Articles in the GAA Category

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 ...

Both teams were much-changed from their last meeting 11 months ago, but the outcome was all too familiar. Kerry made light of the absence of star names like David Clifford and Seán O’Shea (who left Inniskeen with a combined 3-5) to rack up another impressive tally that must have left managers the length and breadth of the country envying the depth and quality of Jack O’Connor’s panel. On a day where seven of the eight teams in Division One finished goalless, Kerry hit the net three times in the second ...

A flow of tributes has followed the news of the passing of former GAA President and Monaghan county football team manager Seán McCague. Mr McCague, from Stracrunnion, Scotstown, passed away on Thursday November 24 last at St Mary’s Hospital in Castleblayney. He was aged 77. In addition to his achievements as a player, manager and administrator in Gaelic football, he has been remembered as an educationalist and for the role he played in the campaign to preserve services at Monaghan Hospital. Mr McCague is survived by wife Bernie and children ...

COLM SHALVEY REPORTS Ballybay are in their third county final in five years and one win short of bridging a tenyear gap after an impressive second-half surge took care of Clontibret in Clones on Sunday. Clontibret, who won by the narrowest of margins when the teams met in the group stage, led throughout the first half, but Ballybay outscored them by 1-10 to 0-2 from the 37th minute on, with a late goal from Dessie Ward sealing it at the end of a game that featured a series of nearmisses at ...

COLM SHALVEY The Greenfield Foods SFC relegation group concludes on Saturday. Back-to-back wins have Donaghmoyne top ahead of a repeat of the 2021 IFC Final v Aughnamullen, while the other game is a fourth meeting this year between Carrickmacross and Castleblayney. Donaghmoyne’s sizable score-difference advantage means they are as good as safe, barring a heavy defeat, leaving the other three teams playing to stay in the top flight. Aughnamullen’s defeat to Carrickmacross last time out leaves them in third place on head-to-head rule, but wins for both teams on Saturday would ...

COLM SHALVEY REPORTS Monaghan’s lengthy search for a new senior football manager finally ended last Thursday when former stalwart player Vinnie Corey was appointed as Séamus McEnaney’s successor. Almost three months after ‘Banty’ stepped down in the wake of Monaghan’s championship exit with a qualifier defeat away to Mayo, the county board turned to Corey, whose Clontibret side are in SFC semi-final action this Sunday. The versatile Corey retired from the inter-county scene as recently as 2019 after making a record 184 appearances and he soon found himself back involved with ...