Articles in the GAA Category

Carrickmacross 0-05 Ballybay 3-11 BY COLM SHALVEY COUNTY champions Ballybay made an impressive start to the SFL with a convincing first-round win away to Carrickmacross last Sunday. Ballybay, who began with 12 of last year’s SFC final team, wasted no time in putting their opponents to the sword with the wind at their backs in the first half. Christopher and Shane McGuinness and Paul Finlay accounted for 3-9 between them over the hour, with the former a thorn in Carrick’s side throughout, scoring 2-1 from play and also laying on his team’s other goal ...

On Friday night last at the Hillgrove Hotel, there was a palpable sense that the gaels belonging to Clontibret O’Neills GAA club were laying foundation blocks to cement an even brighter future. Gaels pitched at the coalface of affairs at Clontibret for longer than yer average commoner-garden Monaghan GAA fan can rightly remember were joined by a huge throng of fellow parishioners and many more besides for a fundraiser extraordinaire that pock-marked the club’s centenary celebrations like a starter’s gun at Aintree. If efficiency is the quality which most defines a successful ...

Elder readers will remember World of Sport on Saturdays on ITV. It was on that programme that former Tottenham and England striker Jimmy Greaves coined the phrase ‘football is a funny ol’ game’. Over the years, Greaves’ adage has almost evolved into a truism. Certainly, it’s a saying that rang true following on from Monaghan’s 0-7 to 0-8 NFL Division Three defeat to Roscommon last Sunday in Dr. Hyde Park. Funny, last week when the Northern Standard put it to Roscommon manager John Evans – in the course of previewing the ...

In keeping with Monaghan teams’ tendency to avoid the easy route, this year’s Allianz NFL Division 3 promotion race will go down to the last day. by COLM SHALVEY Conditions were far from ideal at a bitterly cold and windy Dr. Hyde Park, but the game and Monaghan’s performance did nothing to warm up the travelling support, as an error-strewn 70 minutes ended with Roscommon finishing strongly to clinch the two points. The game was about as far away as could be imagined from the previous weekend’s win over Wicklow: ...

Monaghan got their league aspirations back on track as they put victories back-to-back over Sligo and Fermanagh in their last two outings but this Sunday they face a tricky away assignment in Dr Hyde Park when they take on Roscommon in what is a vital game for both. A victory for Monaghan would see them consolidate in pole position with 10 points while victory for Roscommon would move them to within a point of Monaghan and everything to play for in the final round. Roscommon have won two of their five games ...

Monaghan 5-13 Wicklow 2-10 BY JOHN GRAHAM THE final score line could indicate that Monaghan were in rampant mood and coasted to victory but that would not tell the whole story of this free-flowing, high-scoring roller coaster affair that was played in greasy conditions in Clones on Saturday afternoon last. It was a game that saw Wicklow ask some serious questions of Monaghan particularly in the early stages and in the closing quarter but in between Monaghan were the superior team and made that count on the scoreboard with some classic goals and well ...

Ahead of the teams’ NFL clash this weekend, Roscommon team manager John Evans is wont to talk up Monaghan. by KEVIN CARNEY Roscommon manager John Evans is keeping his fingers crossed that he’ll have some of his bigger guns available for selection for this Sunday’s NFL Division Three clash with hosts Roscommon at Dr. Hyde Park (2.30pm). Roscommon under 21s will be in action on Saturday next in the Connacht championship and the likes of Donie Smith, Conor Devaney and Colin Compton (all forwards) who impressed in their county’s NFL victory over Antrim ...

Allianz National Football League Just two more rounds to go in the NFL and Ulster teams are in the running to scoop titles in the three top divisions. Next year, if things go really pear-shaped for Cavan and Antrim, the Red Hand province might well be in with a chance of winning an historic four titles. Surely nobody of a Breffni or Saffron hue will be hoping that vista becomes a reality. Tyrone are in pole position to contest the semi-finals of this year’s Division One with only Dublin currently above ...

Monaghan 4-08 Tyrone 0-06 By John Graham A RAMPANT Monaghan cruised to victory over Tyrone in last Wednesday night’s final of the Shamrock Cup that was played under lights in Emyvale when the Tyrone lads had no answer to the pace and poise of Monaghan’s game. Monaghan and Tyrone were contesting their third Shamrock Cup final on the trot and Monaghan had lost the previous two but they got a measure of revenge with this thoroughly deserved victory. Conditions on the night were difficult with heavy rain falling throughout and this did contribute to mistakes ...

Monaghan 0-14 Fermanagh 0-12 A RESILIENT Monaghan staged a strong finish to clinch victory and leapfrog over Fermanagh in the division 3 table in this tough, hard hitting if at times rough-and-tumble but always entertaining affair that was played in wintry and somewhat greasy conditions in Brewster Park, Enniskillen, on Saturday evening last. Monaghan were full value for their victory in that they weathered a lightning start by Fermanagh to lead by three at the break and then fashioned a winning finish after being hauled back to parity twice in the final quarter. Add ...