Articles in the Sports News Category

The GAA, at national and local level, marked the 100th anniversary of Croke Park’s Bloody Sunday last weekend. An impeccable ceremony at a near-empty Croke Park prior to Saturday’s Leinster SFC Final was the centrepiece of the weekend’s commemorations, featuring actor Brendan Gleeson and musicians Colm Mac Con Iomaire, Catherine Fitzgerald and Lisa Hannigan. GAA President John Horan called on the Association’s membership to light a candle at dusk on Saturday, while an initiative by the Galbally Pearses club in Tyrone saw clubs and counties around the country light …

COLM SHALVEY REPORTS A shot at a TG4 All-Ireland LGFA SFC semi-final slipped agonisingly by for Monaghan in Carrick-on-Shannon last Sunday, but they can reflect on some solid progress during the disjointed 2020 campaign. Monaghan needed to win a relegation play-off against Westmeath to secure their senior status for 2020, but they went within inches of dumping 2019 All-Ireland finalists Galway out of this year’s race in a thriller that was very much in keeping with the Group Two form guide. All three games in the section were decided by the ...

COLM SHALVEY GAA President John Horan has called on the Association’s membership to light a candle this Saturday, November 21, in memory of the 14 people who were killed on Bloody Sunday in Croke Park in 1920 by British forces. Michael Hogan, the Tipperary footballer shot dead on the pitch that day, after whom the Hogan Stand is named, was a younger brother of Dan Hogan, a Monaghan footballer, who would ascend to Dan Hogan Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces in the new Irish Free State later that ...

Monaghan chase semi-final place COLM SHALVEY REPORTS A place in the All-Ireland LGFA SFC semifinals is the significant prize on offer when Monaghan’s senior ladies take on Galway in Carrick-on-Shannon this Sunday. Monaghan emerged from the neareight- month shutdown with a superb start to their Group Two opener against Tipperary last Friday night in front of the TG4 cameras. Monaghan may have wished to stop the count after they hit nine of the game’s first ten points, but Tipp got right back into the game before half-time, with Aishling Moloney and Róisín ...

Colm Shalvey reports TYRONE 2-19 MONAGHAN.1-12 Monaghan’s long-standing status in the Nicky Rackard Cup ended with last Saturday’s Round 2B defeat at home to Tyrone. Monaghan are the only county to have competed in each of the first 16 years of the Nicky Rackard, having never gone up to the Christy Ring or down to the Lory Meagher, but they are set to drop down to the bottom tier for 2021, with the GAA set to relegate two teams from this year’s competition. Monaghan, who had maintained their Nicky Rackard status via relegation ...

John Graham reports A more resilient Cavan scored something of a shock, but overall deserved victory over Monaghan by the minimum margin after extra time in this closely contested and at times quite spectacular championship opener that was played in difficult conditions in Clones on Saturday afternoon last. This is the second year in a row that Cavan have scuppered Monaghan’s Ulster championship aspirations, but in any analysis Monaghan will have to look deep within themselves as to how they let this one get away. Following a shaky opening ten minutes ...

COLM SHALVEY “Are they out?” That innocuous three-word question from Malachy Clerkin’s wife to The Irish Times sportswriter started his Monday column that succinctly summed up Monaghan supporters’ frustration at watching from afar as the county made a painful exit from the championship last Saturday. A miserable, wet early afternoon at a St. Tiarnach’s Park considerably emptier than it would have been for a McKenna Cup shadow-boxing exercise made for the strangest backdrop to the latest instalment of the age-old rivalry between Monaghan and Cavan, but the game would eventually produce ...

COLM SHALVEY Raymond Galligan says the quick turnaround from last weekend means Cavan have quickly consigned their relegation from Division Two of the Allianz NFL to the back of their minds. “It was initially very disappointing, but the quick turnaround leaves us with no other option but to get straight back in and move forward as quick as possible. In years gone by, you’d have a break of six or seven weeks before championship, but our full focus is on Monaghan now.” The Cavan captain admits “not every team is going ...

COLM SHALVEY It’s championship but not as we have come to know it. When Monaghan and Cavan renew their age-old rivalry in an empty St. Tiarnach’s Park on Saturday afternoon, their SFC hopes in this most condensed campaign will be on the line in a throwback to old-school knock-out football. The teams go into this championship campaign after experiencing contrasting fortunes last weekend, with Monaghan securing a seventh straight year in Division One of the Allianz National Football League and Cavan seeing results go against them as they dropped to the ...

COLM SHALVEY REPORTS After an unprecedented break between rounds five and six, the Allianz NFL reaches its conclusion this weekend with Monaghan once again having their top-flight status in their own hands. Despite a narrow loss to Kerry when the league eventually got back underway, Monaghan know they can secure a seventh straight year in Division One if they can return to winning ways against Meath in Clones on Sunday. Kerry led from start to finish as they moved to the top of the table, but there were still some bright ...