Articles in the Soccer Category

The passing at St James’s Hospital in Dublin on Sunday last, October 6 of Billy Bagster has evoked deep sadness among the followers of soccer in Monaghan. Rightly described this week as “a Monaghan United legend” by the club he led to First Division promotion in 1993 and subsequently to a top six finish in the Premier League, the man from Terenure was one of the most iconic characters in Irish soccer, deeply knowledgeable about the worldwide game, charmingly idiosyncratic and individual, erudite and dryly witty and instantly recognisable in ...

The legacy bequeathed by the late Monaghan soccer coach Sean McCaffrey to the sport on a regional and national level was paid tribute to by current Republic of Ireland senior manager Stephen Kenny when he launched a new Patron Scheme this week for the foundation established in Sean’s honour. “Sean gave great service to the FAI as manager of the U-17 and U-19 international teams for a decade but his impact in the Monaghan-Cavan area to young footballers was profound,” the Republic boss stated. “The ideas he had helped generations ...

JACK MADDEN takes a look through the lens of lockdown at the status and perception of League of Ireand soccer and its contribution to the forging of the “Boys in Green” identity of our international team The ghost of Monaghan United spends its days haunting the residence of John Delaney. Any spare time is passed disrupting the sleep schedule of Giovanni Trapattoni. “We are proud because before the game we were in the same position with Sweden and Austria. In Ireland there is no league. our players play in England. In ...

Monaghan Town FC would like to thank all those who attended the charity match in aid of Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust on Saturday 15th August in Belgium Park. The community supported the event by attending in great numbers and donating an incredible amount of money on the day. The monies raised totalled at 4,356 Euro. An amazing amount of money and a figure the Monaghan community can be extremely proud of achieving. As always there was a great support network behind the scenes helping us set up and everyone at Monaghan ...

Soccer in Clones is to get a €200,000 financial windfall. Funding to this amount was announced for Ireland’s oldest soccer club by Minister of State for Tourism and Sport Michael Ring last Thursday evening for the construction of dressing rooms at the club’s newly developed grounds in the heart of the border town. Minister Ring commented that since coming to office, he had made a special allocation each year to specific sporting disciplines. They have included rugby, boxing, athletics and swimming pools. “I am now pleased to be able to allocate €1.2 million in ...

Reasons “mainly but not only financial” have been cited by Monaghan United soccer club for their decision, announced on Monday, to withdraw from participation in the Airtricity League. Club Chairman Jim McGlone said the club’s involvement in senior soccer was no longer sustainable. In a statement on the club’s website, Mr McGlone said United felt it had no other option available to it because of the inability to tie down an anchor sponsor for the current season, which had seen them return to the Premier Division of the ...

St Patrick’s Ath. 4 Monaghan Utd 0 CILLIAN O’DOWD reports from Gortakeegan St Patrick’s Athletic narrowed the gap on Sligo Rovers at the top of theAirtricity League Premier Division with this convincing, and ultimately emphatic, win over basement side Monaghan United at Gortakeegan on Friday evening. Three goals in the last ten minutes put a gloss on the scoreline for theSaints, but any outcome other than a win for the visitors would have been a misrepresentation of the balance of the game. United, whose form had picked up recently and reached a high in ...

Monaghan Utd 0 Shamrock Rovers 0 TONY GIBSON reports from Gortakeegan THOU SHALT NOT PASS! – That was the philosophy embraced by Monaghan United’s for their meeting with champions Shamrock Rovers at Gortakeegan on Monday evening and, thanks to some Dunkirk spirit in the back ranks and a moment or two of inspiration from keeper Chris Bennion – as well as the beneficence of the goalframe on one or two occasions – the approach proved an inspirational one as the Premier Division strugglers held their exalted visitors to a scoreless draw. The result ...

A LATE fusillade of scoring by Derry City put Tuesday night’s Airtricity League Premier Division clash with Monaghan United out of the home side’s reach in a bewildering flurry of late-on action that stood out in stark contrast to the indifferent footballing fare that had gone before. Roddy Collins’ side, desperate to improve on their poor home record, would have been hoping to profit from the Candystripes’ rather indifferent run of recent form that culminated in defeat in the Setanta Cup final last weekend to ...