Articles in the GAA Category

MAITIU MONAGHANCOMMENTARY It’s very easy to forget the whole “love of the club” or “this means more” narrative in the middle of the inter county season. 2023 started with controversy when Shane Walsh’s Kilmacud team controversially beat Glen in the All-Ireland Club Final. In the weeks that followed, there was talk of replay’s and sending the cup up the road to Derry in a taxi. When the inter county season began, we got swept away with the drama of it all. It’s just over five months since Monaghan’s All Ireland semi-final ...

MAITIU MONAGHAN In 2021, Killanny, a club just outside Carrickmacross, were relegated to the Junior Football Championship. It was a relegation that garnered quite a lot of publicity. That season, the club had reached the Intermediate League Final. They faced Donaghmoyne, who had already won the Intermediate Championship. The permutations were simple but strange. Win and get promoted, lose, and get relegated. On the day, they were beaten, and went down to the Junior Championship. However, Killanny are no Junior club, and through agonising defeat, they have created unbridled success. After ...

COLM SHALVEY takes a look at the contenders The Monaghan Football Championship season gets underway this weekend with full rounds in the Greenfield Foods SFC, McElvaney Recycling IFC and Universal Graphics JFC. The championships are set to follow a similar format to the last few years, with a round-robin series to be followed by knock-out stages. The top teams in each group will again advance straight to the semi-finals, with second- and third-placed teams contesting quarter-finals, leaving the rest to battle against relegation. We take a look here at the teams ...

MAITIU MONAGHAN REPORTS The Monaghan hurlers (PICTURED) survived a second half scare to book their place in the final of the Lory Meagher Cup with a 5-point win against Longford on Saturday. In the first minute, Longford took the lead with a fantastic score from midfielder John Mulhern from near the side-line. Monaghan responded in the best possible way. Just a minute later, Thomas Hughes using his pace to beat his marker before blasting the sliotar into the net to give Monaghan the lead for the first time. After the blistering ...

COLM SHALVEY REPORTS Coláiste Oiriall retained the Ulster Schools’ U-19 Ward Cup when they held off the challenge of St. Kevin’s College, Lisnaskea in an entertaining final in Clones last Thursday. A sizeable crowd of supporters for both teams made their way to St. Tiarnach’s Park to create a lively atmosphere that was matched by the action on the pitch. Coláiste Oiriall could call on ten of the panel who won this title last year and they helped to lead the way in an exciting second half where St. Kevin’s carried ...

Colm Shalvey Derry’s gameplan was largely built on defensive solidity last year, with their ability to frustrate opponents and hit on the counter making them very difficult to play against, as they demonstrated against Monaghan at the same stage, but they have clearly found another gear going forward. After spending another spring in Division Two and cruising past Fermanagh in the previous round, some doubts lingered over where exactly Derry were at, but their performance in Omagh has seen some parallels drawn between their rate of progress and that of Donegal ...

Colm Shalvey reports Much talk has centred on the new All-Ireland series format, but for now, staying in contention for a first Ulster SFC title since 2015 will be the focus for Monaghan as they return to Omagh to take on Derry in Saturday’s semi-final. It is, of course, a repeat of the counties’ meeting at the same stage of last year’s provincial campaign, where Derry won en route to ending a 24-year wait for an Anglo-Celt Cup success. Monaghan will be hoping that history doesn’t repeat itself, both in terms ...

Ryan O’Toole’s dramatic winning goal deep into added time of last Sunday’s Ulster SFC epic against Tyrone may have looked familiar to many who watched him hit the net from a remarkably similar angle in the last round of the league, writes COLM SHALVEY This wasn’t lost on Monaghan manager Vinnie Corey, who said: ”You could have forgiven him for fisting it over the bar for a draw game, but I kinda knew when he was lining it up. He did the exact same thing from the exact same angle ...

Vinny Corey’s men channelled Rudyard Kipling on Sunday, according to MAITIÚ MONAGHAN, keeping their heads when all doubted them to secure Division 1 survival There are lines from the poem If by Rudyard Kipling: “If you can keep your head when all about you/ Are losing theirs and blaming it on you”. They came to mind on Sunday, as Conor McManus slotted away the last-minute penalty that put Monaghan 2-16 to 0-16 points ahead in Castlebar. As the news from Omagh filtered in that Armagh were losing, the reality of the ...

Colm Shalvey Monaghan’s search for their first points of the Allianz NFL Division One campaign continues with part one of a home double-header v Donegal in Clones this Sunday. Losses to Armagh and Kerry (in contrasting styles) have left a newlook Monaghan side rooted to the bottom of the table as the only team yet to pick up a point in Division One, but they will be determined to put that right as they bid to maintain their strong recent record against Donegal. Having left a point behind them in a ...