ULSTER SENIOR FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP QUARTER FINAL.

Monaghan v Cavan: Kingspan Breffni Park; Saturday May 18th @ 7.00pm.

The Allianz Football league is done and dusted, consigned to history and attention now turns to the real business of 2019, the championship and the opening round in the All Ireland series for Cavan and Monaghan. Looking at it in an All Ireland perspective at this stage though may be a little adventurous as the first matter to be sorted is the Ulster championship and which of Cavan or Monaghan will go through to the semi final and who goes the scenic route of the qualifiers. The scenic route though served Monaghan well last year in that, after losing the semi-final of the Ulster senior football championship, they went on to reach the All Ireland semi-final with victories over Waterford by 5-21 to 0-9, the biggest winning margin in the entire championship last year, Leitrim by 1-19 to 0-9, and Laois by 0-19 to 1-11, to secure their place in the super eights. In that section of the competition, Monaghan defeated Kildare, drew with Kerry and beat Galway, to earn a semi-final place where they met Tyrone, only to lose out by the narrowest of margins in a cliffhanger in Croke Park, 1-13 to 0-15 the final tally. In last year’s Ulster senior championship Donegal defeated Cavan by 2-20 to 1-15 to send Cavan on the qualifier route, where they beat Wicklow by 2-16 to 1-5, Down by 1-14 to 0-15, but then lost to Tyrone by 0-18 to 1-12.

PROSPECTS.

Any way it is examined or analysed this is a real banana skin fixture as far as Monaghan are concerned, in that their Ulster championship aspirations could be derailed on day one. This is a pairing that could produce an absolute thriller, but it is also a pairing that could produce a dull, dour, attritional contest and that type of game would certainly not suit Monaghan. The biggest talking point from Monaghan’s point of view though, going into this game is the absence of Darren Hughes, who is ruled out with a broken ankle that he sustained in a club league game against Ballybay some weeks back and his absence leaves something of a void at the heart of the Monaghan team. As well as being an excellent player Darren is essentially, their spiritual leader on the field and a real workhorse who is willing to put in the hard yards in defence, attack or midfield and do what has to be done to sustain the team effort. Darren Hughes and Niall Kearns formed of a very effective midfield partnership last year but Niall Kearns too is extremely doubtful, having undergone heart surgery towards the end of last year. He has recovered to a great extent, and was able to take part in two club games recently, but whether he would be match fit as far as Ulster championship fare is concerned would be a  major doubt. If he is passed fit to play that will be a major boost to Monaghan’s fortunes as would be the availability of Kieran Hughes, who was out with a long-term injury and did not even take a full part in Scotstown’s championship run last year that saw them reach the Ulster club final. A fully fit Kieran Hughes would be a decided asset given his aerial ability, his pace and strength in breaking forward and the accuracy, that he can apply even from distance for valuable scores. The Monaghan defence is a well settled, experienced unit with defenders of quality in the likes of the Wylie brothers, Drew and Ryan, Colin Walshe, Karl O’Connell and Conor Boyle, the latter a possible starter at full-back with Drew Wylie at centre, but Malachy O’Rourke has other options with players like Paudie McKenna, John McCarron and Dessie Mone, as well as Vincent Corey, although the latter can also operate very effectively in the attack. Midfield could be a problem area for Monaghan if Niall Kearns is unavailable, and the most likely pairing could be Neil McAdam and Karl O’Connell or Gavin Dougan and Kieran Hughes would also be an option in what will be a vital battleground given the influence that Gearoid McKiernan can exercise for Cavan. The Monaghan attack too is where Malachy O’Rourke has options but central to Monaghan’s scoring potential will be Conor McManus, who finished top scorer in the championship overall last year with a total of 2-47 from his nine matches. In those nine matches Monaghan scored a total of 8-150 while conceding 6-101. Twenty-two players in all got on the scoresheet for Monaghan in last year’s championship run were second in the scoring stakes to Conor McManus was goalkeeper Rory Beggan with 0-18. Conor McCarthy hit 1-13, Karl O’Connell 1-7, Jack McCarron 0-9, Ryan McAnespie 0-9, Fintan Kelly 1-6, Shane Carey 1-5, Niall Kearns 0-6, Darren Hughes 0-5, Colin Walshe 0-5, Dessie Mone 1-2, Vincent Corey 1-2, Drew Wylie 0-4, Paudie McKenna 0-3, David Garland 0-2, Kieran Hughes 0-2, with Ryan Wylie, Kieran Duffy, Dessie Ward, Conor Boyle and Dermot Malone with 0-1 each.

MONAGHAN TEAM MANAGER Malachy O’Rourke acknowledged immediately that Saturday’s game is a big one, but wouldn’t regard it as a banana skin fixture, but rather as one that he would rate as a 50-50 championship match. “All the meetings between Monaghan and Cavan over the years we have been here, and even over all the years have been very tight affairs by and large, the fact that it’s in (Kingspan) Breffni Park as well possibly tips the balance in Cavan’s favour and the fact that they have a new manager in this year will make them doubly determined to try and get one over on us. I have to say too that with the injuries we have had hasn’t helped our preparation either, so there are quite a few things in Cavan’s favour but the boys have trained well and we are looking forward to the challenge, but I would only regard it as a 50-50 game and I suppose like most other games it will be whoever performed best on the day”.

Speaking of injuries Malachy O’Rourke agreed that the loss of Darren Hughes was a major blow to Monaghan’s prospects. “There is no doubt about that, Darren is a massive loss, he brings great drive to us, he brings experience, he has been a massive leader on the field over the last number of years and there is no point dressing it up, he is a massive loss to us. At the same time we’ve known for the last number of weeks that he wasn’t going to be available, so it has given us time to prepare without him. I suppose when you look too at Niall Kearns, who would have been his partner for most of last year has also been out of action for quite a bit of the second half of last year and the entire league campaign this year would not be fit to play either makes it something of a double blow, but we are just going to have to now look at other options and see if we can come up with something else that will give us a good platform in the middle of the field and I’m sure we have players who are capable of doing that and that’s what we will be looking to do”.

NICKY RACKARD CUP.

Monaghan v Longford; Inniskeen: Saturday May 18th @ 3.00pm.

Monaghan have little time to recover either from their physical exertions or from the bitter disappointment they experienced in their defeat by Armagh on Saturday last when they head to Inniskeen this Saturday to take on Longford in a game that Monaghan simply must win if they are to be in with any chance of qualifying for the semi-finals of the competition later on. It was felt when the groupings for the Rackard Cup were announced that Monaghan and Armagh would be the most likely to qualify from this group, so Armagh’s victory on Saturday last puts them in a stronger position given that they face Warwickshire this weekend and have a game against Longford to come. Longford for their part suffered defeat last Saturday to Warwickshire so the results of this Saturday’s round of fixtures could go a long way to deciding who goes through and who doesn’t.

FIXTURES.

With all roads leading to Kingspan Breffni Park, Cavan, this Saturday for the much anticipated mouth watering clash in the Ulster senior championship between Cavan and Monaghan, its a very limited programme of activity on the club scene with the action confined to a few games in the reserve football Championships on Friday evening and a couple of Sunday afternoon.  It’s down to the quarter-finals in the O’Duffy Cup and the Crawley Cup with Aughnamullen at home against Truagh and Magheracloone away at Donaghmoyne in the quarter-finals of the O’Duffy Cup, both those games on Friday evening at 7:30 PM, while the meeting of Scotstown and Ballybay is fixed for Sunday afternoon in Scotstown at 2 PM.

CRAWLEY CUP.

It’s also a 7:30 PM start In the Crawley Cup with Corduff at home against Carrickmacross, Monaghan Harps away at Doohamlet, Inniskeen travelling to Cremartin and Aghabog with home advantage over Drumhowan in the quarter-finals.

MC KEOWN CUP.

It is also quarter-final time in the McKeown Cup, with two games on Friday evening, Scotstown at home against Rockcorry and Oram are away at Tyholland, both at 7:30 PM while on Sunday. Castleblayney are at home against Sean McDermotts with that one down for 2 PM start .

RFL.

There is also one game in the reserve football league division 2B, that sees Clones at home against Blackhill on Friday evening at 7:45 PM.

HURLING.

The most recent round of matches in the Silver Hill Foods development hurling league saw Clontibret defeating Mattock Rangers, Truagh proving too strong for Monaghan Harps H C, Castleblayney H C winning comfortably at home against Latton, while Carrickmacross HC got a walkover against East Cavan Gaels. The next round sees Castleblayney H C at home against East Cavan Gaels, Clontibret away at Latton, Mattock Rangers with home advantage over Monaghan Harps HC and Carrickmacross H C travelling to Truagh, those games on Thursday evening, all at 7.45pm.

Tweet

Most Read Stories