ALL IRELAND SENIOR FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP QUALIFIER ROUND 1.

Monaghan v Fermanagh: St. Tiarnach’s Park, Clones: Sunday June 9th @ 1.45pm.

St Tiarnach’s Park in Clones will become a veritable bearpit on Sunday afternoon when next door neighbours. Monaghan and Fermanagh face off in a round one qualifier game that can help extend the winners season by at least one game, but for the losers it is the end of the championship road and facing into a long sunless summer.

The game is actually a rerun of last year’s Ulster semi-final when an Eoin Donnelly flicked goal broke Monaghan hearts in Omagh and that in itself will add its own competitive edge, as Fermanagh will seek to repeat that success while Monaghan will be keen to reverse that situation. To achieve that though Monaghan will have to improve substantially on their overall performance against Cavan, where a poor first half gifted the initiative to Cavan and while Monaghan improved in the second half they were not able to turn it around completely as they struggled for scores. Fermanagh for their part will come to Clones on Sunday determined to improve on their performance against Donegal in Brewster Park back in May when they shipped a six points defeat at the hands of the Tir Chonaill men, although that was a game that they were meaningfully involved in for long periods.

They will come to Clones on Sunday as well with the same overall game plan that of restricting the opposition with a blanket defence and hoping to hit them on the break, which will probably not make for a hugely exciting spectacle, but that is the style that Fermanagh have developed under current team manager, Rory Gallagher, which makes them a very difficult side to play against and a very difficult side to beat. Their style has been described as a grim scientific experiment that needs the coalescence of their opponents to basically implode, but it is also a game plan that wears opponents down with their sheer tenacity, where space and time on the ball are at a premium. Monaghan have only lost their first outing in the qualifiers on four occasions in the last ten years. They were beaten by Longford in round one in 2016, by Laois in round two in 2012, after they had been defeated in the Ulster semi-final, by Offaly in round one in 2011 and as beaten provincial finalists, they also lost to Kildare in 2010 but it is a little early, though at this stage to talk of reaching the quarter-finals. Fermanagh would be of a similar mindset in that following their Ulster final defeat last year they exited the qualifiers on their first outing against Kildare in Navan, the Lilywhites winning by 3-20 to 0-18.

FIXTURES.

Even though there is a big build up to the meeting of Monaghan and Fermanagh in Clones in the All Ireland senior football championship qualifiers on Sunday, there is a round of matches in the Shoe City senior, Monaghan Electric intermediate and Euro Tech Junior football leagues on Friday evening, with all games scheduled to start at 8 PM while on Saturday and Sunday, they are a number of games in the reserve football leagues, as well as two games in the reserve leagues on Wednesday next June 12th.

SFL.

In the Shoe City senior football league on Friday evening, all at 8 PM, Clontibret are at home against Currin, Inniskeen are away at Latton, Carrickmacross have home advantage against Castleblayney, Truagh travel to Ballybay and Scotstown have Doohamlet as visitors to St Mary’s Park. There is one game on Monday evening next between Carrickmacross and Castleblayney in Emmet Park at 8.00pm.

IFL.

In the Monaghan Electric intermediate football league, all games again at 8 PM on Friday;  Monaghan Harps are away at Sean McDermotts, it’s a very local affair between Magheracloone and Corduff in Magheracloone, Killanny are away at Cremartin, Aughnamullen are at home against Tyholland and Donaghmoyne face a fairly long trip to Emyvale. Meanwhile Monday evening sees Cremartin with a home game against Killanny, that on starting at 8.00pm.

JFL

In the Euro Tech Junior football league, all games again at 8 PM on Friday, Toome are at home against Killeevan, Scotstown are away at Drumhowan, Clones have home advantage over Rockcorry, Oram have a short journey when they travel to Blackhill and its also a fairly local affair with Aghabog having home advantage over Eire Og.

RFL.

There is one game in the reserve football league division three on Saturday between Clontibret and Truagh, that one at 8 PM while on Sunday in division 2B Blackhill are at home against Inniskeen, that one at 11 AM. with Monaghan Harps playing host to Corduff, that one at 6 PM, while in division three, Scotstown are at home against Tyholland and Castleblayney are away at Oram, both those games at 6 PM. Wednesday next sees one game in division three between Killeevan and Truagh in division three while in division two Clones are away against Inniskeen, both those games at 8 PM.

HURLING.

It is coming to the final stages of the Silver Hill Foods development hurling league, where the last round of fixtures saw victory for Castleblayney H C over Carrickmacross H C, Mattock Rangers of Louth with a comfortable victory over East Cavan Gaels, Monaghan Harps H C with a comprehensive victory away at Latton and Clontibret defeating Truagh by six points. The round of fixtures this Thursday evening should make for a situation where the semi finalists in the league and the shield sections will be confirmed with Clontibret at home against Carrickmacross H C, Castleblayney H C away at Monaghan Harps H C, Latton with home advantage over East Cavan Gaels and Mattock Rangers of Louth, travelling to Truagh, those games all scheduled to start at 8.00 PM.

INNISKEEN HOSTING RACKARD CUP SEMI FINAL.

While Monaghan travel to Crossmaglen for a 3.00 PM start against Louth in their Rackard Cup relegation play-off, Grattan Park, in Inniskeen is the venue for what promises to be a very competitive Rackard Cup semi-final between near neighbours and keen rivals Armagh and Tyrone. Armagh clinched their place in the semi-final with a ten points victory over Longford last weekend, having come from being behind by three points at half-time, while Tyrone qualified for the semi finals, but only by virtue of Mayo’s failure to beat Sligo. All Mayo could manage was a draw in that game after they fought back from a twelve points deficit at one stage, to take a share of the spoils but it was not enough to see them through.

Monaghan v Louth: Crossmaglen: Saturday: June 8th @ 3.00pm.

This Saturday Monaghan will hope to end what has been a disappointing hurling season on a more positive note, if they can win their Nicky Rackard Cup relegation play-off against Louth in Crossmaglen. Monaghan’s Allianz hurling league division 3A campaign was adversely affected when they were without the Castleblayney players for their two opening matches and while they won their final three games in that division they failed to make the play-offs. The Rackard Cup too proved somewhat disappointing as Monaghan lost their  opening game to Armagh by six points in the Athletic Grounds, the margin of victory somewhat flattering to Armagh and certainly not doing Monaghan justice. They also suffered a three points reverse at the hands of Longford in a game that they looked to be on course to winning when they led by nine points at half-time but imploded somewhat in the second-half as a resurgent Longford overhauled them and the two points they took in that game against Monaghan saw them avoiding the relegation play-off. Then in their final outing they were hit with a late injury time goal that saw Warwickshire earn a fortunate enough draw. That sequence left Monaghan, coming last in group A as Armagh and Warwickshire won through to the semifinals, Armagh playing Tyrone, who only qualified by virtue of Mayo’s failure to beat Sligo, while Warwickshire take on Sligo. Louth for their part lost all their round robin games to finish pointless at the bottom of the table in section B, thereby setting up Saturday’s encounter to see who makes the drop to the Lory Meagher Cup for next season and who retains Rackard status. MONAGHAN MANAGER Trevor Hilliard sees this game as an opportunity for Monaghan to finish their season on a positive note. “Yes it certainly would be a positive end to the season, which overall has been disappointing for us, particularly in the championship because  when we won our last three games in the league I thought it gave us momentum going into the championship but that’s not the way it worked out. I have to pay tribute though to the boys for the way they were up for the game against Warwickshire, when it was of only academic importance because we went all out for the win. We did pick up a couple of injuries though that could affect us now on Saturday, but after our display against Warwickshire I’d like to think that we will be striding forward with confidence, although there are doubts over the availability of Kevin Crawley, Colin Merrick, Tadhg Campbell and Martin Murphy, but hopefully they will improve before the weekend. On a more positive note, Paddy Finnegan i think could be available this weekend, so that would be a help”.

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