Philip Hughes

At the start of the season the Monaghan United supporters were delighted to see that manager Mick Cooke had retained all of his key players from last season but they were even more pleased when they saw the return of an old favourite in Philip Hughes.  Philly had been with United in the 2005 season and in 25 starts he got on the score sheet 8 times. In the meantime he had the habit of annoying the United supporters when he scored in almost every game that he played against them, so they knew that he was someone who had a strong propensity for finding the back of the net

Hughes is a much travelled and experienced player or to quote the great Tommy Doherty he has had as nearly as many clubs as you would find in a golf bag.  He began his career at Tolka Rovers scoring 9 goals in 22 appearances, it wasn’t long before he caught the eye of St. Francis and he moved up from intermediate level and shortly afterward he was with St Patricks Athletic, the following season he moved on loan to Kilkenny City amassing a very credible 15 goals in 20 starts.  It wasn’t surprising with a tally like that that he got a recall from St. Pats. But things weren’t working out for him and in 2003 he joined Kildare County. Other clubs that saw his service were Dublin City, Dundalk and Shelbourne.  Before returning to United he was with Kild! are County, unfortunately Kildare went into liquidation, but Mick Cooke should be watching his back because Hughes last role with the Thoroughbreds was to manage them in their final game.

Since his return to United Philly has been knocking in the goals and to date he has hit eleven in the League, four in League Cup and one in the FAI/Ford Cup. A number of these goals came from set pieces and when it comes to beating the ‘wall’ he can bend them better than Beckham. United have been awarded a lot of penalties this season and there is no more reliable player to have stepping up to take the spot kick, especially in away games against very large partisan support. Indeed on Friday night with only two minutes to go Philly had to take a penalty which he had won for himself and the large Derry home support made sure that it wasn’t going to be easy for him but he was coolness personified.

Speaking to Philly after the Derry game which wasn’t easy as the vocal travelling supporters were swarming around him, I asked him what changes had he seen in the United set up since his return, he said that when he was here previously Mick Cooke was new at the club, Mick has established himself and he has gather a very balanced squad about him. Also Pat Mc. Gibbon unlike many of the coaches that he has encountered brings a lot of experience to the club and they are also fortunate in having Aidan Lynch who is doing training in his coaching badge, so there is two excellent teams-the one on the field and the backroom boys. I wondered what did Philly think United’s chance of promotion were? Well he said that to win outright we were depending on other sides to take points off Derry City and from the experience of playing them on Friday that could be doubtful but if we had to go th! e qualifiers route he felt more than confident on present form of qualifying. If United did get promoted would many of the players want to stay?.  Philly said that there is a great pride in playing for the Monaghan jersey there is an excellent camaraderie in the team and each player would be hoping to stay with the club.

With 15 goals scored Philly is one of the leading scorers in the league, hopefully there are many more scores to come.

Paul Whelan

Monaghan Town native Paul Whelan returned to Monaghan United from Sligo Rovers where he has been since the beginning of this season. Paul is returning to college to finish off his studies so fulltime football wouldn’t be suitable for him at the moment.  Before departing for Sligo Paul was one of the most capped players at United having amassed a total of 135 appearances. Wheelo as he was popularly known  at  Gortakeegan started his league career at the tender age of 16 in 2004 against Finn Harps and such was his consistency that it only took him 4 seasons to make his 100^th appearance.  Paul came through the Monaghan United nursery. As a student Paul gained international experience with the Rep! ublic of Ireland U-19 Home based squad who played against the Republic of Ireland Senior Squad in their warm up games and a member of Irish Colleges Squad who played in the USA and Italy and he represented the Dundalk Schoolboys League in the Milk and Foyle Cups.

Although a fullr back Paul had propensity for getting forward and scoring the occasional goal and indeed he had been the leading scorer in the side at one stage.

It was no surprise when he signed up for fulltime football with Sligo as many teams from both Premier and 1^st. Division were chasing him..

I asked Paul if he had found it much of a change going fulltime as a professional at Sligo Rovers. Paul said that the pace was much faster, there was more time spent on the training ground and in the gym, but the fact that one was fulltime that was all you had to concentrate on unlike part time when you would have work or study considerations. It was great playing with players of the calibre of Richie Ryan, Joseph N’Do,  Pauric Almond and Gavin Peers.

Paul is delighted to be back at United among his old colleagues, it is great to see that they are real promotion contenders and are still very much in the two cups.  He feels that his time in Rovers has added to his development.  The training and coaching set up is equally as good at Monaghan United as in the premier Division.