The Monaghan U15 Development Squad, which has been training regularly since February, had their first outing of the year against Louth on Saturday 10^th May. The match was played in the St. Mochtas club grounds in Louth village in slippery conditions. Despite fielding without the services of those players involved with the St. Macartan’s Brock Cup team, a flurry of early goals saw Monaghan record a very comfortable victory. The basis for this victory came from a very dominant midfield performance from Hugh McGinn and Conor McCabe. Clontibret’s Conor Doyle caught the eye up front with a powerful performance whilst Tommy Monaghan, despite playing an unfamiliar defensive role, was the focal point for most of Monaghan’s attacks. Niall Ward and Karl McMenamin were particulary impressive for Monaghan in defense. Score of the match came from Cameron Dowd when he finished clinically after a defence-splitting pass by Ben Flynn.

The squad’s next outing came on Saturday 17^th May when Monaghan faced Cavan and Fermanagh in a blitz format at the county training grounds in Cloghan. Although Monaghan were short the services of ten players, mostly due to injury, they still had enough quality on show to record two impressive victories. Monaghan’s first match of the day was against Cavan. A strong first half performance saw Monaghan take a 1-7 to 0-3 lead into the break. The Monaghan lads managed to hold Cavan to just another three points in the second half whilst adding another six points to their own total to give a final score of 1-13 to 0-6.

The stand-out feature for this Monaghan victory was the tackling and impressive work-rate from the forwards that put the Cavan defence on the back-foot. Sean Burns and Jack Gormley  led by example in the full-forward line by forcing a couple of early turnovers that set the tone for the game. The Monaghan goal came after 15 minutes when Jack Gormley fisted home following a superb team move. By this stage of the game, Monaghan had already four points on the board to Cavan’s three, with the Monaghan points coming from Tommy Monaghan (3) and Hugh McGinn. The true potential of this squad of players was seen very visibly in the first half, particularly when they moved the ball first time. Monaghan dominated the remainder of the half with David Hanley and Cormac O Connor particularly impressive when in possession of the football, whilst at the back James Finnegan, Aidan Woods and Oran Martin were very strong in the half-back line. Sean Burns (2) and David Hanley extended Monaghan’s lead just before half time. Both sides made changes at half-time, but it is testament to the quality of the Monaghan squad that they continued where they left off in the first half to record a comfortable victory in the end. Monaghan’s second half points came from Tommy Monaghan, Conor Doyle, Conor McCabe (2), James Treanor and Paul Monaghan.

The squad’s second victory of the day came against a tenacious Fermanagh on a scoreline of 0-7 to 1-2. The blitz format gave all available players a great opportunity for competitive inter-county action with each player getting at least two halves of football each. The victories recorded by the squad are testament to the great effort and enthusiasm that they have shown this year thus far. Turn-outs and effort at training have been excellent and the players have shown a very encouraging willingness to learn and improve. They have certainly showed a great ambition to represent Monaghan at higher levels over the next few years as we seek to build on the success of our county minor and senior teams last year.

Monaghan U15 Development Squad: Abraham Dixon (Ballybay), Aidan Burns (Monaghan Harps), Aidan Woods (Inniskeen), Ben Flynn (Monaghan Harps), Cameron Dowd (Clones), Cian McCarney (Currin), Ciaran McNulty (Inniskeen), Colum Claisse (Scotstown), Conor Doyle (Clontibret), Conor McCabe (Latton), Cormac O Connor (Donaghmoyne), Damon Hagan (Sean McDermotts), David Hanley (Cremartin), Edward Walsh (Killany), Hugh McGinn (Doohamlet), Jack Gormley (Clontibret), James Finnegan (Donaghmoyne), James Treanor (Truagh), Josh Walsh (Castleblayney), Karl McMenamin (Carrickmacross), Niall Ward (Monaghan Harps),  Ollie Clerkin (Clones), Oisin Gleeson (Aghabog), Oran Martin (Donaghmoyne), Padraig Meehan (Scotstown), Paul Monaghan (Eire Og), Robbie McAlister (Emyvale), Ryan McCann (Ballybay), Sean Burns (Corduff), Shane McKenna (Truagh), Stephen Irwin (Oram), Tommy Croarkin (Monaghan Harps), Tommy Monaghan (Eire Og) . See below a photo of the team and the management team, Paul Curran (Manager), Mark Duffy & Colin Malone.