Rory Beggan proving a chip off the old block with Scotstown
Scotstown goalkeeper Rory Beggan celebrates at the final whistle of the AIB Ulster club SFC final. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile
By Paul Keane
The player profiles for the 1989 Ulster club SFC final match programme described Scotstown midfielder Brendan Beggan as a particularly good kicker of the ball.
Scotstown went on to win that game, defeating Coalisland of Tyrone to collect the club's fourth title and Brendan 'Big Ben' Beggan was Man of the Match.
The apple clearly didn't fall far from that tree because Brendan's son, Rory, was a key figure in Scotstown's next Ulster final win, 36 years later on Saturday evening last. Just like his Dad in '89, Rory was Man of the Match.
Expert kicking separates Rory from his peers as well and he booted a whopping 11 points from placed balls to steer Scotstown to a landmark win over old rivals Kilcoo.
The former All-Star goalkeeper wasn't initially aware of the Man of the Match link between him and his Dad.
"I didn't know that about 1989, Dad tells me a lot about his wins but he never told me about being Man of the Match," said Beggan. "That's a nice one to have now, to compare that with him.
"He was just a great role model for me, took me training and all that sort of stuff. He supports me the whole time. I'm just delighted to bring this title back for him.
"He's always had this competition over me. He's got three (Ulster medals), I think. I've only got one but still, I've more Monaghan club championships!"
Current Monaghan goalkeeper Beggan, along with Kieran and Darren Hughes and former All-Star Conor McCarthy all lined out in previous Ulster club final losses in 2015, 2018 and 2023.
Monaghan goalkeeper Rory Beggan signs a supporter's forehead after the All-Ireland SFC Round 2 match between Monaghan and Clare. Photo by Michael P Ryan/Sportsfile
The first two of those finals, against Crossmaglen Rangers and Gweedore, were lost after extra-time. The 2023 defeat, against Glen, was a narrow, two-point reversal.
Fittingly enough, Scotstown needed extra-time again to see off Kilcoo last weekend in Armagh.
"But sure that's Scotstown in a nutshell, when it comes to this competition it's never easy," said Beggan. "All the heartache, the experience, we needed all of that in the last couple of minutes to get us over the line."
Naturally enough with so many family links between those great Scotstown teams of the 1970s and 1980s, the current generation of players were desperate to finally make their own provincial mark.
"The older men in the club would tell you about it," said Beggan of the previous Ulster successes. "We would say we're a good team - but to be a great team we needed to succeed in this competition. They fell short in the All-Ireland club final '79 so we'll hope that we can get over St Brigid's and get to another club final."
David McCague's Scotstown will play Roscommon and Connacht champions St Brigid's in an All-Ireland semi-final on the first Sunday of the new year, at Cavan's Kingspan Breffni (3pm).
They will hope it isn't a bad omen that back in 1989, when the club last featured at that stage, they lost to a Roscommon club, Clann na nGael.
"Look, the favourites are probably Ballyboden and we're probably fourth favourites but we don't mind that, we'll take that," said Beggan, looking to the overall national picture.
"It'll be a good week and then we'll get back down to training. We don't want to let this slip. We want to give a good account of ourselves in the All-Ireland series."
Another few weeks of training should stand to McCarthy who isn't long back from injury while Beggan and veteran performers like the Hughes' may use the Christmas period to recharge spent batteries. Three of the last four Scotstown games, including the county and Ulster finals, have gone to extra-time.
Not that that will bother their young dynamoes like Max Maguire, Donnchadh Connolly and Tommy Mallen, All-Ireland minor finalists with Monaghan two years ago, who have featured prominently for Scotstown this season.
"I don't think the boys know how important that was for us, what they've done for this group," said Beggan of their emergence.
Scotstown's Max Maguire, left, and Rory Beggan. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile
"I would have been a part of coaching teams that were over those boys when they were growing up. You didn't really have to coach them, they were so intelligent, so good. They won titles themselves and we were really just there facilitating them.
"For those boys to come in and do it in their first year, I'm jealous because we went through all those years of heartache and they've done it at the first opportunity. Looking back myself, I didn't think 10 years ago that it would be 10 years until I got over the line. Those boys have the monkey off their back very early on."
Asked to pinpoint the most agonising provincial defeat with Scotstown, who have won 10 out of the last 13 Monaghan championships, Beggan pointed to the 2018 Ulster final loss to Gweedore.
"We led for a lot of that game as well but just indiscipline and missed chances cost us," he reflected.
So what was the difference this year, why did it finally happen for this bunch of Scotstown players in 2025?
"I think how we adapted to the new rules was a big thing," said Beggan. "We have a lot of very intelligent footballers there; Darren, Kieran, Jack McCarron, Shane. We looked at it and asked, 'What's the best way we can use these rules?'
"I think probably defensively was the big turning point. We shipped 5-10 against Kilcoo last year. When you look back at that game, it was basically 15 scores to our 0-14. We weren't that far away but the goals killed us. So it was about shaping up defensively and I think that's the big learning for us.
"When you've Kilcoo trying to break down the door, turning off even once can lead to a goal. The last two weeks in training, it was just 'no goals, no goals'."
