Articles in the GAA Category

Longford 2-13 Monaghan 1-13 BY JOHN GRAHAM For the first time in 4 years Monaghan’s championship season has ended in the month of July when they failed to get over the challenge of Longford in their Round 2B qualifier game in Clones on Saturday evening last. The six-day turnaround and two gruelling matches against Donegal certainly took their toll on Monaghan but were not totally responsible for this defeat as Monaghan failed to capitalise in the second-half of this game after recovering from a blistering start by Longford and playing catch up for ...

Donegal 0-17 Monaghan 2-10 JOHN GRAHAM There was no happy ending for Monaghan to this much talked about and hugely anticipated Ulster Senior Football Championship Semi Final replay against Donegal as the Tir Chonaill men ended Monaghan’s reign as Ulster champions with a commanding display that saw them deservedly advance to the final at the expense of the misfiring reigning champions, particularly in the first half, in Kingspan Breffni Park on Saturday evening last. On the day Donegal were deserving winners in that they played the more purposeful football over the 70 odd minutes, ...

Monaghan and Donegal return to Cavan this Saturday evening with a place in the Ulster Senior Football Championship Final again the prize up for grabs as this rivalry opens up another chapter. by COLM SHALVEY Monaghan will have been relieved to have left last Saturday night with their bid to retain the Ulster title intact after a game that could easily have seen Donegal qualify for a sixth consecutive provincial final. On the balance of the 70-plus minutes – during which the teams were level seven times –there could be few quibbles about ...

John Graham There was divided opinion in the immediate aftermath of last Saturday’s semi-final meeting between Monaghan and Donegal as to which of them got the rub of the green in a game that at one stage Monaghan looked as if they were on their way to victory but didn’t push on, while later Donegal were in the ascendancy, ahead courtesy of a gift point deep into stoppage time, but indiscipline saw them giving away a late free that was punished by Conor McManus to send the issue to a replay ...

Monaghan and Donegal have been on a collision course since the Ulster SFC draw was made. Old wounds will be opened up once more this Saturday in Kingspan/Breffni Park, Cavan. We’ve been here before. More times than Seanie Johnston has found the net for Cavan. More times than Tyrone have conceded goals in this year’s championship. This Saturday’s meeting of Donegal and Monaghan has déjà vu stamped all over it in big, bold capital letters. In plotting the twists and turns of clashes between Ulster’s new Old Firm over the last five ...

Monaghan renew rivalries with Donegal in Kingspan Breffni Park, Cavan, this Saturday evening with a place in a fourth consecutive Ulster Senior Football Championship Final in their sights. by COLM SHALVEY These teams have contested each of the last three Ulster finals, but the draw has pitted them against each other at the semi-final stage this time around. Monaghan are attempting to make it four straight provincial final appearances for the first time since 1921-1924, while Donegal are bidding to reach a sixth consecutive decider; an unprecedented feat for their county. ...

At the start of this year, Donegal’s senior players were said to have seen their best days.After last weekend, Fermanagh and the rest of the championship’s runners and riders know differently. by KEVIN CARNEY 2016’s screening of the ‘The Only Game in Town’ has been disappointing to date. The good news though is that we’ve been reliably informed that the love interest will make an appearance this weekend leaving everyone hot under the collar for the first time this season. The storyline to date has been all too predictable; Antrim featuring just ...

Three players from Monaghan’s Ulster-winning team were included in the 2016 EirGrid 21 U-21 Football Awards this week. 21 standout players from the EirGrid All-Ireland U-21 Football Championship were selected by members of the Gaelic Writers’ Association and EirGrid Ambassadors Seán Cavanagh and Trevor Giles, with seven counties being represented. Monaghan goalkeeper Conor Forde, defender Dessie Ward and forward Barry McGinn got the nod, while Mayo senior star Diarmuid O’Connor won the U-21 Footballer of the Year award. Doohamlet attacker McGinn was Monaghan’s top scorer in their four championship games ...

Monaghan started their defence of the Ulster Senior Football Championship with a comprehensive win over Down at a sun-soaked St. Tiarnach’s Park, Clones, last Sunday. by COLM SHALVEY Aless-than-convincing first half left half left Monaghan fortunate to be three points to the good, but they turned on the style after the restart to earn the county’s second-biggest ever SFC victory. Five Conor McManus frees accounted for more than half of Monaghan’s first-half total, but they hit 2-13 in the second half to finish with 2-22; a tally only bettered way back in ...

Monaghan 2-22 Down 0-09 Monaghan got the defence of their Ulster senior football championship title off to a winning start when they simply blitzed Down in the second-half of what turned out to be a totally one-sided affair as the champions cruised to a comprehensive, if not totally facile victory before some 12,782 spectators in Clones on Sunday last. Played in sweltering conditions this was a game that was only a contest in the first half as Down came with a defensive strategy that proved problematic to break down and they also ...