Hurlers take on Cavan
March 18, 2010Monaghan v Cavan: Kingspan Breffni Park: Sunday March 21st @ 2.30pm.
Monaghan can consolidate their position at the top of division 4 and effectively book their place in the division 4 final with victory over Cavan when they meet in Kingspan Breffni Park this Sunday at 2.30pm. At the same time defeat would not be the end of the world but it would seriously dent Monaghan's prospects of reaching the final as well as hurting morale at this juncture in the season. Cavan have just two points from their three games so far which would give them the grounds for believing that a victory over Monaghan on Sunday would keep them in the hunt and leave things open going into the final round of games on Sunday week. Cavan looked well placed to take the points against Fermanagh last Sunday but they faded somewhat in the second half and Fermanagh edged past them to keep themselves in a position to compete for a place in the final. As table toppers Monaghan will go into this game on Sunday as slight favourites but given the local derby nature of the contest such ratings can mean very little. Over the year's games between Monaghan and Cavan have always been close and well contested affairs and Sunday's contest would be more different.
NHL Div. 4. TABLE.
Team P W D L Pts
Monaghan 3 3 0 0 6
Longford 3 2 0 1 4
Fermanagh 3 2 0 1 4
Leitrim 3 1 0 2 2
Cavan 3 1 0 2 2
South Down 3 0 0 3 0
Monaghan have a points difference of plus 22 while Longford have a difference of just one point. Cavan on the other hand have a points difference of 3 but should they move on to 4 points with a win on Sunday it would open things up. The crucial other game is between Longford and Fermanagh where the winners would move into second place and leave matters still very fluid going into the final round. Monaghan team manager Frank Brady is under no illusions as to the task facing his side on Sunday. "Games between Monaghan and Cavan are always hard and while the points in the league are vital there is an awful lot of local pride at stake in these matches. Cavan could very well be competing for a semi-final place on Sunday had they held out against Fermanagh but they were missing five regulars last Sunday and when you have to field without players of the calibre of Kevin Downes to name but one it does have an impact. Mind you in that regard we have not been at full strength either given that there are a number of players who are unavailable to us this year for a variety of reasons and we are also having to work without the services of the likes of Arthur Hughes who has retired and it makes it difficult. Noel Morgan is still on the injured list and he would strengthen our attack greatly but we have to work with the resources we have and do the best we can". Asked to put Sunday's game in perspective Fran Brady was emphatic that essentially Monaghan were playing for a place in the final. "A win on Sunday puts us in the final, it's as simple as that or as difficult as that, depending on how we perform. Cavan will certainly be well up for this one and they will be fielding a stronger team than they did against Fermanagh. Bernard Gaffney made the headlines following that match, scoring 2-11 but two years ago he was on the fringes of the Clare senior team, underlining the classy player that he is. He is just one player that we will have to watch very closely but I think if we play as well as we can play we should take the result. I suppose I could say that if we had everyone available to us that could or probably should be involved we would provide formidable opposition to anybody. However that is at their hands and we will have to compensate for that but I have no doubt that the players that we will have on duty on Sunday are well capable of getting Monaghan to final. We have the potential to be the best team in this division and I think it's just a matter of going out and proving that".
PREVIOUS MEETINGS.
This will be the 9th meeting between Monaghan and Cavan since the beginning of the new Millennium and Monaghan have lost just once in that sequence of matches. In fact that one defeat was the first that Monaghan suffered since 1988 but Monaghan manager Frank Brady will lay little significance on that fact in preparing for Sunday's encounter. Monaghan and Cavan met in last year's National Hurling league division 4 and also in the 2008 series so Monaghan are looking for a third win on the bounce while Cavan are looking to end a losing sequence that goes back to 2001, the only time in 11 meetings that they have defeated their neighbours.
THE RESULTS.
1988 Monaghan 0-5 Cavan 0-4
1989 Monaghan4-10 Cavan 2-5
1997 Monaghan4-14 Cavan 0-5 in Truagh
2000 Monaghan 3-10 Cavan 0-13
2001 Monaghan 1-6 Cavan 1-12 Breffni Park
2002 Monaghan 2-10 Cavan 1-7 Breffni Park 16/3/02
2003 Monaghan 0-7 Cavan 0-5 Gavan Duffy Park 9/3/03
2004 Cavan 1-10 Monaghan 1-11 Breffni park 29/2/04
2005 Monaghan 0-12 Cavan 1-7 Gavan Duffy Park 27/2/05
2008 Cavan 3-4, Monaghan 4-15 Kingspan Breffni Park 23/3/08 Div 4.
2009 Monaghan 4-10, Cavan 3-4 Inniskeen 14/2/09 Div 4.
A REMINDER OF LAST YEAR'S MEETING.
ALLIANZ HURLING LEAGUE DIV 4: Monaghan 4-10, Cavan 3-4.
A strong second half performance saw Monaghan get their NHL division 4 campaign off to the best possible start when they proved too strong for Cavan in this high scoring encounter that was played in Inniskeen on Saturday February 14th last year. It was a victory though that came at a cost as Monaghan had their two midfielders red carded in stoppage time Alan Lambe and Brian Phelan both sent off for retaliation in separate incidents.
Goals were the main feature of a close first half during which the lead changed hands on a couple of occasions but by half time Monaghan were two points in front, 2-7 to 3-2, despite conceding two goals in as many minutes approaching the break. In the second half Monaghan's ability to pick off points was the crucial difference and they forged ahead by eight points before Cavan registered their fist score of the second period. A second goal by top scorer Stephen Lambe and a fourth by Noel Morgan wrapped it up completely as Cavan lacked the penetration up front to really trouble a compact Monaghan defence in the final quarter.
Teams and Scorers: Monaghan: Michael McHugh, Aidan Kerr, Sean Leonard, James Connolly, Declan Crowe, Willie O'Toole, Stephen Lynch, Brian Phelan, Alan Lambe, John Greene 1-1, Bernard O'Brien, Eanna Mac Suibhne 0-2, Noel Morgan 1-2, Stephen Lambe 2-4, Brian McGuigan 0-1. Subs: John McAnespie for J Connolly (yc), Michael Lennon for J Greene, Ronan Conlon for E Mac Suibhne, Arthur Hughes for N Morgan, Seamus McLoughlin for S Lynch.
Cavan: Darren Sheridan, Daithi Neary, Anthony Sheridan, Michael O'Connell, Barry Ryan, Paul Sheridan, Barry Dalton, Joe Lafferty, Dominic Crudden, Edward Dalton, Ciaran Brennan 0-1, Eugene Hill 0-1, Adrian McManus 2-3, Mark McEntee, Ritchie Fitzsimons. Subs: Andrew Nelligan for M O'Connell, Ronan O'Hagan for J Lafferty (yc), Paddy Baxter for M McEntee, Sean Og Brady for E Dalton, Eugene Hill (yc) not replaced. Referee: R Matthews (Antrim)
CHANGES.
Since that meeting last year both sides will be showing a considerable number of changes for Sunday's game with 8 of the Monaghan lineout from last year not having taken part in the league so far while only seven from last year's Cavan team that played against Monaghan lined out against Fermanagh last Sunday. Willie O'Toole, Stephen Lynch, Alan Lambe, Stephen Lambe, Bernard O'Brien, Noel Morgan, Arthur Hughes and Gordon Coleman all took part in last year's game and but have not represented Monaghan this year. Willie O'Toole is on the panel but work commitments have restricted his availability, Stephen Lynch, Alan Lambe, Bernard O'Brien and Stephen Lambe are unavailable while Noel Morgan is injured and Gordon Coleman emigrated.
Of the Cavan line out last year only Daithi Neary, Anthony Sheridan, Eugene Hill, Sean Og Brady, Ronan O'Hagan, Michael O'Connell and Paul Sheridan played against Fermanagh. Cavan though have boosted their resources under the Rule whereby players from other counties can continue to play with their home clubs while declaring for one of the weaker counties. That rule has seen Liam Kelly from Cork, Ciaran Brennan from Clare, Gary Brennan from Galway, Bernard Gaffney from Clare and Michael Carr from Galway all declaring for Cavan. Liam Kelly, Ciaran Brennan, Bernard Gaffney and Michael Carr all played against Fermanagh last Sunday with Bernard Gaffney making the biggest impact, scoring 2-11 of Cavan's total. They scored 2-12 which saw Gaffney scoring all but one point of their entire tally for the day and with 8 of those 11 points coming from frees it underlines first of all the quality of the player and secondly the need for Monaghan to limit his influence and avoid conceding frees.
Neither side will make wholesale changes from the teams that fielded last Sunday for this weekends game in Kingspan Breffni Park. Manager Frank Brady though has some thinking to do as Seamus Loftus who has held down the position of centre back in Monaghan's two opening matches will be back and he is hopeful that Eanna MacSuibhne will have recovered from injury to line out in the attack. The return of Seamus Loftus will see a slightly re-jigged defence while if MacSuibhne is available the most likely to lose out would be Kevin Boylan. Tweet
