Footballers face the Dubs
March 10, 2010Monaghan v Dublin: Parnell Park: Saturday march 13th @ 7.30pm.
Monaghan got their league season up and running on Sunday last with a one point victory over Tyrone in Inniskeen and this Saturday they travel to Parnell Park to try and consolidate when they take on the Metropolitans in another vital game. Dublin are top of Division I with maximum points from their three outings so far, defeating Kerry, Derry and Mayo and laying down a marker as to their potential and intentions for the year. Dublin team manager Pat Gilroy made no secret of the fact that he would be using the National League this year to "look at new talent" as he set about rebuilding Dublin following their humiliation by Kerry in last year's All Ireland quarter final.
To date his restructuring plans have gone very well and with three valuable victories despite the fact that he has rotated players and used new talent and new faces in each of those three games. True, the new faces have been interspersed with experienced players like Bernard Brogan and Conal Keaney as well as Ross McConnell, Paul Flynn to name but a few, but by and large it is the newcomers who have impressed with their hunger and their determination to make their positions permanent in the Dublin set up. Brogan et al have been introduced at vital times in all three games so far to help Dublin get over the line and they have done that with their experience settling things down when matches were there for the winning.
Dublin's opening round victory over Kerry in Killarney was their first league victory over the Kingdom on Kerry soil since 1982, saw them make a very encouraging start to the new season and while there was a degree of hype surrounding that victory Dublin have vindicated their form by defeating Derry in the next round and then Mayo on their last outing.
Manager Pat Gilroy though is not getting carried away in any shape or form and is adamant that what the league is about for him is "seeing young guys and how they acquit themselves. We have worked hard in all three games and we are happy to be winning but at the end of the day this league is about discovering new talent and looking at formations that we hope will serve us well later in the year". Gilroy too will have plenty to mull over as he sits down to pick his side to face Monaghan on Saturday evening as well as thinking ahead to the panel that he will be finalising come the end of the league given that the likes of Eamon Fennell, Alan Hubbard, Cian O'Sullivan, Paul Conlon, Rory O'Carroll, Paul Flynn and Darragh McAuley have all been very impressive.
The level of hunger and commitment that Dublin have shown in their games so far are is the impressive although Gilroy would be the first to admit that in the Mayo match and to a certain extent in the game against Derry his side was helped by this squander mania of the opposition. That though is not something that Gilroy will worry about on Saturday evening but Monaghan will have to be a lot more clinical than they were against Tyrone if they are to have a chance of adding to the points they garnered in such workmanlike fashion in Inniskeen on Sunday last.
That victory will also give Monaghan added confidence and they can take confidence too from the fact that Monaghan has a good record in recent times in Parnell Park with two victories and a draw in their last three visits. They will be only too aware though that it will take a massive effort to come out of the cauldron that will be Parnell Park on Saturday evening.
The games that Dublin play under lights in their own headquarters have tended to be well attended and exciting encounters with something of a cult following and Monaghan will be only too aware also of the atmosphere they will face when they look back on their last visit there in 2008 and a game that degenerated into an attritional contest in a bruising second-half.
CHANGES.
Dublin manager Pat Gilroy will probably make a number of changes from the team that defeated Mayo last Sunday and Seamus McEnaney also will probably re-jig his forces. Darren Hughes was withdrawn from full-back to bolster midfield against Tyrone which he did to good effect and he may well line out in that midfield role this time around which could leave the way open for Colm Greenan to take over at number three. Greenan though picked up a knock in the game against Tyrone which could leave him doubtful and that would limit Monaghan's options defensively.
The introduction of Rory Woods as a substitute in that match was encouraging and he showed to good effect with a well taken point and tnat allied to his experience and physical presence, could see him figure at some stage if not from the start on Saturday evening. Midfield will be a vital area where Eamon Fennell and Alan Hubbard are developing into a fairly formidable partnership for Dublin but Pat Kilroy has other options there although he will see the battle in that middle third as vital to his side's prospects.
Seamus McEnaney will be adopting the same attitude going into this game as he did last Sunday in that Monaghan's sole concentration will be on taking further points in the league irrespective of the opposition. He rates the game against Dublin as a big match but would quickly point out that it is no bigger than any other game and that all games in division one are big matches but in truth they don't come any more testing than against Dublin under lights in their own citadel in Donnycarney. The game is not an all ticket affair but patrons would be advised to arrive early as a near capacity crowd is still expected and the fireworks could start quite early as well.
PREVIOUS MEETINGS.
Dublin and Monaghan have met on 16 occasions in National Football League action since they first clashed back in 1937. It was 1969 however and their sixth meeting before Monaghan recorded their first victory but over the entire run of matches the statistics are very much in Dublin's favour with 10 victories for the Metropolitan's against 4 for Monaghan and two of the matches drawn.
THE RESULTS.
1937 Monaghan 1-7, Dublin 3-2
1938 Monaghan 0-7, Dublin 0-7
1939 Dublin 2-5, Monaghan 1-0
1940 Dublin 3-16, Monaghan 0-3
1968 Monaghan 3-3, Dublin 1-10
1969 Dublin 2-6, Monaghan 3-7
1970 Monaghan 0-9, Dublin 1-15
1984 Monaghan 0-5, Dublin 1-8
1986 Dublin 2-8, Monaghan 2-10 (16/11/'86, Croke Park)
1988 Dublin 4-12, Monaghan 1-8 (semi final)
1988 Monaghan 0-5, Dublin 1-13
1989 Dublin 2-12, Monaghan 1-8.
1997 Monaghan 1-7, Dublin 2-7
1998 Dublin 0-12, Monaghan 2-12 (15/2/'98 Parnell Park).
2006 Dublin 0-7, Monaghan 1-11 (12/2/06 Parnell Park).
2008 Dublin 1-10, Monaghan 0-13 (23/3/08 Parnell Park) Tweet
