Very disapointing loss today, not sure what happened in the final 15 mins? We Just went missing when the game was there for the taking. But with 12 wides and 7 balls dropped short into the Derry keepers hands you cant expect to win championship games.
What now for this team? Cant see much of a future this year, but have to say well done to the Minor team that should give a little hope for future perhaps?
How can we recover from this to have a run in the backdoor? We will need a lot of luck.

By the way I thought the remarks from Joe Brolly was disgraceful on the Sunday game this afternoon, I am thinking of making a complaint to Rte. It would be my understanding that these pundits despite what they might think should be more inparcial in their views. He came across as really despising Monaghan and in particualar Dick Clerkin. Spillane also stated he felt Monaghan were a dirty team. Both failed to recognise that Derry were as bad and in my opinion very dirty today. What about that kick on Conor McManus?

CluainEoisAbu (None) - Posts: 273 - 24/05/2009 18:30:35    292205

On the whole todays type of play wasn't Derry style it was Monaghan's style, Derry generally play free-flowing football (e.g. v Kerry, v Tyrone, v Donegal all in the league) I am not saying we are innocent but Monaghan are a rough team eg v Kildare in the league. I am reserving my opinion til I watch the match again that I have taped, but best team won and when Monaghan let Derry play football they were brilliant, the last especially the last 10 minutes and Derry were very understrength today as well. Also I don't think complaining to RTE will do anything as it is an opinion and pundits are entitled to them.

Niamh (Derry) - Posts: 2397 - 24/05/2009 18:38:34    292208

We were poor today but i feel if we keep focussed and disciplined we could still do o.k in the qualifiers.

smallballs (Monaghan) - Posts: 151 - 24/05/2009 18:57:23    292225

A little bit like last year, not being in Ulster might take the pressure off Monaghan. I get the feeling Monaghan Over prepare for these first round games, at some point you just have to bet on your own ability to win. Hopefully we will get a non Ulster team, if only for a change & fresh approach. I dont think they can win Sam but may get a visit or two to Croke park, thats about it.

Mon1 (Monaghan) - Posts: 153 - 24/05/2009 19:34:09    292254

A game soured with incidents that the ccc or whatever there called these days will look over, 2 that come to mind that were caught on camera where derry no.24 kneeing conor mc manus and fergal doherty kicking dick clerkin not once but twice!!, overall i felt monaghan had there chances to win the game 12 wides and 7 into the keepers hands are shokcing statistics. No game now till the 24th, the banty will have to take a look at some of his senior players and make a few hard decisions in selection for 4 july, i go with;

1: Duffy
2: Dessie Moen
3: J.P Moen
4: Dermot Mc Ardle
5: Vinnie Corey
6: Gary Mc Quaid
7: Conor Mc Manus
8: Darren Hughes
9: Dick Clerkin
10: Paul Mc Guigan
11: Eoin Lennon
12: Mark Downey
13: Thomas Freeman
14: Raymond Ronaghan
15: Rory Woods

nevergiveup08 (Monaghan) - Posts: 315 - 24/05/2009 20:57:25    292361

I think spillan was always hard on cavan and monaghan anyway but brolly was saying things he just didnt have to ,to be fair i wouldnt like to pay in to watch a game like that anyway,I was against the new rules but now i dont think they should be ruled out now,in the heat of championship no one will wanna get replaced BUT " the gaa should make it a more contact sport,like little pulls or putting the hands in to try get the ball all end up in handy frees,the games not as good as it was maybe six or seven years ago.But anyway thats the way it is now

bisto kid (Cavan) - Posts: 492 - 24/05/2009 21:22:33    292399

Niamh - Pundits are allowed to slander players and calling Dick Clerkin nasty after the game amounts to just that.

The Face (Monaghan) - Posts: 890 - 24/05/2009 22:33:13    292494

oh why oh why do we have to play so negvative 10 defenders at one stage lost the run of ourselfs the second half, think banty shud give someone else a go took us to end of thr line, cud of named the starting 15 at the beging of the year apart from jp missing.think we,ll get it hard to lift it for the back door the money thats spent on dis team to wacth dat display is unforgiveable.derry stood up to monaghan today an we cud,t take it the pundit,s are rite we pulled and draged our way to any thing we got this 3 ta 4 years and it was coming some team was going play us at bantys game..

donnyboy (Monaghan) - Posts: 12 - 24/05/2009 23:26:14    292567

forget about the backdoor were are we going to end up NOWHERE in 10years time we will be saying remember the team banty had we should of won this we should of won that we ran kerry close two years in a row,but did we win anything no we didnt and by the looks of things we wont eirther,we have no plan B,we dont no who to put in goals (duffys my choice)we have no fullforward,no place kicker,and no impact subs,bantys done all he can with this team and who ever comes in will have the same problems, we missed the boat in 2007 ulster final at least we would off had sliverware.

hardcore (Monaghan) - Posts: 1366 - 25/05/2009 00:00:12    292607

Really disgusted with today's game. It was a filthy game of football and i really feel the referee didn't call half of the fouls derry deserved. Monaghan were of course forced to retaliate and place defensive style. i have never been dick clerkins biggest fan but changed my mind today. Was standing right in front of him when fergal doherty kicked him so openly; the majority of other players in the gaa would have reacted but clerkin really held himself well.
As for the derry supporters................ i'm not even going to get into the behaviour i witnessed by derry supporters today but on a final note of all the games of football i have attended in my life i have never ever seen supporters behave in such a disgusting manner as the derry supporters that were surrounding me. It was foul.

farney forever (None) - Posts: 9 - 25/05/2009 00:11:04    292614

Staying away from all the other carry-on that happened, and just looking at the football...
Can we take any positives from the game? Thought Dessie had a good game (Derry goal aside), and Corey played a captains part with a couple of great charges up the middle. Often we criticise our midfield for being cleaned out, but we certainly won our fair share of ball today. Despite what anyone says, I thought Clerkin had a great game. However, 12 wides and 7 balls dropped short tells its own story, a bit more composure in front of goal and we still could have done it. Tommy needed to look around a bit more, rather than try everything himself, even from impossible angles.
If the team can regroup, and we get a favourable draw in the first qualifying round, can we get a run going? Will we have the stomach for one more run at it?

moodoo (Monaghan) - Posts: 468 - 25/05/2009 08:48:58    292671

Disapointed by the result but not that surprised. Looking at Monaghan all year they appeared sluggish, like you were always expecting them to start playing but they never did. An unusual day of score taking by us. Usually better than that. I heard what the three pundits said on tv. Joe Brolly is just still bitter from last year but he got personal and that is not acceptable. Other than that i completely agreed with the comments of colm o'rourke and pat spillane. We are a dirty team and that is why Banty never gave up spouting about the new rules because he also knows it. As paying supporters we should not be subjected to that pathetic game that was witnessed yesterday. Both teams were as bad as each other. Had the new rules been introduced it would have been a better game of football instead of a group of school children in a park. We only have the ladies now to hopefully win an ulster. Lets hope they do it and support their campaign and hopefully the lads will get a good run in the back-door because when all is said and done the effort they put in is immense and deserves recognition.

rollingstones (Monaghan) - Posts: 57 - 25/05/2009 08:50:29    292673

That was just an awful game. And we are equally as much to blame as Derry. The whole thing was a disgrace. Even before the ball was thrown in Dessie and Paddy were at it. Every player seemed intent on reacting to every single incident and nobody bothered to remember that there was a match to be played, never mind won. Monaghan as a whole were very poor and far too negitive especially when Derry were reduced to 14. We had the extra man but decided to play 2 spare men in defence and leaving Derry still with a spare man in their defence. Dohertys red card should have been the trigger to attack and finish off the game. Instead we retreated and Derry landed a couple of long range unopposed strikes.

On McBennett I think he has to take some of the blame for the goal (Square ball?? possibly but possibly not), and he did make a mess of that quick kick out resulting in a point. That said I think he is our best keeper. Maybe if Owen Lennon & Co. were a bit more dominent at midfield then McBennett would not feel under pressure to look for quick shorter options. Finally on Hannratty, there were no boos from the area of the ground where I was. There were a lot of questions asked as to why (based on league form) was he introduced but in fairness he came closest to landing a goal for us.

Tim_NicebutDim (Monaghan) - Posts: 347 - 25/05/2009 09:20:10    292687

Massive disappointment yesterday the Monaghan management just dont seem to trust enough in the players to have a go in a footballing sense as really felt the game was there for the taken in the second half. The negative tactics bordered on the obscene flooding everyone back playin with two men up front leaving Tommy isolated all the time and Derry in Celtic Park were never going to lie down something Banty obviously was banking on. We lost the game in the first half when simply we kicked away too many chances. Special mention has to go to Woods who really should have tried for a goal when he was clean through which really would have put us in the driving seat. Hard to see where we go from here but please go back to playing football when we lost to Kerry last year was really proud of the team as they went down fighting playing good football unlike yesterday. Praying for a non ulster team in the qualifiers to get away from these wars of attrition. Particularly sad yesterday to see a great player like Tommy getting involved in so much nonsence. Derry were no angels either and for me Doherty should get a lengthy ban. Brolly was a disgrace yesterday going on about a player who on three separate occasions should have been lined being a great gael and branding Dick Clerkin nasty. Poor old Lennon has given some great service but approaching time he was replaced by someone else on the team.

seanie08 (Monaghan) - Posts: 1993 - 25/05/2009 09:30:07    292688

we are most definatly past it...a new manager shld hav bein brought in at de start of the year to freshin up the set up...banty is bein 2 loyal 2 some of de 'aged' players ho yesterda looked lik even junior football wld b a challange!!!!

abcde (Monaghan) - Posts: 26 - 25/05/2009 10:11:28    292723

End of an era...?? Yes! I know he's a club man of mine but in my opinion Banty has to go NOW... It's as if he has in his mind before he goes out, who he's taking off and putting on. He's done it with the club down the years as well. I also can't see why he's constantly changing the team before throw-in.

CorduffBelly (Monaghan) - Posts: 32 - 25/05/2009 10:14:17    292726

I have met a lot of people here in Monaghan who are not that proud of what they saw yesterday from a footballing perspective.
Too much off the ball stuff and cynical play that doesn't represent what Monaghan people are about. In the 70's and 80's we played hard honest physical football, but what we had yesterday was sly, cowardly and cynical football on our part.
(Now Derry weren't angels, but we have to hold our hands up and look in the mirror first).
I think Banty and Co have to look at the way they send Monaghan out to play as they don't represent the way all the people of Monaghan want the game to be played.

jmeehan (Monaghan) - Posts: 122 - 25/05/2009 11:41:07    292803

Very dissapointed for the players , management and supporters after yesterday . everyone give their best shot but we came up a small bit short on the day . the soft goal was the killer blow in the end . i know if and but means notin but if it was kept out and we kicked 4 more points in the first half from all the chances we had then we go in at ht seven points up and probably game over .

mc bennett has to take a big portion of the blame for the defeat , he should have flattened dessie and bradley for that ball and the kick out in the second half straight to bradley was just plain lazy and lacking in concentration . full back line did well enough , d freeman and mc quaid didnt play as well as we needed . our player of the year up to yesterday d hughes touched the ball once in the 1st half and twice in the second and was totally non existant - tought they should have put him back at full back in middle of 2nd half and took vinnie out and let him run at them - also we didnt need a sweeper playing with the wind - dick gave his all , e lennon was poor . p finaly and mc manus were both below they can deliver while jinksy won a lot of breaks - see in one of todays papers we won the midfield/breaks 26-14 . woods and ronaghan got far to involved in pushing , shoving and messing and forgot about playing while tommy struggled a bit but was constantly held as were the bradleys at the other end too .

we are taking a bit of a pasting in todays papers etc but really derry were shown up last nite to be involved in the more serious incidents . think the new rules will have to be accepted as yesterday was totally impossible to referee with pulling , mauling and body checking going on all over the place . brollys comments about dick were completley biased and he should with draw them immediately - doherty was booked , then tripped a player with the hand , kicked dick twice before he charged into mc quaid so for him to defend him is just blatant stupidty .

well done to the minors who finished strongly and maybe we will have an ulster final to go to this yr yet .

the stand in celtic park is a bit of a joke space wise with the entrance into it about 5 ft wide to take 3500 people . at ht time the passage way was totally blocked and no one could get to the tiny toilets as people were smoking and all jammed up

for the qualifers we will take an easy first round game away and the round two DERRY in clones where it will be raw passion and revenge on the menu

FrankAnnyalla (Monaghan) - Posts: 339 - 25/05/2009 14:32:29    293040

Jinxy did well considering that his marker was pulling him away from getting into the area of the midfield melee. He was wrestled everytime that the ball was kicked out from the goal keeper.

Farney (Monaghan) - Posts: 830 - 25/05/2009 15:53:49    293149

in my opinion the manager is shouting his mouth off too much hes putting pressure on the team the last couple of months.the day you played kildare i think the writing was on the wall they really ran through you do easy.derry done the same in the last 10 minuites yesterday

dubsforsam09 (Dublin) - Posts: 205 - 25/05/2009 16:58:38    293245