Terry Hyland admitted that Cavan became too defensive when the finishing post was in sight.

"Midway through the second half, we lost it a bit around the middle of the field," the Breffni boss said after his side's one-point Ulster SFC quarter-final defeat to Monaghan.

"Maybe we backed off a bit and allowed them to get scores from outside the zone. The wind was probably a factor as well. It was a help to us in the first half. There was a very strong breeze out there. that allowed them to shoot from quite a distance. But we came back rightly in the end. It was only a one-point game."

Hyland refused to criticise referee Padraig Hughes, despite the free count being almost two-to-one in favour of the visitors.

"I suppose were all technical fouls and if they are fouls, they are fouls. The referee calls them the way he sees them. But we are in championship football... I don't know."

He also suggested that Cavan deserved more for their efforts.

"We knew that if we went for the game that we were quite capable of pulling through. Unfortunately, Monaghan's finish was that little bit better than ours. The big statistic is the scoreboard and we lost.

"But the lads fought for everything. If it had ended up a draw, I don't think there would have been a row from anybody," he added.

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