Seamus McEnaney explains how he targeted two GAA legends for transfer that he believed would take Monaghan to glory
"I felt if we had one man who could control the forward unit in '07, '08, '09 and '10, from centre-forward, that would have been the link in the chain."
Former Monaghan manager Seamus McEnaney says he made bold bids to recruit iconic forwards Padraic Joyce and Ciaran McDonald in the 2000s.
In a wide-ranging life and times interview, Banty also opened up about convincing his players not to 'go on strike' in 2010 and spoke of his surprise about the Meath panel he later inherited.
Corduff man McEnaney managed Monaghan between 2005 and 2010 and later between 2020 and 2022, adding he would 'never say never' about a third term.
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It was in his first spell, when he guided the Farney to two Ulster finals and Division 1 of the league, that he made audacious bids for Joyce and then McDonald.
Current Galway manager Joyce was a two-time All-Ireland winner at that stage while Mayo All-Star McDonald was recognised as the most skilful forward of his generation.
McEnaney told The Farney Army Pod: "At the end of 2007, I remember I felt we needed a centre-forward. I went looking for Padraic Joyce, believe it or not, because he was married to a Monaghan woman.
"You know what, and this is a secret out of school, he would have come to me but he wanted to play with his club so he couldn't come to Monaghan because he was a Galway man and not...he had to play club football in Monaghan. He wouldn't leave his own club, which you have to respect him for.
"The other man I tried for in 2008, I met him twice and he wouldn't come, was Ciaran McDonald. He was working in Navan.
"Those are two secrets that never came out. Again, he wouldn't shift. I felt if we had one man who could control the forward unit in '07, '08, '09 and '10, from centre-forward, that would have been the link in the chain."
On the threat of strike action in late 2010, McEnaney said it was very real when he was replaced after six seasons as manager by Eamonn McEneaney.
Monaghan suffered back-to-back relegations in 2011 and 2012 under the new management and lost four of their five Championship games.
Banty said it was his 'greatest regret' in football that he couldn't stay in charge and, in particular, that he couldn't team up forward duo Tommy Freeman and Conor McManus in 2011.
He said: "I had to go to the players to tell them not to go on strike at the time."
He said that then captain and future manager Vinny Corey was particularly upset.
McEnaney continued: "Don't forget, my captain at the time was Vinny Corey. Now you'd go to war with Vinny Corey any day of the week. He was militant in relation to the direction that we wanted to go and he was not taking that too kindly what was happening.
"I'm truthful, I had to go to him in the end and say, 'Listen, Vinny, what's best for Monaghan football is that the Monaghan footballers play for Monaghan'.
"Maybe we wouldn't have won Ulster titles in 2013 and 2015 if I'd stayed on another year. But two years later we ended up in Division 3 and we disassembled a really good group of players."
Banty said taking over reigning Leinster champions Meath weeks later was a 'knee-jerk reaction' and he revealed his surprise at the group he inherited.
He said: "I looked in thinking they were huge men, tradition, were brave as lions. (In reality) it was everything I didn't expect. I could go into the Monaghan dressing-room and I could pick three or four fellas to do man-marking jobs that would be tough and nasty. This wasn't the case in Meath.
"Mickey Burke was one man you could send to do a job. In relation to being tough, hard, tenacious, like the team of the '90s, I don't like to be criticising, but the reality was that this wasn't the case."
* The full interview with Seamus McEnaney on The Farney Army Pod is available on Spotify
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