EirGrid Ulster Under-21 Football Championship Preliminary Round
Antrim v Monaghan, Wednesday, 8.00, The Dub
Monaghan’s Under-21 footballers launch their Ulster title defence against Antrim tonight at the Queen’s University GAA grounds at the Dub.
Monaghan won their first Ulster U-21 title since 1999 last year and they started 2017 by winning the Shamrock Cup, defeating Derry in the final of the Cremartin-run tournament.
Monaghan’s preparations suffered a major setback when one of the stars of the 2016 run, Barry McGinn, suffered a cruciate-ligament injury that is set to rule him out for the rest of this year. Ciarán McBride will hope to have James Mealiff, David Garland and Micheál Bannigan available, with the latter two to boost an attack featuring the in-form James Wilson and Francis Maguire. Team captain Mikey Murnaghan played in the McKenna Cup in January, as did David McAlister, Stephen McCabe, Stephen Finnegan and Niall Kearns. Antrim should be able to call on senior panellists such as Ruairí Scott, Séamus McGarry, Conor Small and Eunan Walsh.
Both of these teams reached the semi-finals of the Ulster MFC back in 2014. A place in a quarter-final against Derry is up for grabs in Belfast on Wednesday night.
By cshalvey Wed 8th Mar
