Articles in the GAA Category

By John Graham Inniskeen’s most famous son, poet Patrick Kavanagh, could not have penned a more dramatic finish than that which unfolded in stoppage time in the replay of the Monaghan senior football championship in Pairc Grattan Inniskeen on Sunday afternoon last. Entering the final quarter reigning champions Clontibret looked on their way to victory when they led by five points having been the more dominant team from the start but nerve ends were raw as Magheracloone battled back to the extent that they had Clontibret on the ropes going into the ...

Last weekend, Pairc Grattan managed to morph into a conspiracy theorist’s dreamscape. 10-10-’10. 1-10 to 1-10. What will the deities conjure up for the replay this coming Sunday? Clontibret and Magheracloone’s fabled resourcefulness saw both of them bend but not break over the course of a stamina-sapping tussle. This weekend, something has to give in what we can confidently predict will be another blood and thunder clash. As most pundits predicted, a familiar tale unfolded last weekend in Inniskeen’s temple of a ground. Stalemate ruled the roost. “Before the game I felt that a draw ...

By JOHN GRAHAM As had been widely predicted Eamonn McEneaney was appointed to succeed Seamus McEnaney as manager of the Monaghan senior and U21 football teams, his appointment ratified at last Monday night’s County Committee meeting where he was the sole nominee that emerged from the exhaustive nominations/interview process that had caused much debate and even some controversy in the county over the last month or so.  A former county player Eamonn McEneaney represented Monaghan at all levels winning Ulster senior football championship medals in 1979, 1985 and 1988 as well ...

By KEVIN CARNEY Doohamlet and Tyholland will bring with them the armoured confidence of the hardened survivor when they tee up for this Sunday’s IFC final in Clontibret. From their own patches in the middle and north of the county down to the deep south, the common consensus among their peers is that both teams have reached the county decider on merit. That they have proven to be the best of the rest in what has been a real ‘survival of the fittest’ campaign brooks no debate even among those they have slain ...

With less than two weeks to go to the conclusion of the interview process for the vacant senior football manager’s job, no clear indication has emerged as who is likely to be recommended for the post by the special sub-committee charged with the task of finding a man to lead Monaghan football in 2011, WRITES KEVIN CARNEY While a litany of names have been mentioned in dispatches relating to the possible identities of the eight nominees put forward by the clubs, a definitive announcement will not be made on the matter ...

Monaghans Dick Clerkin was rewarded for his consistency this year when he picked up one of the midfield spots on the Irish News Ulster GAA All-Stars team where he, along with Down’s Ambrose Rogers was regarded as the ideal midfield partnership. Despite reaching the final of the Ulster senior football championship Monaghan only picked up one All Star award as opposed to the multiple awards the county picked up the last time Monaghan reached the provincial decider in 2007. The bulk of the awards went to Down who picked up seven awards ...

On the same day that the Kilkenny hurlers’ bid for a fifth All-Ireland title in a row ended in defeat, Clontibret achieved their six-in-a-row on Sunday last when they defeated Inniskeen in the O’Rourke Oil Monaghan Senior Championship Camogie Final in Drumhowan on Sunday. They are now level with Castleblayney, who won their six successive titles from 1990 to 1995 inclusively. The game was there for the taking at half-time when Inniskeen led by a goal, but Clontibret moved up through the gears in the second half to run out winners ...

The business of recruiting a man to lead Monaghan football in 2011 and beyond was kick-started in earnest on Monday night last as the final deadline for receipt of nominations by the county board passed. The county committee met for their September monthly meeting in Tyholland where it was disclosed that eight nominations in total for the vacant position of senior football team-manager were received by Secretary Sean McKenna. The meeting learned that only one person was nominated for the outgoing position of senior hurling team-manager and, similarily, just one person for ...

This game brings together two teams that are rated among the favourites to take this year’s senior championship title. Clontibret as reigning champions go into this game with a victory over Carrickmacross under their belts while Magheracloone have reached this stage with victories over Truagh and Ballybay, their meeting with Truagh a preliminary round game that has given them an extra outing that could be of real benefit to them. These sides also met in the semi final of last year’s Gormley uPVC senior football championship, a game that Clontibret won by ...

Seen a young lady strutting around the county of Monaghan this week in peacock-like fashion?The chances are she’s just gone and picked up an All-Ireland camogie medal.In a gripping match that the moguls in Hollywood (California not Scotstown!) could scarcely have scripted, Monaghan pipped Cavan to the post in last Sunday’s Gala All-Ireland Junior ‘B’ championship final replay. Happy days. Seldom before has such a small group of people done so much to give the small ball game in Monaghan such a significant leg-up. No wonder then that the most skilful ...