Finally a win, some decent displays thought dowd had a great game, few things to work on ,carved open too many times

McGuirk1985@ (Monaghan) - Posts: 139 - 19/04/2026 18:49:56    2667296

Clonkirkgael (Monaghan) - Posts: 67 - 19/04/2026 19:52:57    2667319

A good afternoon for Monaghan with both teams winning. There is certain "givens" in Ulster and i rate Cavan Fermanagh and Antrim as teams we are well above regardless who we have on the pitch senior to underage. We can certainly make an ulster final this year.

farneygael3 (Monaghan) - Posts: 620 - 19/04/2026 20:00:17    2667323

Watched from abroad, and was impressed with the positive attitude, willingness to kick and good energy.
Not getting carried away as things to work on obvs, but a Championship win is just that. And it's been a while since we last beat our nearest and dearest.

Mon

Knoxboya (Monaghan) - Posts: 380 - 19/04/2026 20:52:09    2667340

Went to Clones today with my guts turning thinking of what was coming, but ten opening minutes of super Monaghan football was a real tonic. OToole, Dowd, Woods, Mooney, Carey and McCarville all stood up when needed. OHanlon too was superb. The main downer was how they let as poor a Cavan team as you'd ever see back in the game so easily. Emmanuel Shehu was brilliant throughout but that was about it from Cavan. They could have had 2 more red cards on the day.
Brilliant to see Lavelle and McCarthy back in harness, and McCaul too who made a big impression. Credit where its due to the management team.

Eddie the Exile (Monaghan) - Posts: 1308 - 19/04/2026 22:19:39    2667373

Positive performance yesterday, I feel Bannigan will be happy with the goals conceded as it takes a lot of focus off how poor Cavan were and how dominant Monaghan was and will make the group even more focused for Derry. We missed a few goal chances ourselves and in the balance of play Cavan's misses balanced out with our misses from Began etc.

It will be interesting in a few weeks when we get Mohan, Mc anespie, Wylie, Carolan back where Bannigan fits everyone in. We are building a serious squad and add another two weeks will give Mc carthy, Lavelle, Kelly, Bannigan and the others carrying knocks to get back fully fit.

It really shows the value of having a top class goalkeeper in the modern game. Some of Rorys kickouts to Mc elerney, Mc carville and one in particular to Mc Caul shows these scenarios have been worked on. I feel we showed our full deck yesterday and we had to and its up to lads to build on it now.

In a few years time we will reminisce about the Div 1 campaign where we didn't win a game and it will go down as the year when lads like Carey, Mooney, Kelly, Mc elerney, Carolan, Mooney, hughes, Mc caul, Duffy all got their chance in this new era.

monaghanmad (Monaghan) - Posts: 476 - 20/04/2026 09:00:01    2667418

Yesterday was a bit of a miracle game.. How Monaghan were able to get so many players, who had not played a game in ages, to come out and perform like that yesterday was unbelievable. On the other hand Cavan who had Paddy Lynch come back from injury and continually miss chances was a massive reason why there was such a gap between the two teams.. There is still a lot of player missing who can improve the team.. so one can only hope in more miracles. Rory was brilliant yesterday, he is always mentioned in the same breath as Niall Morgan. One area he is miles ahead of him is in stop shotting.. he has worked hard on this over the years and made massive strides in improving his reactions and ability to stay big and ready to react when needed. He was brilliant yesterday. It was good to see Stephen Mooney as the shared top scorer with 5 points, he has this in him, he was always available a took the shots on when there was an opening. It was a good day.. lets look forward to more of them.

Farney (Monaghan) - Posts: 826 - 20/04/2026 09:26:29    2667421

That Monday morning feeling after a sweet Monaghan Championship win!

Blackcardnot (USA) - Posts: 89 - 20/04/2026 09:53:19    2667426

So that's the 20s and seniors beating the breffni and into ulster semi final well within our reach to get to ulster final a lot of lads on here complaining about poor league performances but the injuries to key players was unavoidable and hopefully now we have turned a corner that win yesterday was long overdue against cavan

Farneyblueandwhite (Monaghan) - Posts: 125 - 20/04/2026 10:29:39    2667439

ORIELMAN85 (Monaghan) - Posts: 997 - 20/04/2026 10:35:26    2667442

i said it early in the league that id take a relegation over a loss to cavan and im glad we got the win yesterday...great to have the sun shining and another game in ulster championship to look forward to..

MalsBalls (Monaghan) - Posts: 273 - 20/04/2026 10:35:53    2667443

ORIELMAN85 (Monaghan) - Posts: 997 - 20/04/2026 10:43:25    2667446

After a grim league campaign it feels good to have a win and that over out biggest rivals. Monaghan played some sparkling football yesterday - during the league Monaghan played some very laborious football, lacking pace and directness. It was great to see the opposite of this yesterday. Fast, direct kick passing, rapidly moving the ball and taking on direct opponents - it was both a relief and exciting to see it. I was worried about the lack of experience in defense and no question that showed up in the second half where Cavan could have had 3 to 4 goals. The one stat that sticks out during the league was Monaghan had the most unforced turnovers resulting in conceded scores and half way during the second half, Monaghan were hitting the self destruct button.

Beggan definitely dug us out of a hole in that regard. Crucially, the attack looked like they could score at will and no matter what Cavan would do, it Monaghan could get enough of the ball the forwards have such threat that you felt Cavan would keep conceding. So they is still much to improve on in that regard. That resilience to set backs will stand Monaghan well going forward. Some players expectedly run out of steam - Kelly is still building match fitness. Carey is good going forward, but the last 20 minutes, his performance levels dropped. But they were many more positives than negatives.

Dowd and McElerney impressed on their debuts. Great to see Lavelle, McCaul and McCarthy back - they will be big players for Monaghan. Mooney - I've no doubt that he will be Monaghan's marquee forward. His movement and ability to read the play are top notch and super accurate. As harsh as the league campaign was, who would hope that the experience to div 1 league football will stand to the newer players in the long term. And the win will do loads for confidence , especially against out biggest rivals. Much to improve upon, but it's great to be in a semi final position to do this.

sleater (Monaghan) - Posts: 198 - 20/04/2026 10:56:10    2667451

A good all round team performance, the kicking game worked so well in first half that it gave us a lead that we were able to hold onto despite the inevitable Cavan fight back.

Just wanted to highlight Stephen Mooney's performance. For such a young player he shows so much composure on the ball and his ability to take his scores when he gets the opportunity was vital yesterday. It kept the scoreboard ticking over when Cavan were putting the pressure on us at the other end.

Hopefully if we can get Wylie and Lavelle back to strenghten the defence with their experience we go in the next day with some sort of a chance against a Derry team that has not been playing to their ability for some time now.

Vofster (Monaghan) - Posts: 20 - 20/04/2026 12:39:17    2667474

Monaghan2011 (Monaghan) - Posts: 17 - 20/04/2026 14:50:05    2667521

Much improved performance yesterday. The kicking game worked very well with Cavan playing so narrow, it allowed us to stretch them. Woods especially was finding nice pockets of space to receive the kick pass. We also worked smart variations on the kick outs, not the usual loading up in pods, but stretching it out across the pitch looking for mismatches. All in all a very smart performance, but with plenty more to be worked on. Derry will be three levels above Cavan.

BrehonBlonde (Monaghan) - Posts: 152 - 20/04/2026 17:47:04    2667561