Embracing 'chaos' reaped rewards for Scotstown
If you're of a Scotstown persuasion, be it as a player or a fan, you'll be all too familiar with the parish's Ulster Senior Club Football Championship story arc.
The club last won the Seamus McFerran in 1989 and endured a spell in the doldrums in the 1990s and noughties, before bouncing back as the preeminent force at county level from 2013 onwards, having been crowned Monaghan champions 10 times over the last 13 seasons.
Despite the upward trajectory, their campaigns in Ulster have ultimately ended in disappointment, making Saturday's 0-19 to 0-16 nail-biting win over Kilcoo in the provincial decider all the sweeter.
Scotstown led by eight points at a windswept BOX-IT Athletic Grounds at one juncture in the first half and were three points to the good heading into injury stoppage time.
However, their Down opponents were nothing if not dogged in forcing extra time.
Fittingly, the final Scotstown score of a game that could have gone either way came from the boot of talismanic goalkeeper Rory Beggan.
"We were looking at a time when we might have been dealing with a fourth loss, but the lads stood up and were counted," Beggan told RTÉ Sport, recalling his own experiences of Ulster final heartache.
"We're embracing it now and looking forward to getting back to the community and celebrating it together.
"We never win these games easily. I don't think anyone wins these games easily, but we always bring a bit of chaos to our performances and that's been what helped us.
"When the chaos hit today near the end, we were fit to be composed and make the right decisions."
The 33-year-old cited a meaner defence and the injection of young blood in the Scotstown ranks as reasons for finally getting over the line in the Ulster decider, opining: "Defence, I think was the big one.
"We haven't shipped massive scores, I don't know what is a massive score now with the new rules, but defensively we're a lot more solid.
"The young lads have come in and brought a breath of fresh air to the whole thing.
"So, yeh, young lads and the defensive set-up."
Kilcoo struck five goals when accounting for Scotstown in the Ulster semi-finals last season, with the Monaghan side learning plenty from that painful lesson.
"We would have been foolish if we didn't learn from the game last year and come in and done the exact same things," Beggan added.
"We've smart players on the pitch and the new rules help us a wee bit as well.
"In terms of what we did and what we do, that's come from learnings over the last 10 years in this competition.
"It's nice to finally get the monkey off the back."
Beggan's own scoring contribution to the Scotstown cause was an impressive 11 points, with the goalkeeper adding matter-of-factly: "The opportunities were afforded to me and I was making sure that I wasn't going to be kicking myself the next couple of days at home from missed frees.
"I've been doing this all year and I just had to go up and treat it like it's second nature.
"At the end of the day, they went over, they could easily have gone wide with the breeze, but I'm happy."
Manager David McCague (above) has been at the helm for three seasons and is aware of the weight the quest for Scotstown's holy grail often exacts on his players.
Minimising the magnitude of ending a 36-year wait for Ulster glory has served his side well.
"In previous years, we would have talked a lot about winning the Ulster Club Championship," McCague admitted.
"This year we didn't. Those three words – 'Ulster Club final' – we never uttered them.
"This was our 10th championship game tonight. We wanted to win game 10 because we wanted to have the experience of game 11.
"I'm not saying whether that made a difference or not, but it probably took away the mammoth albatross that is the Ulster Club Championship around Scotstown.
"We just focussed on the next game and that has proven to be a good approach for us."
Scotstown forward Shane Carey was joined by one of his brothers as they boisterously celebrated with their manager, with McCague revealing that the commitment to the cause had resulted in them missing their sister's nuptials.
"It consumes us, it really does consume us," the manager said.
"You can see what it means. These two men had a sister who got married today.
"I want to give a special mention to Laura Carey.
"She sacrificed these men at her wedding and this family have got their rewards.
"There wasn't a word about it. Nobody came to me and asked, 'David, what will we do?'
"Football came first. If you talk to people in our parish, football comes first."
And with that, the Carey brothers were free to hightail it to Darver Castle in County Louth to celebrate with family and friends, including Monaghan inter-county star and new brother-in-law Ryan McAnespie.
The afters are always better anyway.
