Brave prediction Gary.... I do agree with you on Cavan, just feel with home advantage may be enough to tip the favour for the Breffni boys in what is one of the most hotly contested derbies in the land..... As for who makes it from the other side is any bodies guess, I just have a sneaky suspicion that Down may come through it.... Time will tell....

ben1977 (Donegal) - Posts: 364 - 21/04/2015 17:55:38    1716132

Tipperary and Clare are making progress. They are giving themselves a good chance of causing an upset.

legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 7878 - 21/04/2015 20:33:49    1716182

Went to see Galway play Dublin last Sunday and was very impressed with them albeit a challenge match and Dublin only had their squad team out, it was very competitive. Galway are a proper team and would fancy them to be around in August.

mhunicean_abu (Monaghan) - Posts: 1044 - 21/04/2015 22:02:17    1716234

21/04/2015 17:55:38
ben1977
County: Donegal
Posts: 261

1716132 . Brave prediction Gary.... I do agree with you on Cavan, just feel with home advantage may be enough to tip the favour for the Breffni boys in what is one of the most hotly contested derbies in the land..... As for who makes it from the other side is any bodies guess, I just have a sneaky suspicion that Down may come through it.... Time will tell....

Cavan have beaten Monaghan 3 out of last 4 meetings and should have at least drawn with us in 2013 in semi final. With home advantage, Cavan are probably slight favourites to win this one. Make no mistake about it Monaghan are right up against it with this draw. Hopefully we can pull off a rare win in Breffini Park. As for other side of draw, Donegal will come through, too many question marks against the other sides. Proven quality with Donegal team. Cavan Donegal final I'd say.

seanie08 (Monaghan) - Posts: 1803 - 22/04/2015 08:54:55    1716249

seanie08
County: Monaghan
Posts: 815

1716249
21/04/2015 17:55:38
ben1977
County: Donegal
Brave prediction Gary.... I do agree with you on Cavan, just feel with home advantage may be enough to tip the favour for the Breffni boys in what is one of the most hotly contested derbies in the land..... As for who makes it from the other side is any bodies guess, I just have a sneaky suspicion that Down may come through it.... Time will tell....

Cavan have beaten Monaghan 3 out of last 4 meetings and should have at least drawn with us in 2013 in semi final. With home advantage, Cavan are probably slight favourites to win this one. Make no mistake about it Monaghan are right up against it with this draw. Hopefully we can pull off a rare win in Breffini Park. As for other side of draw, Donegal will come through, too many question marks against the other sides. Proven quality with Donegal team. Cavan Donegal final I'd say.

Would have to agree with this. It's Cavan's to lose

mhunicean_abu (Monaghan) - Posts: 1044 - 22/04/2015 10:00:22    1716281

seanie08
County: Monaghan
Posts: 815


Cavan have beaten Monaghan 3 out of last 4 meetings and should have at least drawn with us in 2013 in semi final. With home advantage, Cavan are probably slight favourites to win this one. Make no mistake about it Monaghan are right up against it with this draw. Hopefully we can pull off a rare win in Breffini Park. As for other side of draw, Donegal will come through, too many question marks against the other sides. Proven quality with Donegal team. Cavan Donegal final I'd say.


Hahaha, this is absolute trash talk, must be a big derby coming up soon? ;)

Seriously, I've heard Malachy O'Rourke come out with the "they've beaten us in 3 of the last 4 meetings" talk before. I think that's absolute garbage and has no relevance to this game. It was the McKenna cup ffs, two games in the middle of January. Monaghan looked disinterested the last time we played yous, and in the second half when yous actually decided to save yourselves an embarrassment, yous outplayed us but we fluked a goal to see us over the line. Now don't get me wrong, we have plenty of fans in Cavan who think winning McKenna cup games is a massive achievement, but come on, seriously, on a dry field in a few weeks time, those games will be of no significance.

Yous won't get anything easy, but complacency is the only thing that'll beat Monaghan on the day, 3 trophies lifted in the past 3 years, division 1 semi finalists, ran the dubs close, All stars in your team. Whereas we've lost 4 definite starters from our strongest 15 since January and had a very hit and miss league campaign in a poor division 2.

As I say, complacency is potentially your worst enemy.

Ned_Stormcrow (Cavan) - Posts: 1071 - 22/04/2015 13:59:47    1716399

Ned not thrash talk to point out that Cavan have a great record against Monaghan. In fact as long as I can remember even when we had Ulster winning teams in the 80s playing Cavan especially in Breffini was akin to a near impossible task as Cavan teams always play like men possessed against us and we rarely perform. We beat ye in the mid 90s in Breffini I think but it was a one off, the rest of the time ye have mainly had the Indian sign over us. Wouldnt matter if we were ranked number 1 team in the country and Cavan were division 4, Cavan have no fear of Monaghan and relish playing them. Cavan are more likely to lose the semi final against Fermanagh than lose to Monaghan.I'd rather have drawn any of the other Ulster sides away. Would love to see us win but everything points to a Cavan victory on 24 May I'm afraid.

seanie08 (Monaghan) - Posts: 1803 - 22/04/2015 15:36:30    1716428

Seanie08 I am with Ned on this one. We, of course, should be nervous. However, if we play our best or anywhere close to it....victory is ours.

We have the better players, more experienced management team. Cavan havent built on a good 2013 in the way I thought they would. It wont be easy by any stretch of the imagination but we should do it. If we are to progress and build on the success of the last few seasons we really need to get the win in Breffini pk next month.

Be positive.

seanfinn (Monaghan) - Posts: 360 - 22/04/2015 17:52:32    1716495

This is good to hear. I would love to see Cavan get to an ulster final. It would mean that all 9 ulster counties have been there in the past 7 years. A great add for the ulster championship. i would fancy Monaghan to win it though. They have a lot of strength all over the pitch, and showed very well v dublin in croke park last week. We will see.

Donegalman (None) - Posts: 3830 - 22/04/2015 18:17:51    1716511

Monaghan must really be hot favourites to beat a struggling Cavan.
Can only see a Monaghan win by about 6/8 points.
They are playing savage football.
Too many important players have left the Cavan panel.

Cavan_Slasher (Cavan) - Posts: 10253 - 22/04/2015 20:07:54    1716548

Cavan_Slasher
County: Cavan
Posts: 9713

1716548
Monaghan must really be hot favourites to beat a struggling Cavan.
Can only see a Monaghan win by about 6/8 points.
They are playing savage football.
Too many important players have left the Cavan panel.


Agreed. And I'm not playing silly mind games by downplaying our chances, but the reality is we lost our captain, our best forward in an already toothless impotent forward line, our first choice midfielder, and the only player who could have kept McManus quiet. There will be massive questions asked about Monaghan's hunger/mindset if they dont beat us.

Ned_Stormcrow (Cavan) - Posts: 1071 - 22/04/2015 21:58:49    1716580

The all Ireland will be won by one of
Dublin (most likely)
Cork (the only real challenger Imo)
Kerry (with players back)

Those that might make up semi are Donegal Monaghan.
All others playing for quarters im afraid.

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 23/04/2015 08:27:40    1716588

Dubs should come through Leinster and get to August in anyways. Meath surely cannot be as dreadful as they were last year so I'd expect them to give Dublin a decent game in a Leinster Final. Meath's overall aim should be to get to the quarter-finals at least.

Connacht is perhaps the most interesting as many believe that Mayo have regressed slightly and that both Galway and Roscommon have improved. Now all that remains to be seen but for me Mayo are still the number one team in the West and I'd expect them to come through again to the quarters. Both Galway and Ros should be targeting Croker in August.

Munster - like Leinster. Cork and Kerry in the quarters already unless the losers get a bad draw in the last 12 and get caught out. Unlikely though.

Up North I'd expect Donegal to defend their title again. Monaghan or maybe Tyrone (injuries permitting) the only likely contenders imo. I'll admit to have not seen Down at all this year so they are a bit of an unknown quantity for me.

Anyone left standing in August has a shot at the title, although it is probably between Kerry, Donegal, Dubs, Mayo and Cork. A lot can change between now and August though!

MesAmis (Dublin) - Posts: 13718 - 23/04/2015 08:39:00    1716594

I know they never win it but they've been very close over the years so I wouldn't write off Mayo just yet cause they will win Connaught and they will be in the quarter final and Mayo won't fear anyone. If only they could unearth two players for the full back line and at least two scoring forwards they would easily win one cause Keane/Caffereky/Barrett not good enough and Dillion/Moran not what they were.

clondalkindub (Dublin) - Posts: 9926 - 23/04/2015 11:24:49    1716640

I might be the first person here to predict Tipperary to beat Kerry in munster semi!!
As everyone knows with our younger players still getting accustomed as well as players coming back from injury we are still in a period of transition.
So don't be suprised by a good Tipperary side winning. Dubs look as unbeatable as last year with their 30 strong panel of players.
Yerra we'll give it a go anyway if we get through the backdoor!!

KY4SAM2015 (Kerry) - Posts: 898 - 23/04/2015 12:57:07    1716683

@clondalkindub....I wouldnt bet the house on Mayo winning Connacht. The gap has been narrowed by Roscommon in particular. You have to remember that a weaker Rossie outfit almost turned over a stronger Mayo in the hyde last year. I think the Horan factor will be a big miss for Mayo this year and they will be far from having it their own way in Connacht compared the the last 3-4 years.

seanfinn (Monaghan) - Posts: 360 - 23/04/2015 18:55:45    1716857

Kerry4sam
I also wouldn't be surprised if tipp beat us in the semifinal in thurles , we're sitting ducks realy , it wouldn't worry me though as I think a run through the qualifiers would suit us this year, we'd have regular games up to the quarters, I'm not sure but I think if we get knocked out of Munster we fall in to the Leinster Connacht side of the draw so that would give us probably dubs in quarters and mayo in the semi and then cork in final. Handy enough run in fairness.

KingdomBoy1 (Kerry) - Posts: 14092 - 23/04/2015 20:49:52    1716889

ben1977
County: Donegal
Posts: 261

1716132 Brave prediction Gary.... I do agree with you on Cavan, just feel with home advantage may be enough to tip the favour for the Breffni boys in what is one of the most hotly contested derbies in the land..... As for who makes it from the other side is any bodies guess, I just have a sneaky suspicion that Down may come through it.... Time will tell....

Down are possibly the most dangerous team in Ulster this year, as they are setup differently and will be slightly unknown to the bigger sides. Tough opener for Derry.

Just have a feeling Cavan could cause an upset this year.

GaryMc82 (Derry) - Posts: 3017 - 23/04/2015 21:58:41    1716926

Roscommon beating Mayo
Tipp beating Kerry
Cavan beating Monaghan

Has the world gone completely mad?

MuckrossHead (Donegal) - Posts: 5028 - 24/04/2015 09:36:26    1716960

Cavan beating Monaghan is the most likely of those three. They are a bit like we were a few years back throwing shapes every couple of years mixed with odd big performance when underdogs and the clash with us on 24 May potentially bears all those hallmarks. People on here are going on about form and who is the better side between Cavan/Monaghan. For me that is pointless talk as Ulster Championship in particular is all on the day and a hostile home venue with a dangerous underdog presents Monaghan with its toughest first round match in many a year.

seanie08 (Monaghan) - Posts: 1803 - 24/04/2015 11:07:59    1717034