U21s v Antrim
March 18, 2010Monaghan v Antrim: Casement Park, Belfast: Wednesday March 24th @ 8.00pm.
Wednesday next March 24th sees Monaghan in action in the quarter-final of the Cadbury's sponsored Ulster U21 football championship when they travel to Casement Park, Belfast, to take on Antrim. Monaghan go into the game as winners of the Shamrock Cup, the four team U21 inter county tournament that is hosted annually by the Cremartin club. However the only game they lost in that competition was to Antrim in the opening round. That victory will no doubt give Antrim something of a psychological boost but Monaghan can take confidence from the fact that they recovered from that early setback to go on and win the cup outright. Seamus McEnaney openly acknowledged that the defeat against Antrim was disappointing but not so much at losing the game but more in the manner in which Monaghan failed to perform up to the standard that they showed they could produce in subsequent matches and he is confident that if Monaghan can produce such a performance on Wednesday night next then they can book their place in the semi-final. Football in Antrim though is on something of a high at the moment with county senior team manager Liam Bradley, whose charges are going very well in the National Football League, also in charge of the under 21 team, so motivation and intensity will not be lacking. Seamus McEnaney though has been working with his charges since the concluding stages of the Shamrock Cup and with a number of the players also gaining experience on the county senior team Monaghan will be fielding at full strength. Patrick Tavey started the year in defence but has made a very smooth transition to the attack and looks like lining out at full forward. In fact Monaghan have quality up front with Dermot Malone, Martin McElroy, Chris McGuinness, David Millar and Donal Hahessy first class players. In defence Colm Greenan, Mattie Reilly, Conor Galligan, Sam Dooney and Kieran Hughes have the quality to hold the line while Peter O'Hara can give them a foot hold in midfield. Antrim won the Shamrock Cup game by 1-9 to Monaghan's 1-7 but at full strength and playing to potential Monaghan can reverse that and go through to the semi final. .
Teams and Scorers in the Shamrock Cup: Antrim: Peter Graham, Chris McVeigh, Paddy Fitzpatrick, Daryl McAlernan, James Laverty, Paddy Gallagher, Sean Finch, Mark McGowan 0-1, Martin Graham 0-2 (2f), Marty Kane, Fergal Burke, Michael Armstrong 0-1, Colm Fleming 1-4 (0-2f), Martin Kelly, Eamonn McNeill 0-1. Subs: Paul McCann for F Burke, Brian Rush for E O'Neill.
Monaghan: Emmet McArdle, Matthew Reilly, Darren Daly, Sam Dooney, Patrick Tavey, Kieran Duffy 0-1, Conor Galligan, Gary Feely, Peter O'Hara, David Hughes, Christopher McGuinness 0-1, Brian McArdle, Keith Hill 0-1, Gerard McArdle, David Millar 1-3 (0-2f). Subs: Fintan Kelly for G Feely, Colm Greenan for B McArdle, Donal Hahessy 0-1 (f) for S Dooney, Daniel McNally for P O'Hara, Kieran Hughes for P Tavey. Referee: Eugene McConnell (Tyrone). Tweet
