Monaghan 0-13 v 2-5 Down

On Saturday last, Monaghan made a winning start to the Ulster U17 league with a hard-earned victory over Down. The U17 Ulster League is a new competition that is run in conjunction with the Ulster Minor League. Both the Minors and U17 teams are drawn to face the same opponents on Saturday afternoons, with the U17 team playing immediately after the minors. Monaghan have been drawn in Group A along with Down, Armagh and Cavan.

Monaghan played this game with a much-changed team from that which won the Buncrana Cup last August. In fact, only two of the starting team, Cormac O Connor and Hugh McGinn, started in the Buncrana Cup final. Ten of the team from that final are now part of the minor panel, whilst Dean Connolly, Ed Walsh and Karl McMenamin were also unavailable due to their involvement with the Patrician High School team that was playing in an Ulster Colleges play-off game. Nevertheless, this did not take away from the high quality of players available to team manager Paul Curran.

Similar to the minor game that preceded this match, it was Down that opened the scoring with a  point after 2 minutes. However, Monaghan dominated the first 20 minutes of play and hit five points on the trot. Against the run of play, Down scored a goal before drawing level with 23 minutes on the clock. Monaghan finished the half the stronger of the two teams and at half-time the scoreboard read 0-8 to 1-2 in favour of the Farney men.

The second half continued in similar vein to the first with Monaghan having the better of the play. However, with the wind becoming stronger, scores were difficult to come by and when Down bundled home a goal in the 28th minute to make it a draw game, it looked like the Mourne men had positioned themselves to steal an unlikely victory. Fortunately, the Monaghan lads, who finished the game with 14 men following the dismissal of Tommy Croarkin for a second yellow card, responded with two points to run out winners on a score of 0-13 to 2-5.

Team manager Paul Curran will be very happy with the performance of his team in their first competitive outing of the year. A number of newcomers to this year’s panel showed up particularly well with Calum Blanche, Michael O Brien and Oran McElligot (who finished as the game’s top scorer with 8 points) catching the eye. Cormac O Connor and Oisin Gleeson were impressive in the half-forward line whilst Paul Monaghan and Conor McCabe thrived despite playing in their unfamiliar positions in the half-back line.

The next match for Monaghan is this Saturday (26th March) when they are away to Armagh. The match takes place at 1.30pm at the Pearse Og’s ground.

Starting Line-up: Rigan McAree(Eire Og); Tommy Croarkin (Monaghan Harps), Calum Blanche (Aughnamullen), Matthew Ward (Ballybay); Paul Monahan (Eire Og), Conor McCabe (Latton), Jamie Shields (Monaghan Harps); Hugh McGinn (Doohamlet), Niall Carthy (Magheracloone); Tommy Monaghan (Eire Og), Cormac O Connor (Donaghmoyne), Oisin Gleeson (Aghabog); Oran McElligot (Truagh), Michael O Brien(Emyvale), Stephen Irwin (Oram).

Subs used: Patrick Bermingham (Carrickmacross), Aaron Mohan (Truagh), Oran Martin (Donaghmoyne), Niall Ward (Monaghan Harps) James Treanor (Truagh)

Unused Subs:: Oisin Wilcox (Carrickmacross), Ronan King (Scotstown), Cian McCarney (Clones), Finbar Brennan (Drumhowan)

Monaghan U16 Development Squad travelled to Tang in Weatmeath to continue their preparations for the upcoming Buncranna Cup. In a high quality and hard hitting encounter Monaghan where worthy winners in a scoreline of 2:13 to 3:08.  Monaghan travelled with a reduced squad for this game but all who travelled got plenty of game time and acquitted themselves very well. Stand out performers on the day in the defence were Tiernan McSkeane (Ballybay) and James McCaughey (Donaghmoyne), while in midfield we battled very hard with Ryan O Neill (Emyvale) more than holding his own in that area. In the forward line Pauric O’Brien (Rockcorry) Tiernan Duffy & Kieran Marron (both Aughnamullen) all done very well and contributed well to the scoreline. Monaghan Manager Cathal Hand was very pleased with the performance and attitude of the players. He highlighted that they are currently trying to develop a game plan with this squad and matches like these are extremely important to watch players perform at this level while also implementing the game plan. Over the Easter holidays this squad with take part in a mini training camp and further challenge matches are planned for early April.

Please see a photo of the team that traveled to Westmeath for the game below.

Squad on the day: Back Row: L to R Kieran Duffy (Aughnamullen), Eoghan Treanor (Emyvale), Tiernan McSkeane (Ballybay), Paudie McGahon (Inniskeen), Oisin Hamill (Auhnamullen), Aaron McGee (Aughnamullen), Paudie Hughes (Latton), Sean Treanor (Tyholland), Cormac McKenna (Truagh), Tiernan Duffy (Aughnamullen), Adrian Alford (Coach: Clones),

Front Row: L to R: Ryan O’Neill (Emyvale), Kian O’Connor (Castleblayney Faughs), Pauric O’Brien (Rockcorry), Francis McGeough (Castleblayney Faughs), Charlie Counihan (Ballybay), James McCaughey (Donaghmoyne), Kieran Marron (Aughnamullen), Oisin McKenna (Sean McDermotts), Shane Forde (Aughnamullen)