Replying To Monaghan2011: "Just wondering provided that mc carthy, lavelle, wylie and bobby mc caul are fully fit for Derry who would they replace in the starting 15?"
Can't see there being massive changes to the team, McCaul especially could be a great help around the middle after fetching a couple of kick outs at the weekend. The bench will be far more important as Derry will be a serious step up physically if nothing else compared to Cavan. The quality of our kick passing was brilliant against Cavan, especially in the opening half, hopefully we see more of it against Derry. Also great to see the newer lads like Dowd, McElearney and Kelly all have a positive day out, some lads a few years on the panel waiting for their chance.
sporto (Monaghan) - Posts: 196 - 21/04/2026 11:42:34
2667688
Replying To Farneyblueandwhite: "Cavan didn't show up untill the last 25 minutes if paddy lynch was on form (he missed 1 06) would we have won ? Serious tidying up to be done at the back otherwise derry will win well"
Some interesting stats from the game -
Monaghan - 71% accuracy. Easily the best this year.
Unforced turnovers - 5 for Monaghan. That is lowest this year I think but the numbers don't tell the full story - some of those resulted in goals and goal chances. Still work to be done here ahead of the Derry game.
11 forced turnovers by Monaghan to Cavan - Cavan lost possession 13 times in their attack. That tallies with a better collective defensive shape until the jitters took hold half way through second half through fatigue and unforced errors.
7 scorable frees conceeded by Monaghan. No doubt Lynch had an off day and you would expect McGuigan to punish Monaghan if discipline is giving away lots of frees in 2 pt positions.
Great win at the weekend and delighted for the players, panel, management and supporters following a very difficult league campaign.
Lots of great performances all over the field but it is the scoreboard that matters most and great to see such a spread of different scorers in Clones. Particular praise needs to go to Stephen Mooney getting five points at ease, often at critical stages of the game. He won't get as much time on the ball next day out and others will need to step up as a result.
Although there were great performances all over the pitch, a big improvement is needed to overcome Derry. We were wide open on a number of occasions and lucky not to concede a few goals. Interesting to hear Paul Finlay comment on this too - he was amazed the Cavan players were allowed to cut through the Monaghan defence without a tackle, so that's definitely something to improve upon for next day out. Paddy Lynch also unusually missed a no. of frees that are likely to be converted by McGuigan the next day out, so we need to be cautious about giving away easy frees in the Athletic Grounds.
The only other concern is that we did not really look like getting a goal against Cavan and that killer instinct in front of goal will be important if we hope to beat Derry and progress against some of the bigger teams later in the ALL Ireland series. Mc Anesbie and Mc Carthy have proven they know where the net is when needed and it would be great to see them back firing on all cyclinders too. Bannigan, O'Hanlon and others are also well capable of raising the green flag and hopefully we get a few goals the next day out to help us get over the line against a Derry team who will be favourites and expect to beat Monaghan.
If we have a full panel and more ruthless in front of goal there won't be many that will look forward to playing this Monaghan team. Competition for places on the team and panel for the next day out should be ferocious which is not a luxury Gabriel and the management team would have had for much of the season to date.
Replying To Farneyblueandwhite: "Cavan didn't show up untill the last 25 minutes if paddy lynch was on form (he missed 1 06) would we have won ? Serious tidying up to be done at the back otherwise derry will win well"
Do we only count Cavan misses ? How many did Beggan miss. How many goals did we leave behind. Best team won....no argument !
Replying To OrielPower: "Great win at the weekend and delighted for the players, panel, management and supporters following a very difficult league campaign.
Lots of great performances all over the field but it is the scoreboard that matters most and great to see such a spread of different scorers in Clones. Particular praise needs to go to Stephen Mooney getting five points at ease, often at critical stages of the game. He won't get as much time on the ball next day out and others will need to step up as a result.
Although there were great performances all over the pitch, a big improvement is needed to overcome Derry. We were wide open on a number of occasions and lucky not to concede a few goals. Interesting to hear Paul Finlay comment on this too - he was amazed the Cavan players were allowed to cut through the Monaghan defence without a tackle, so that's definitely something to improve upon for next day out. Paddy Lynch also unusually missed a no. of frees that are likely to be converted by McGuigan the next day out, so we need to be cautious about giving away easy frees in the Athletic Grounds.
The only other concern is that we did not really look like getting a goal against Cavan and that killer instinct in front of goal will be important if we hope to beat Derry and progress against some of the bigger teams later in the ALL Ireland series. Mc Anesbie and Mc Carthy have proven they know where the net is when needed and it would be great to see them back firing on all cyclinders too. Bannigan, O'Hanlon and others are also well capable of raising the green flag and hopefully we get a few goals the next day out to help us get over the line against a Derry team who will be favourites and expect to beat Monaghan.
If we have a full panel and more ruthless in front of goal there won't be many that will look forward to playing this Monaghan team. Competition for places on the team and panel for the next day out should be ferocious which is not a luxury Gabriel and the management team would have had for much of the season to date."
Monaghan for first 20 minutes on Sunday were excellent. I think given the fixture the rivalry etc and fact we hadn't won a match in so long we didn't push on and put the game to bed and allowed cavan to stay in it. They then got their goals making things nervy enough going down the stretch. An inform monaghan side would won that game by double figures but this win is big for the group given league we have just had. Derry a v different proposition but its not the Derry of 23 and the rule changes dont suit that game they used to play. They will still expect to beat us but id be fairly confident we can give them a rattle with more players coming back to fitness. The one area they do have a huge advantage under the new rules on paper is midfield especially with mohan still out so mgmt will have to figure out a way to get our kick outs away as crucial in new rules.