Articles in the GAA Category

Frustration was the word of the day as Monaghan saw their All-Ireland Senior Football Championship hopes sunk by Tyrone last Saturday at Croke Park. by COLM SHALVEY First, let’s get this out of the way. Leaving aside all the controversy, Tyrone were the superior team all over the pitch and were fully deserving of their win. Monaghan set up the same way as for their Ulster final win and they again patiently moved the ball around, but this time they showed none of the energy and pace that saw them open up ...

Monaghan made all the headlines during the month of July in winning their second Ulster senior football championship title in three years, defeating Donegal in an absolutely riveting contest in Clones to clinch the title. Their success and the influence of their manager, Malachy O’Rourke, in achieving that success proved the tipping point when the members of the Ulster GAA Writers Association sat down to pick the winner of their Quinn Building Products sponsored Monthly Merit Award for July. It was a busy month with both male and female football as ...

Ladies Senior Football Championship Donegal       2-12 Monaghan        1-10 By KEVIN CARNEY Monaghan senior ladies failed in their bid to win back the SFC Ulster title on Sunday last after a somewhat lacklustre performance at rain drenched St Tiernach’s Park Clones, going down by 1-10 to 2-12. The weather was simply atrocious which didn’t help matters and over the 60 odd minutes Monaghan simply failed to get into top gear. Wrong options and poor handling let us down but to give Donegal their due they were the hungrier team and really ...

Scotstown       3-11 Killanny        1-11 By JOHN GRAHAM A hungrier, more determined, Scotstown kept their championship aspirations on track and in the process ended Killanny’s interest in this year’s junior series at the end of this at times scrappy encounter that was played in very difficult conditions in St Mary’s Park, Castleblayney, on Sunday afternoon last. Heavy rain overnight and during the entire match turned aspects of this game into something of a lottery and led to a plethora of mistakes by both sides, although it must also be ...

Toome 3-10 Oram 0-8 By JOHN GRAHAM A strong finish to the first half and a lightning start to the second half saw Toome create the platform for victory in this local derby Junior football championship qualifier game that was marred to a great extent by the difficult weather conditions in Castleblayney on Sunday afternoon last. It is a victory that keeps Toome’s interest in this year’s championship very much alive and their last two performances lay down a marker that they could well have a say in where the title goes, but ...

“Sweet” was the word on the lips of every player interviewed after they won a second Ulster title in three years at St Tiarnach’s Park,Clones, last Sunday. by COLM SHALVEY The euphoria of the shock win in 2013 was replaced by a sense of satisfaction that Monaghan players and manager Malachy O’Rourke all spoke about, after proving that the victory of two years ago was no one-off and that more credit was due to them. Monaghan nerves were jangling in a gripping finish, but they held on for a dramatic win, which ...

Monaghan 0-11 Donegal 0-10 By JOHN GRAHAM The magic was back in Monaghan in Clones on Sunday last as they clinched the Ulster Senior Football Championship title for the second time in three years and their 16th time in all when they held out for the narrowest of victories over the reigning champions Donegal. In a game that was intense throughout and that built to an electrifying finish as Donegal kept chipping away at Monaghan’s lead but ultimately they missed too many chances in the closing stages and the Monaghan defence held its nerve. For ...

The latest installment of the rivalry between Monaghan and Donegal is set to draw a capacity crowd to St Tiarnach’s Park on Sunday, with the third consecutive Ulster Final between these teams a sell-out. by COLM SHALVEY Monaghan, of course, shocked then All-Ireland champions Donegal in the 2013 decider, before relinquishing their provincial title a year later, so it’s honours even going into part three of this burgeoning rivalry, which sees the same two teams contest this fixture for a third year in a row for the first time since the ...

Brian McEniff and Monaghan have history . . . literally. For starters, his father was born and reared in Newbliss and McEniff, the younger, says he retains many vivid memories of patrolling the pitch either side of the white line as a player and manager while faced by Monaghan in the white heat of the Ulster SFC. Ahead of this Sunday’s blue riband decider, the wily hotelier says the title is there for the taking for both teams. A proud son of Donegal, he is nonetheless very much a paid-up member ...

The training is all done, the hours of hard slog and personal gym work have been put in and all of the bodies on the two panels for Sunday’s Ulster final are in tiptop shape and ready for what will be a draining encounter, both physically and mentally, as they battle it out to take possession of the Anglo Celt Cup over the winter. Both managers have fine-tuned their tactics and will have been working on eradicating niggling errors and other frustrating things that peppered their games in the championship so ...