Monaghan GAA thread

Replying To sporto:  "Unfrotunately Truagh were not at the level to get close, there is no shame in it, Scotstown are operating at a different level. The control they had for the third quarter completely killed it as a contest. Inniskeen are the only team to have got close in the last few years, took them to extra time in last year's final.
I think yesterday's result shows the next 2 or 3 years will be a similar story, they will have to regress a bit to be caught as dont think any of the current clubs can jump to that level. They will be confident heading into Ulster now and no distractions of McCague heading off to manage Monaghan. Also to mention that despite all their success, hunger never seems to be an issue, they are happy to keep piling the county medals and dont seem to be complacent."

Replying To Jjoniel79:  "Scotstown won that title in the semi final. In 21 Truagh got to the county final by beating 2 good teams in Ballybay and Clontibret, this year there are no good teams outside of Scotstown and Inniskeen so got there by default, they could just as easily have been relegated this year.

Sadly for the foreseeable Inniskeen are a bit light on help yet and one or two injuries or emigrations will take them back to the pack whereas Scotstown have the luxury of resting Jack and putting some of their top men on ice with 10 to go in a county final. Scotstown could easily have swapped 3 or 4 men from the bench with starters yesterday and still won the game comfortably, and that's without big gavin.

I do have a question for the masses - outside of their numbers; how/why is Scotstown so far ahead of the pack. Beggan, the Hughes brothers, McCarthy are once in a generation players - but now comes along Max Maguire, Tommy Mallon, McIlwaine who look every bit as impressive.

Their player retention from juveniles to senior ranks is striking, as is their ability to turn out exiting young talent. Plenty on here whinge about them having a team in junior but I think the proof is in the pudding - it's more truely competitive football for more players and the benifits are there for all to see so I think more if not all clubs should be fielding junior teams and another lower league set up - reserve football is dead and has been for 10 years or more.

Additionally their juvenile coaching teams struck me as interesting - you often see Hughes, Beggan, Mohan, Carey, etc involved with their youth teams and almost no teams have a mammy or daddy on the sideline. I think this is something all clubs need to implement - ban parents from managing their own and ruining the whole thing for all the other kids. My own club had an under 14 training session with 9 parents on the sideline and only 8 lads training, which I think tells you the story of where we're at.

The removal of parents from juvenile coaching structures and the pathway from underage to senior competitive football with the junior teams are the two things I can identify that Scotstown are doing better than everyone else. But that's just my assessment.

It can't just be down to their population, Truagh have just as big a parish and the town teams have even more numbers again - by the population logic, Dublin would still be winning annually and would never be beat. Kerry have less help than cork and are no better fed or bred but win far more due to their structures, systems, etc. I'd be interested in what others thoughts are."