Huge tests lie ahead in the coming days for the Monaghan senior and minor footballers.

By John P Graham

ALL IRELAND SENIOR FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP QUALIFIER ROUND 2.

Monaghan v Armagh: St. Tiarnach’s Park, Clones: Saturday June 22nd @ 7.00pm.

Following their win over Fermanagh on Sunday week last in Clones, Monaghan were in the drum for the draw for round two of the qualifiers last Monday morning, June 10th and were first out of the hat, setting up another all-Ulster pairing when Armagh were drawn from the group of teams in the other section. To say the least, it’s another very tricky assignment for Monaghan but it poses a different set of challenges to the Fermanagh game as Armagh have been impressive in quite a number of aspects of their play in their three games so far in the championship.  From the very outset it needs to be stated quite clearly that Monaghan will need to improve vastly on their performance against Fermanagh if they are to give themselves a real chance of progressing and if they don’t cut out some of the basic errors they committed repeatedly in that game in Clones two weeks back Armagh will punish them more ruthlessly than Fermanagh were able to do. That’s not to say though that Armagh are the perfect side or are superior in many ways to Monaghan, but they are going into their fourth championship match this season and while some might say that with both their games in the Ulster championship going to extra time and one of them to a replay the legs could be tiring, but those games could also leave them a little more battle hardened.

Monaghan’s Vinny Corey is expecting a totally different type of game than the one Monaghan experienced against Fermanagh. He spoke at the media briefing in St Tiarnach’s Park Clones on Monday morning last. “It was a tough draw coming out against Fermanagh but when we drew Armagh, it’s an equally tricky one because we didn’t come out of the Fermanagh game with any great form or confidence in our performance, while Armagh are coming on the back of a couple of great games in the Ulster championship. But any way you look at it it’s a tough draw. We would be a bit concerned with our form so far and we know that we have to have a bit more urgency in our play on Saturday because in a lot of people’s eyes we could be going out of the championship on Saturday evening. Armagh are coming in with a lot of form and a lot of their guys are playing the better quality football and we haven’t been getting to those levels yet, so we are going to have to step it up on Saturday evening. As I said, Armagh are playing good quality football, and they have a lot of fires that need to be put out and they have a lot of good players on top of their game so it’s definitely a totally different game than the Fermanagh challenge.”

ELECTRIC IRELAND ULSTER MINOR FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP SEMI FINAL

Monaghan v Donegal: Brewster Park: Enniskillen: Friday June 21st @ 8.00pm.

Tomorrow evening, Friday, June 21st. Monaghan face into the penultimate test in the defence of their Electric Ireland Ulster minor football championship title when they travel to Brewster Park, Enniskillen to take on Donegal with the prize for the winners being a place in the final against either Derry or Tyrone, that final provisionally fixed for either Friday, July 12th, or Sunday, July 14th.

Monaghan have reached this stage following a three-points victory over Down in the preliminary round, 1-13 to 1-10 in Clones, then a hard fought win in a low-scoring game that was bedevilled by atrocious weather conditions in Belfast against Antrim, which finished Monaghan 0-6, Antrim 1-2 They booked their place in the semi-final when they defeated Tyrone by 3-8 to 0-13.

Donegal for their part had a slightly more circuitous route, having to rely on the qualifier system that was introduced to the minor championship this year to reach this stage. They lost their opening game to Tyrone in round one by 1-12 to 1-8, but recovered to defeat Armagh by 2-18 to 2-12 in a round two qualifier game and then booked their place in tomorrow evening’s semi-final by accounting for Cavan in round three of the qualifiers by 1-18 to 2-7.

Monaghan manager Mark Counihan in looking forward to tomorrow evening’s game. He immediately agreed that it is a very tricky assignment as there is very little difference between any of the four teams left in the competition at this stage. “It most definitely is a very tricky assignment for us because Donegal are a very good outfit and we know that from the fact that they posted 3-36 in their last two games. They would have been disappointed with their performance and result against Tyrone in their first round match which they lost, but since that they’ve grown into the competition and they have corrected the issues that adversely affected them that day and that speaks volumes too for their team management and the ability of the players to adapt to changing circumstances. This will be our first meeting with Donegal this year but we have watched them in their three championship games so far and the first thing that strikes you is they were all high scoring games. They also have in their ranks the top scorer in the competition. Jonathon McGradday who has hit 23 points in his three games so far, and most of them were from play, so he is a real handful and will have to be watched very carefully. They also have a very impressive midfield, particularly Eoin Dowling, who has no problem finding the posts either, so it’s going to be a big ask from our lads to curb that influence”.

FIXTURES.

There is a fairly limited programme of games on this coming weekend with games in the Shoe City senior, Monaghan Electric intermediate and Euro Tech junior football leagues spread over Friday and Sunday, as Saturday is free of adult fixtures due to Monaghan’s involvement in the All Ireland qualifiers against Armagh on Saturday evening in Clones.

SFL.

In the Shoe City senior football league on Friday evening Inniskeen are at home against Currin, that one at 8 PM, while on Sunday at twelve noon, Clontibret travel to Truagh, Doohamlet are at home against Latton, Ballybay are away at Carrickmacross and Scotstown have home advantage over Castleblayney.

IFL.

In the Monaghan Electrical intermediate football league Tyholland are at home against Sean McDermotts on Friday evening at 8 PM while on Sunday at twelve noon, Donaghmoyne are at home against Magheracloone, Aughnamullen are away at Cremartin, Monaghan Harps travel to Corduff and Killanny have a fair journey to Emyvale.

JFL.

In the Euro Tech junior football league on Friday evening, both games at 8 PM, Scotstown are at home against Killeevan and Toome are away at Oram, while on Sunday there are two games, both at twelve noon, Drumhowan away at Eire Og and Aghabog at home to Rockcorry.

RFL.

There is one game in the reserve football league division three on Sunday at 5:30 PM, Scotstown at home against Tyholland, while on Wednesday next June 26th in the reserve football league division 2A, Eire Og are at home against Carrickmacross while in 2B Monaghan Harps are away at Inniskeen. In division three, Killeevan are at home against Scotstown and Rockcorry are away at Truagh, all those games on Wednesday evening at 8.00 PM.

HURLING.

The semi-finals of the Silver Hill Foods Development Hurling league took place last Thursday evening, with victories for Castleblayney HC over Carrickmacross HC and Clontibret over Truagh, while in the shield section Monaghan Harps HC had a comprehensive victory over Latton and Mattock Rangers of Louth saw off the challenge of East Cavan Gaels. That left the pairings for the finals reading as follows, Castleblayney H C taking on Clontibret in the league final, that game in Inniskeen this evening, Thursday June 20th at 8.00 PM while the Shield final is between Monaghan Harps HC and Louth side Mattock Rangers, that game in Carrickmacross also at 8 PM this evening. In previous years, the two finals had been staged as a double header, which gave higher status to the competition, but unfortunately that could not be facilitated this year.

SHC.

Next up on the hurling front, it is the opening salvos in the first round of the Silver Hill Foods sponsored senior hurling championship on Thursday next June 27th, with Truagh at home against Carrickmacross HC and Inniskeen away at Castleblayney HC, both those games at 8 PM.

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