and play his game.

“The bit of freedom that he enjoyed in the semi-final (against Ballybay) allowed him to prosper. Once he is able to express himself, there are very few better around at the moment from what I have seen. He’s on the par with the very best.

“He’s got a very bright future but he’ll still have to work on it because that’s the nature of the way the game has gone. There are a few things he needs to improve on but he won’t have any problem doing that if he maintains the commitment he has shown up to now.”

Monaghan return to league action next weekend with a home game against Kerry at Woods’s home pitch before welcoming Meath to Clones as they finish out their Division One campaign.

After that there is an Ulster clash with Cavan at St Tiernach’s Park on Saturday, October 31. McConville has watched enough Farney football this year to know that the county can enjoy another prosperous season.

“I wrote about this a couple of weeks ago and how the county players haven’t gone through the normal grind because of how things worked out,” he said.

“The county players in Monaghan looked fresh and they were more or less the best players in the county.

“Monaghan is the most competitive championship around. There is a serious amount of quality and one of the things that struck me most was that tactically it was a step up from what I was used to in Armagh. Teams were really thinking about what they were doing.

“They can carry a lot of good things into the inter-county season this year.”

n.mccoy@gaeliclife.com