FOOTBALL guided Monaghan boss Gabriel Bannigan through the darkest of days.
His nephew, current skipper Micheál, was due to make his Farney minor championship debut for the defending provincial champions on May 24, 2014 at just 16 years of age.
The youngster’s proud dad Owen had arranged the tickets for the family to attend the Newry clash.
But what they hoped would be an on-pitch triumph turned into an off-field tragedy.
The day before the game, Owen suffered a brain haemorrhage and passed away suddenly.
The match with Tyrone was postponed as a mark of respect as the Bannigan family tried to process the huge loss.
When it did take place on June 21, Monaghan won 3-8 to 0-16 — in a repeat of the previous year’s final — with Micheál lining out at full-forward.
His uncle watched on from the stands at Armagh’s Athletic Grounds.
Gaelic football has carried brother and son through their grief since.
Micheál, 27, made his senior Monaghan debut in 2017, scoring three points in a Dr McKenna Cup win over Fermanagh.
He has been an ever-present since and was named captain this year.
Gabriel was chosen as a selector for Vinny Corey’s management team in 2023 and succeeded the Clontibret man a month after he stepped down last August.
An immediate return to the top flight has already been secured in Bannigan’s first season in charge and the Farney are hitting Croke Park for tonight’s NFL Division 2 final against Roscommon.
And Gabriel knows his brother will be there in spirit.
Bannigan said: “I’m incredibly proud of Micheál. He’s like a son to me.
“Owen and myself were very, very close. Owen was such a proud dad when Micheál was due to make his debut for the Monaghan minors in Newry against Tyrone.
“Owen was my hero and role model and from a footballing point of view, I just wanted to grow up and be like Owen.”
“It was going to be the curtain-raiser to Down and Tyrone in the Ulster Championship.
“Me and him had made arrangements, Owen organised the tickets. We’d made arrangements to go to Newry and I got the phone call on the Friday — a phone call I’ll never forget.
“They said that Owen was after being taken to the hospital and to get on the road.
“I got on the road and when I was driving, my other brother Paudie rang me to tell me that Owen was dead.
“A brain haemorrhage, it was a sudden death and it’s something that obviously I’ll never forget. It took me years to get over it.
“Football definitely helped me and I’m sure it’s helped Micheál too.”
BROTHERLY LOVE
Gabriel and Owen clashed, as all siblings do, mainly over soccer.
Gabriel supports Leeds, Owen’s team were their arch-rivals Manchester United.
But the pair put their club differences aside when it came to country as they followed the Boys in Green.
Bannigan revealed: “Me and him spoke every day on the phone, except when Leeds knocked Manchester United out of the FA Cup . . . he didn’t answer the phone for three weeks!
“We travelled to a lot of Ireland soccer games and travelled abroad for them.
“We went to a lot of games in the old Lansdowne Road when Jack Charlton was manager.
“Owen was my hero and role model and from a footballing point of view, I just wanted to grow up and be like Owen.
“It’s nice having a family connection with the team and Micheál as a player there. That’s a nice dynamic.”
Owen was also a Fine Gael councillor and a pillar of the community in Monaghan, but Aughnamullen came first.
Bannigan said: “Aughnamullen was in his blood, it was in his bones, it was everything. It was his life, that’s where he was living.
“Owen did huge work in the club. He was the main driving force behind the development of the stand, the club rooms, the social centre that was opened. He was the driving force behind all of that.
“He was six years older than me. Owen had stayed at home on the farm, so he was the guy at home.
“I was the guy that went off in my career in the bank and ended up in Dublin.
“I think if you knew me, you’d know that if you cut me, I’m Monaghan through and through.”
PRICELESS EXPERIENCE
Bannigan’s time in the capital, when he held several senior positions in Bank of Ireland, included a stint as manager of St Sylvester’s — whom he guided to a Division 1 title in 2010 — and a three-year spell at Kilmacud Crokes that ended in 2017.
Home beckoned in 2020 and the success continued.
He guided Aughnamullen to the Monaghan JFC title that year and took them from junior to senior in three seasons. And then Corey came calling.
His experience in the backroom team, coupled with his club CV, left him well primed to step up upon Corey’s departure. The right backroom team was key, as John McElhone and former Farney skipper Damien Freeman came aboard.
He said: “The two years I spent with Vinny obviously gave me a really good grounding in terms of what to expect in terms of all the different aspects that you have to manage.
“I’ve been dealing with players all my life. So, I think people management and player engagement is a huge part of an inter-county manager’s job.
“I didn’t have any fears in relation to that.
“I’ve been lucky enough to be involved in people management — both in business and in sports for a long number of years.
“That was a lot of experience to draw on, so I wasn’t worried about that. So, no, I’m enjoying it.”
The addition of Mayo legend Andy Moran has been a game-changer and Bannigan is in awe of the former Leitrim chief and 2017 Footballer of the Year’s hunger for the game.
He added: “A mutual friend recommended Andy when I was putting my team together and from the first moment I spoke to him we just talked football non-stop.
“He loves Gaelic football, and so it’s great to work with somebody like that. He has added enormous value.
“The most important thing was to get the right calibre of person on the management team and I was fairly confident that we could be successful if we got the right men.”
l MONAGHAN manager Gabriel Bannigan was speaking at the launch of the 2025 Ulster Senior Football Championship.
