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Monaghan GAA thread

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Replying To Eddie the Exile:  "Well done to the Inniskeen club on hosting an All Ireland series game yesterday. The grounds and stewarding were excellent. Way ahead of any venue in either of the counties hosted.

On the pitch, Meath were even more dire than Monaghan last week. When these 2 meet it will be hard to tell who wants to lose more, because neither panel looks interested in prolonging the summer.

Louth were really very good without being brilliant, super organised and committed, with plenty of attacking threat. They will arrive in Clones full of intent.

The reports of chaotic arrangements for the Kerry trip for some panel players are very disappointing. Was that a cause or a symptom of morale being on the floor in the Monaghan panel? Probably a bit of both.

Vinny and Co. need to close the gates of Cloghan this week and sort it out."
Please expand.
Has vinnie lost the dressing room?

Was that our second minor team that lost to wexford mid week?

222 (UK) - Posts: 849 - 26/05/2024 14:38:42    2547210

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Replying To 222:  "Please expand.
Has vinnie lost the dressing room?

Was that our second minor team that lost to wexford mid week?"
We only have the one minor team ..

veterngaa (Monaghan) - Posts: 753 - 26/05/2024 19:01:50    2547347

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Replying To Eddie the Exile:  "Well done to the Inniskeen club on hosting an All Ireland series game yesterday. The grounds and stewarding were excellent. Way ahead of any venue in either of the counties hosted.

On the pitch, Meath were even more dire than Monaghan last week. When these 2 meet it will be hard to tell who wants to lose more, because neither panel looks interested in prolonging the summer.

Louth were really very good without being brilliant, super organised and committed, with plenty of attacking threat. They will arrive in Clones full of intent.

The reports of chaotic arrangements for the Kerry trip for some panel players are very disappointing. Was that a cause or a symptom of morale being on the floor in the Monaghan panel? Probably a bit of both.

Vinny and Co. need to close the gates of Cloghan this week and sort it out."
What stories? What happened?

Blackcardnot (USA) - Posts: 44 - 26/05/2024 19:18:51    2547351

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Interesting to see some of the county players released to play with their clubs this weekend.

shaggylegend (Monaghan) - Posts: 1948 - 26/05/2024 20:04:49    2547383

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Replying To seanie08:  "I'm stating the obvious here but we haven't for whatever reason been able to bring through enough players from successful minor teams esp in defence. We won back to back minors in ulster 18/19 five six years ago and how many players have come through from those sides to be regular main stays of the quality of the lads who have now either retired or just left the scene. Off hand apart from mcenespie and Mccarthy from 2013 ulster winning minor side its hard to recall any minors past 10 years who have cemented a place in the side. Dessie Ward who is quality also of that vintage has been v unlucky with injuries. I'm not sure if that has been down to us playing experienced players all the time in a bid to stay in div 1. Maybe we are making that drop to div 2 too late in the day and haven't blooded the lads we needed to in that time. The point being we may end up blooding players in likely div 3 in a few years before we bounce back. Have no doubt the talent is there but patience badly needed now for a few years of long overdue pull back in form while lads come through. We ain't kerry or dublin with b sides better than most county sides."
pretty much every player thats younger than mccarthy came thru a minor since 2013??

2018 minors had shane hanratty, aaron mulligan, sean jones, karl gallagher and jason irwin - all have featured for the senior team but i take your point about defenders...we were blessed 12 or so years ago when walshe and wylie came thru...walshe in particular, captained DIT and won a sigerson...all our "stars" coming thru today seem to be forwards more so than defenders

MalsBalls (Monaghan) - Posts: 222 - 27/05/2024 10:08:42    2547479

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Replying To MalsBalls:  "pretty much every player thats younger than mccarthy came thru a minor since 2013??

2018 minors had shane hanratty, aaron mulligan, sean jones, karl gallagher and jason irwin - all have featured for the senior team but i take your point about defenders...we were blessed 12 or so years ago when walshe and wylie came thru...walshe in particular, captained DIT and won a sigerson...all our "stars" coming thru today seem to be forwards more so than defenders"
Yeah suppose point making was mainstays of the side. Lads have featured but don't seem to make enough of impression to stay in the team. Jones and Irwin may well become mainstays but the well is quite dry. Gallagher definitely would became one but he headed to Oz. The defence is v one paced and needs new blood.

seanie08 (Monaghan) - Posts: 1886 - 27/05/2024 11:16:55    2547531

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Replying To MalsBalls:  "pretty much every player thats younger than mccarthy came thru a minor since 2013??

2018 minors had shane hanratty, aaron mulligan, sean jones, karl gallagher and jason irwin - all have featured for the senior team but i take your point about defenders...we were blessed 12 or so years ago when walshe and wylie came thru...walshe in particular, captained DIT and won a sigerson...all our "stars" coming thru today seem to be forwards more so than defenders"
Ronan Grimes won an All Star in 2018, Ronan Boyle won an All Star 2019 and a sigerson this year. The talent in defence is there but for some reason both players walked off the panel.
Shane Hanratty, had a very impressive year under Banty and continues to shine with Inniskeen, again, walked off panel last year and hasn't returned.

Players are there, they just aren't togging out.

MonaghanMan44life (Monaghan) - Posts: 44 - 27/05/2024 11:22:35    2547534

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Replying To MalsBalls:  "pretty much every player thats younger than mccarthy came thru a minor since 2013??

2018 minors had shane hanratty, aaron mulligan, sean jones, karl gallagher and jason irwin - all have featured for the senior team but i take your point about defenders...we were blessed 12 or so years ago when walshe and wylie came thru...walshe in particular, captained DIT and won a sigerson...all our "stars" coming thru today seem to be forwards more so than defenders"
Only Ryan O'Toole in the last 9 years has established himself as a defender at senior level after playing as a defender at county underage. Others have been converted to defenders such as Ward, McAnespie and McCarthy (all forwards at minor level). That's not uncommon e.g. Dessie Mone took a similar route, Damien Freeman too. Have thought for some time now that Irwin's combative nature is more suited to a defensive role at senior level and it appears Corey is thinking along the same lines too. The 6 or 7 defensive mainstays from MOR's era were so established that hardly anyone got a look in and now has most of them are retired and some are in later stages of their county careers.

Half back line players are more transition roles than a decade ago, but man markers in full back line are more specialised now. Lots of previous postings about Boyle from Truagh and Grimes from Killanny not being in the squad and they've been winning sigerson's and intermediate POTY respectively . Would be interested to see how S.Hanratty performs this year at club level as he has potential. Carolan from Carrick has been added to senior squad. He was excellent at U20 level this year. Doogan-Burke, Callan and Hughes were also very very good defensively this year at U20.

sleater (Monaghan) - Posts: 178 - 27/05/2024 11:41:01    2547542

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Replying To shaggylegend:  "Interesting to see some of the county players released to play with their clubs this weekend."
Bit of common sense at last, any that didn't play full game v Kerry were allowed to play with clubs.

sporto (Monaghan) - Posts: 183 - 27/05/2024 13:02:19    2547609

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out of interest can anyone name a 15 of eligible players who aren't on the squad this year for one reason or another

straight off the top of my head, you have Forde, R Boyle, C Boyle, Grimes, Hanratty, Carey, Kearns, Gallagher, K Hughes, mulligan...

its already shaping into a strong team - someone more clued in than myself can finish the list please

MalsBalls (Monaghan) - Posts: 222 - 27/05/2024 13:32:53    2547631

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So to the game v Louth next Sunday, I hope Monaghan can up their performance level considerably to restore a bit of confidence and belief in the team, as they badly need it.
If we beat Louth on Sunday, we should have the confidence to go on and beat Meath in last game. Making a preliminary quarter final would be a decent achievement at this stage. Once 2024 season is over, the post mortem can start then.

Expectations are high in Monaghan for past 15 years or so, which is the way it should be, as this keeps standards high and keeps the kids playing GAA in the County and proudly wearing their Monaghan jerseys. We need to keep it this way.!
As a lot of people have said here, we have the talent and we have to be patient but we need to keep the performance levels high. It would be good to be like Armagh and Donegal and bounce back to Div 1 next year but I feel its going to take 2-3 years to rebuild the team back to Div 1 levels again, which is fine, as long we have a good plan in place that everyone buys into and the right management team to lead us there.
We've had blips before, like in 2011 when Offaly dumped us out and in 2016 when Longford beat us in a qualifier, but the feeling this time round is that we have to rebuild the core of a team now, unlike those other years.
Hopefully we'll have Conor Boyle back though as defence badly needs him. What's the chances of Kearns making a return or is he gone for good at this stage ?

SouthMonMan (Monaghan) - Posts: 161 - 27/05/2024 14:23:15    2547664

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Replying To sporto:  "Bit of common sense at last, any that didn't play full game v Kerry were allowed to play with clubs."
Much needed for a lot of players

shaggylegend (Monaghan) - Posts: 1948 - 27/05/2024 15:32:34    2547689

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Hopefully there'll be a good Monaghan support in Clones on Sunday as I'd imagine there'll be a huge Louth contingent there

Blackcardnot (USA) - Posts: 44 - 27/05/2024 16:40:35    2547719

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Replying To MalsBalls:  "out of interest can anyone name a 15 of eligible players who aren't on the squad this year for one reason or another

straight off the top of my head, you have Forde, R Boyle, C Boyle, Grimes, Hanratty, Carey, Kearns, Gallagher, K Hughes, mulligan...

its already shaping into a strong team - someone more clued in than myself can finish the list please"
I would say part of the main problem is players not wanting to be on the bench at inter county level. Some of these players since they were 10 have played very game very minute for their club and been the main man… getting the buy in at this level is hard and in fairness malachy was great at it but maybe the modern world and modern player are more selfish and have a higher opinion of them selves that they should be playing week in week out so they opt out because they won't get full minutes all the time ?

veterngaa (Monaghan) - Posts: 753 - 28/05/2024 07:19:40    2547803

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Replying To veterngaa:  "I would say part of the main problem is players not wanting to be on the bench at inter county level. Some of these players since they were 10 have played very game very minute for their club and been the main man… getting the buy in at this level is hard and in fairness malachy was great at it but maybe the modern world and modern player are more selfish and have a higher opinion of them selves that they should be playing week in week out so they opt out because they won't get full minutes all the time ?"
It must be hard for those on the fringes of the squad to stay motivated if they have been there for a year or two with no or little game time.

They train just as hard as the starters but don't get the reward at the weekends. You essentially give up any life outside of football for this team and all you get is a free ticket to watch from the sideline.

The expectation and training load at intercounty level is far higher than ever before. Its 6 days a week and probably 5 hours a day for those 6 days. So, that's 30 hours a week for guys who are high achievers but at the same time they don't get the reward or see the benefit of the hard work if not picked for the team.

MrPBoylan (Monaghan) - Posts: 235 - 28/05/2024 09:44:11    2547837

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Replying To MrPBoylan:  "It must be hard for those on the fringes of the squad to stay motivated if they have been there for a year or two with no or little game time.

They train just as hard as the starters but don't get the reward at the weekends. You essentially give up any life outside of football for this team and all you get is a free ticket to watch from the sideline.

The expectation and training load at intercounty level is far higher than ever before. Its 6 days a week and probably 5 hours a day for those 6 days. So, that's 30 hours a week for guys who are high achievers but at the same time they don't get the reward or see the benefit of the hard work if not picked for the team."
That's the nature of it! Inter county senior is not about participating…

veterngaa (Monaghan) - Posts: 753 - 29/05/2024 08:47:42    2548065

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Massive game this weekend. If ever we were going to see a reaction from the team to the fairly dismal season so far it's this weekend as this really is their last stand on home soil. Forget meath game. If we lose this our summer is over as we aint coming through a last 12 game away to likes of derry or mayo in those circumstances. Louth have had a really impressive year to date and will be full of confidence. Monaghan being written off left right and centre. Most pundits dismissing them saying they are done. Its set up for these players to respond. They owe nothing to us supporters as have given us some great days out but they owe it to themselves on Sunday not to just show up in clones and roll over like the last two games but to show the same grit fight and passion displayed in celtic Park croke Park and omagh last summer. Need to go hard at it from the off none of this slow lateral sh!te we seen v Cavan. We have an extra weeks rest on louth and need to show it. Get the crowd going kick on. Monaghan by 4.

seanie08 (Monaghan) - Posts: 1886 - 31/05/2024 08:43:08    2548511

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Louth beat us in clones in 2002, we avenged that defeat in breffni in 05, just about, a 1 point win.
Nice little history between both counties in killanny and Inniskeen. Will be close but louths tails are up and they are a powerful team. Perhaps it's them that are entering into a healthy era as we exit one.

222 (UK) - Posts: 849 - 31/05/2024 12:18:20    2548553

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I don't know, I can't see anything but a Louth win. We had plenty of time to sort ourselves out after the Cavan game, and we went down to Killarney and weren't even nearly at the races. Like most of the year, we looked flat and lacked any sort of fire to go and be first to the ball. You just can't turn that on in the space of a couple of weeks.

Louth have a perfect scenario here, they have all the momentum, and they know they are guaranteed 2nd in the group if they beat us. They could then even rest players for the Kerry game if they wanted to. They won't fear us, we are just another scalp for them to take. If you're Ger Brennan, and you're looking at our 2024 performances, what would you be fearful of? Very little unfortunately. It seems like we are just treading water until the season is over.

It will be several players last game for Monaghan in Clones. They owe us nothing, but it would be a shame if they were to depart the stage without at least a decent performance.

moodoo (Monaghan) - Posts: 462 - 31/05/2024 12:51:35    2548558

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Big weekend ahead. There's not much positivity around at the moment which is understandable enough but I wouldn't go throwing the baby out with the bath water. Injuries, the few lads opting out (or possibly opting out) for the year made it impossible to generate any momentum so far this year and its been tough going since leaving Croke park with 2 points at the end of January. When things are going against you it can be very hard to turn the tide but the tide must go out at some stage and I'm hoping it will be this weekend. Bar Roscommon away and Kerry the last day Monaghan (even with no form) haven't been too far away in a lot of games and with a bit of luck (or less bad luck) could have had something out of Galway, Tyrone and Mayo games in the league. They were leading at close to 70 minutes v Cavan too and just didn't close it out. Kerry the last day was a hard watch but for my money it would have been madness going down to Killarney with all guns blazing as defeat was always likely. Kerry have only lost one championship game in 39 in Fitzgerald stadium and you would have to say that a Monaghan team after a long spin, low on personnel and confidence was never going to be number 2. So all told i think there's room for optimism. A bit of spark to restore some belief would do the team wonders so lets hope we get it this Sunday.

TheN2 (Monaghan) - Posts: 2 - 31/05/2024 20:41:10    2548617

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