Articles in the GAA Category

Monaghan 2-11 Kildare 0-08 JOHN GRAHAM A more resilient Monaghan survived an uncertain start and weathered a brief storm midway through the second half to deservedly advance to the All Ireland Minor Football Championship semi-final in difficult enough conditions in TEG Cusack Park, Mullingar, on Saturday afternoon last. Rain prior to the game had made for a greasy enough surface but conditions improved during the first half and the standard of play was of the highest order, but the weather conditions deteriorated about midway through the second half which did make life difficult ...

Colm Shalvey reports With the All- Ireland SFC ‘Super 8s’ series taking a break this we e k e n d , the spotlight shines on Monaghan’s minor footballers on Saturday. Ulster champions Monaghan take on Kildare in Mullingar in a highly-anticipated Electric Ireland All-Ireland MFC Quarter-Final on Saturday. An epic provincial campaign that saw two of Monaghan’s six games go to extra-time ended with Séamus McEnaney’s young side claiming the Fr. Murray Cup. The Ulster series eventually went full circle, with Monaghan pipping Derry in the final, almost three months ...

Kevin Óg Carney reports Over the past decade and more, Kerry football, on balance, has been perceived as being more about style than substance. On umpteen occasions, the Kingdom’s finest have left themselves open to accusations about having a soft underbelly that is all too quickly exposed when faced by decent opposition on big fight night. Last Sunday in Clones, the bluebloods of Gaelic football showed true grit in nicking a draw from the jaws of defeat. In particular, you just have to admire the way Kieran Donaghy retained his balance…

Monaghan 1-09 Derry 0-09 JOHN GRAHAM A fiercely committed Monaghan completed the minor double of league and championship when they proved that little bit too strong and too adept for Derry in this Ulster Minor Football Championship Final that built to a pulsating finish in front of a crowd of 2,876 people in the Athletic Grounds, Armagh, on Friday evening last. When these sides met in the preliminary round of the minor championship earlier, it was Derry who prevailed by the minimum margin after extra time in a feisty encounter, but this time ...

PATRICK SMYTH On the domestic scene, most eyes, of course, were fixed on Monaghan’s trip to HQ and the team’s tete-a-tete with the men from the Short Grass County but, under the radar, the Farney Óg crew were quietly doing their business by claiming the provincial MFC title – only the county’s second ever such achievement over the past 73 years! “You don’t get everything you deserve, of course, but I think we played well enough tonight to win the final,” a delighted Monaghan minor boss, Seamus McEnaney, declared ...

Minors set for another ding-dong tussle against Derry COLM SHALVEY The Electric Ireland Ulster Minor Football Championship Final takes centre stage tomorrow evening (Friday) in Armagh, with Monaghan (PICTURED) facing an intriguing rematch against Derry. The first game of the competition saw these teams clash at Celtic Park back in April, when Derry came from seven points down at the end of the first half to eventually deny Monaghan by the narrowest of margins after extra-time. Monaghan recovered to beat Antrim, Donegal and Down – the latter in extra-time – to qualify ...

Monaghan 0-19 Laois 1-11 JOHN GRAHAM Monaghan travelled to Navan on Sunday last with a place in the Super 8’s at stake in their joust with defeated Leinster champions Laois and on the day, they proved too potent for the Leinster men and achieved their goal of reaching the Super 8’s, but they made hard work of it at times in the second-half as Laois gained momentum …

Mistakes worry for Malachy PATRICK SMYTH The banana skin planted by Leitrim last weekend might have been avoided but Monaghan manager Malachy O’Rourke wasn’t totally pleased with his charges’ display. “I have to say there were parts of the game that were good but parts of it that were not so good either,” O’Rourke commented. “It was a bit of a mixed bag really, but what we have to do now is analyse it and see what more we can get right for the next day. “It was quite a sluggish start ...

Monaghan 1-19 Leitrim 0-09 JOHN GRAHAM In the end Monaghan experienced little difficulty in disposing of the challenge of Leitrim in sun kissed Parc Sean MacDiarmada, Carrick on Shannon on Saturday afternoon last, to book their place in round 4 of the All Ireland Senior Championship Qualifiers and also retained their unbeaten run against Leitrim, which goes back all the way to the early 1970s. Monaghan led from gun to tape with the best that the home side could achieve was being level on three occasions in the opening quarter but…

Qualifiers start with a scorefest… now for Leitrim Colm Shalvey reports Monaghan are on the road once more this Saturday when they will again carry a strong favourites’ tag into their Round 3 All-Ireland SFC Qualifier against Leitrim in Carrick-on-Shannon. Monaghan’s first two qualifier ties in 2017 took them away to teams who had competed in Division Four that spring and it’s a similar story this summer after a record win over Waterford last Saturday. Monaghan’s 5-21 tally in Dungarvan trumped the county’s previous…