Monaghan’s senior footballers and hurlers have National League games on Saturday, while the minor hurlers get their Ulster league campaign underway.
Allianz National Football League Division Three
Monaghan v Wicklow, Saturday, 2.00, Clones
Monaghan will attempt to at least maintain their lead at the top of the NFL Division Three when they welcome Wicklow to Clones on Saturday.
Wins over Meath, Sligo and Fermanagh, sandwiching a defeat in Cavan, have Monaghan a point ahead of two neighbouring counties (Fermanagh and Cavan) in first place. Wicklow, on the other hand, are bottom after losing their first two games to Fermanagh and Meath, although their form has improved with draws against Roscommon and Antrim. These counties haven’t met in the league since 1995, but Monaghan did ease past the Garden County in a first-round qualifier in 2006.
Malachy O’Rourke has named the same 15 players that battled past Fermanagh last Saturday. Neil McAdam impressed off the bench in that one, as did Drew Wylie, while Stephen Gollogly and Vincent Corey are back among the substitutes. Monaghan will hope that Conor McManus, Paul Finlay and Owen Duffy can continue their impressive form from last week, while Darren Hughes should be the better for having played 70 minutes and Colin Walshe is available despite getting sent off for a second booking late on. Wicklow have been missing the retired Tony Hannon and the injured Leighton Glynn, but they have players capable of making an impression on the scoreboard in Anthony McLoughlin, John McGrath, Seánie Furlong and Conor McGraynor, as well as an experienced midfielder in James Stafford and good defenders in former All-Star nominee Ciarán Hyland and Darren Hayden.
Monaghan should have enough to make it four wins from five and stay ahead in the promotion race.
Monaghan (v Wicklow): Mark Keogh; Dessie Mone, Fintan Kelly, Kieran Duffy; Colin Walshe, Darren Hughes, Karl O’Connell; Owen Lennon (Capt.), Dick Clerkin; Gavin Doogan, Kieran Hughes, Owen Duffy; Conor McManus, Paul Finlay, Christopher McGuinness.
Subs: Rory Beggan, Ronan McNally, Conor Galligan, Vincent Corey, Drew Wylie, Neil McAdam, Tommy Freeman, Dermot Malone, Stephen Gollogly, Stephen Smyth, Pádraig Donaghy.
Allianz National Hurling League Division 3A
Louth v Monaghan, Saturday, 4.00, Dowdallshill
Monaghan’s hurlers will be bidding for their first points of this year’s NHL when they travel to neighbours Louth on Saturday.
Monaghan’s season has got off to a disjointed start, with a heavy defeat in Donegal and a four-point loss at home to Fingal last Sunday, when the sending-off of Hugh Byrne derailed their challenge. Monaghan will be desperate to produce a drastic improvement on their scoring return from play, which stands at a mere 2-2 from their first two matches. Louth drew their opener against Fingal, before edging out Fermanagh by the narrowest of margins last Sunday.
This game is nearly impossible to predict without knowing what team Monaghan manager Joey Morris will have available to him. Experienced players Trevor Hilliard and Brian McGuigan returned last Sunday, but Mickey McHugh and Pauric Dowdall were absent in what was again a young side. Diarmuid Murphy, Shane Fennell, Shane Callan, Gerard Smyth and Wesley Morrissey are set to play key roles for Louth. The teams have generally been evenly-matched in recent years and there shouldn’t be much between them this time. The game is being played in Dowdallshill on the outskirts of Dundalk.
Ulster Minor Hurling League Division Two
Monaghan v Cavan, Saturday, 12.00, Cloghan
Monaghan belatedly get their defence of the Ulster MHL Division Two title up and running when they take on Cavan in Cloghan on Saturday.
Monaghan, who also won the Ulster shield final to complete a double, should be capable of giving this competition a good rattle again this year under the guidance of Arthur Hughes, who was Frank Brady’s right-hand man for the last few years. Monaghan are once again able to call on the likes of Dónal Meegan, Tony Forde, Michael Paul O’Dowd, Aodh Curran, Ciarán McQuaid, Conor Boyle and Cathal McAnespie, but they will need to be at their best for this game against a highly-rated Cavan team. Cavan have a game under their belts, which saw them hammer Tyrone, with Neasán Neary, Josh Crowe, Fiachra Hughes and Luke O’Dea to the fore.
The ladies have no match this weekend, with the O’Connor Cup Finals weekend taking over. Ellen McCarron and Laura McEnaney will be in action with DCU.
There is a very limited programme of club games over the weekend, limited to action in the Platinum Tanks Reserve Football Leagues on Saturday. Ballybay host Cremartin in Division 1B, while Castleblayney and Truagh have home games against Oram and Aughnamullen respectively in Division 2B and Clones and Emyvale travel to Clontibret and Monaghan Harps respectively in Division 3.
The juvenile season gets underway with the start of the Under-12 Football Spring Leagues on Saturday.
By michael Fri 15th Mar
