Championship 2017 - 3 Like(s)
I'll ignore the troll who likes to get the last word on all threads with his tedious attempts at provocation. The reality is that if the Super (s had been in place this year, Monaghan would have been grouped with Kerry, Armagh and Roscommon and with one of those matches in Clones and one in Croke Park, we would have stood a realistic chance of progressing. We have shown in the past few seasons we are effective in league-style football so there is no reason we cannot reach the last 4 through this route next year.

Mike Patton (Monaghan) - 06/09/2017 09:21:54

Predictions for 2017 season - 2 Like(s)
2/2 A few other things impressed me - the discipline of the players a) in sticking to game plans and positions and b) in not getting drawn into any off-the-ball stuff or argy-bargy. Maybe its a consequence that its more a running game with less emphasis on one-on-one marking duels but there seems to be less silly stuff going on these days (less old-fashioned shemozzles too). Also, I think Monaghan really sets a great example with county players. Ballybay had the two Wylies and Thomas Kerr starting giving it their usual 100% just two weeks out from the Cavan match. And no harm done. Ballybay - with the Wylies, Paul Finlay, Dessie Ward, Thomas Kerr, Chris McGuinness, Colm Lennon, the evergreen Hugh Malone - look a strong outfit. Should be a good bet for the championship but Clontibret or Scotstown have a habit of getting it right on the day.

Mike Patton (Monaghan) - 30/05/2017 11:53:52

Championship 2017 - 2 Like(s)

Mike Patton (Monaghan) - 02/08/2017 13:09:32

Championship 2017 - 1 Like(s)
1 As Sleater said, Dick Clerkin was spot on one one big reasons for our defeat. Conor McManus had six possessions in the whole match - SIX!. And he managed to hit three from play with that. 2 We just didn't attack enough. We had 38 attacks compared to Down's 48 despite having slightly more possession. We had 53 attacks against Cavan for example, so we had 15 fewer chances to score. We didn't give ourselves a chance. 3 We were actually quite good when we did attack - converting 79% of attacks into shots. But, as the first 15 minutes alone showed, our shooting was off, only 50% of those shots were scored compared to 57% against Fermanagh. 4 As many have said, we lacked intensity. We only made 50 tackles while Down made 65. We made 70 tackles against Cavan and 79 against Fermanagh. 5 We conceded territory too cheaply. We always do this, but the contrast was noticeable on Saturday where Down completely disrupted our kickout strategy by simply pushing up and then targeting Karl O'Connell, while we allowed Down to get out too easily. I assume MOR and his backroom team have a perfectly sensible rational for this approach but it doesn't seem to be working. Cahair O'Kane was good on this aspect in the Irish News today: [url=]http://www.irishnews.com/sport/gaafootball/2017/06/27/news/down-s-kickout-press-more-effective-than-monaghan-s-1067606/ 6 Added to this, we seem happy to allow teams to get within 50-60 metres of our goal without committing. And some days, like against Longford last year and on Saturday, the opposition will either nail scores from long range or bypass the massed defence with good diagonal foot passes. Whatever happens in the qualifiers, surely any analysis will make sure that we attack more, get our key attackers on the ball more, vary our own kickouts better and push up on the opposition kickouts against Wexford.

Mike Patton (Monaghan) - 27/06/2017 16:03:14

Championship 2017 - 1 Like(s)
Monaghan GAA‏Verified account @monaghangaa 6m6 minutes ago More All Ireland Qualifier Rd 3B @monaghangaa v @Carlow_GAA next Sat 15th July at 7pm Netwatch Dr Cullen Park Live on @SkySportsGAA

Mike Patton (Monaghan) - 10/07/2017 12:47:30

Championship 2017 - 1 Like(s)

Mike Patton (Monaghan) - 17/07/2017 10:01:27

Stop the Hand Slap Goal - 1 Like(s)

Mike Patton (National) - 18/07/2017 08:26:49

Down v Monaghan - 1 Like(s)

Mike Patton (National) - 28/07/2017 08:05:19

Championship 2017 - 1 Like(s)
In any case it will be one of only a handful of matches in Monaghan history where we have played in a stadium with more people in it than the population of the county. In fact, there will be more non-Monaghan people in the stadium than the population of Monaghan county.

Mike Patton (Monaghan) - 03/08/2017 09:08:37

Championship 2017 - 1 Like(s)
Kick-outs will be crucial as we all have been saying. I don't usually agree with what Colm Parkinson says as he is a professional contrarian but this is quite an interesting take: https://www.sportsjoe.ie/gaa/monaghan-use-clever-kickout-strategy-will-panic-dublin-132555 This is also interesting on Cluxton http://gaelicstats.com/just-how-quick-is-cluxton/

Mike Patton (Monaghan) - 04/08/2017 13:01:59

Championship 2017 - 1 Like(s)
I think Malachy got it wrong too but not sure a gung-ho approach would have worked either. When they did kick long they won every ball too. His tactics depended on players bringing the ball out of defence and getting up in support of the two men inside. That didn't happen. We missed two or three easy scores in first 20 minutes which might have setled us. We were denied by two great Cluxton saves which might have made it a little interesting in the second. And Dublin a) turned almost every possession into an attack and every attack into a shot and b) nailed every chance in the first half. Nothing went our way which it needed to. But he should have had McCarthy in earlier and used him and McManus inside with McCarron on 40 to try to take the game to them. Shame is I think we're better than we showed and would have troubled any other team in the last 8. At least we'll not lose in a quarter-final next year!

Mike Patton (Monaghan) - 05/08/2017 20:10:25

Dublin vs Monaghan - 1 Like(s)
People using today's results to have a go at Super 8. This year the groups would have been Kerry Roscommon Monaghan Armagh Dublin Tyrone Mayo and Galway Sounds like plenty of competitive matches there And I'd fancy Monaghan would have got out of that group

Mike Patton (National) - 06/08/2017 07:48:18

Championship 2017 - 1 Like(s)

Mike Patton (Monaghan) - 07/08/2017 14:00:51

Club Championship - 1 Like(s)
SFC Semi-finals 24 September Magheracloone GFC v Latton O'Rahillys Clones 2:00 PM Scotstown v Ballybay Pearse Brothers Clones 4:00 PM

Mike Patton (Monaghan) - 11/09/2017 22:25:15