McKenna Cup 2024

[sandwiches_in_the_boot]

Tyrone ran riot in first half, turning over Fermanagh and getting acres of space around midfield and half forward. SON was in great form and Lafferty looked very sharp. Mattie Donnelly had a lot of possession but maybe just needs a bit more confidence. Hughes also did well.

Fermanagh came at Tyrone with Seamus Quigley in the second and deployed a tighter blanket defence which frustrated Tyrone, forcing them to shoot from difficult angles, but they still missed a bagful. Aidan McCrory and Peter Harte's runs were among the highlights of the night, pity their efforts weren't converted.

Felt ref awarded a lot of soft and easily converted frees to Fermanagh, bumping up Seamy Quigley's score tally. He did take a nice point from play, but wouldn't get carried away with his impact. Mickey Murphy missed an absolute sitter on bascially an open goal, but to be fair Fermanagh had at least 3 good goal chances before they bagged one.

Quigley (the wider) is clearly not fit for 70 mins against Tyrone, least Canavan doesn't think so. Pace was fairly fierce for McKenna football. Why else wouldn't he start? Will be interesting (if he starts) on Sunday, how long he lasts. Nicely teed up.

McCrory, Harte, Cavanagh and SON very strong for Tyrone, with Hughes and Lafferty looking good. Hope they get a stab at the league.

[Feckitt]

Monaghan have a nice mix of 'planter and gael' in their panel.  It would be nice if Armagh could do the same in the near future.

[Maguire01]

Monaghan have a nice mix of 'planter and gael' in their panel.  It would be nice if Armagh could do the same in the near future.

Eh?

[AFS]

Any standout players (for the right or wrong reasons!) for Monaghan, AFS?

None of your forwards can shoot, except for Finlay, who is deadly. Hanratty loves running around in wee circles and never actually doing anything. Your goalie wouldn't kick the ball out to your midfielders, so don't really know what they're like. Some of your backs looked alright, wasn't really keeping track of their names, hard enough when you're still figuring out who some of you're own men are. Darren Hughes is very rusty.

[BennyCake]

Is January the right time of the year for double headers? Fans that want to watch both games will be freezing their arses off.

[tyroneman]

Colm Cavanagh produced the usual curates egg performance. Great in first half. Anonymous in second.

Peter Harte is maturing into a top class player. Not sure about having him at CHB but when in possession he is  very comfortable and does not get turned over much.

Mattie did enough to get an NFL spot and will improve.

Coney was his usual self. Couple of minutes on pitch and he's trying an outrageous pass. Which went nowhere near a Tyrone man.

Lafferty tried hard and won a fair amount of ball.

A big problem will be our lack of scoring forwards. Take SoN out of the equation and you wouldn't bet 10p on any of the rest consistently puttIng them over.

[nothingbettertobeat]

Tyrone ran riot in first half, turning over Fermanagh and getting acres of space around midfield and half forward. SON was in great form and Lafferty looked very sharp. Mattie Donnelly had a lot of possession but maybe just needs a bit more confidence. Hughes also did well.

Fermanagh came at Tyrone with Seamus Quigley in the second and deployed a tighter blanket defence which frustrated Tyrone, forcing them to shoot from difficult angles, but they still missed a bagful. Aidan McCrory and Peter Harte's runs were among the highlights of the night, pity their efforts weren't converted.

Felt ref awarded a lot of soft and easily converted frees to Fermanagh, bumping up Seamy Quigley's score tally. He did take a nice point from play,but wouldn't get carried away with his impact. Mickey Murphy missed an absolute sitter on bascially an open goal, but to be fair Fermanagh had at least 3 good goal chances before they bagged one.

Quigley (the wider) is clearly not fit for 70 mins against Tyrone, least Canavan doesn't think so. Pace was fairly fierce for McKenna football. Why else wouldn't he start? Will be interesting (if he starts) on Sunday, how long he lasts. Nicely teed up.

McCrory, Harte, Cavanagh and SON very strong for Tyrone, with Hughes and Lafferty looking good. Hope they get a stab at the league.

Dont know what game you were at?? he turned the game on its head.Fermanagh offered nothing in attack until he entered the fray. the whole side evolves around him from what i seen..Tyrone were beat 1-06 to 0-3 during the period when he came on so a treble scores defeat in the second half im no mathimatician but id say if you dont get carried away with that impact it must take a fair bit to get you excited....

[Fermanaghandsam]

Dont know what game you were at?? he turned the game on its head.Fermanagh offered nothing in attack until he entered the fray. the whole side evolves around him from what i seen..Tyrone were beat 1-06 to 0-3 during the period when he came on so a treble scores defeat in the second half im no mathimatician but id say if you dont get carried away with that impact it must take a fair bit to get you excited....

Exactly what I was thinking, he changed the game completely. He gives us an aggressive focal point which inspires the whole team. What is worrying is how bad we were up front in the 1st half when he wasn't there.

Best for Fermanagh was probably Bogue, Woods, Conor Q, Sherry, Keenan and obviously Seamus. Keenan especially seems to have got alot stronger during his year out.

I was disappointed with Owens, he was never blessed with pace, but he seems to have got even slower, hopefully this improves as he get fitter. Eamon also still seems to be of the pace, but like Owens I suppose fitness is probably still an issue there.

When we throw in some stronger players such as Kelly, McElroy and McGrath and then also the speed of Little, we certainly have a team good enough to give most teams a run for there money!

[everymanaman]

Is January the right time of the year for double headers? Fans that want to watch both games will be freezing their arses off.

Fans who want to watch both matches need their head examined

[mick999]

Irish Times report on Tyrone Fermanagh:

Tyrone hold on to deny Canavan's charges

Tyrone's Matthew Donnelly barges past Fermanagh's Shane Lyons at Healy Park, Omagh, last night.



Photograph: Inpho

Tyrone made it three wins on the trot and march on to the Dr McKenna Cup semi-finals.

In front of a crowd of almost 7,000, Fermanagh staged a superb second-half comeback and came close to stealing what would have been a remarkable win.

They trailed by nine points at the break, but the introduction of Tommy McGuigan sparked the revival. He fired over five points and his brother Seán grabbed a goal, but Tyrone held on.

Fermanagh could have had a goal early on when James Sherry sent Seán Quigley through, but his shot was kept out by John Devine's foot.

Tyrone, after a shaky opening, finally got off the mark in the eighth minute, but once Stephen O'Neill nailed their opening score they were able to hit the target almost at will.

Colm Cavanagh won an abundance of possession around the middle of the field, and chipped in with a couple of long-range scores, while O'Neill displayed his genius with two more gems from play.

Indeed, Tyrone's first seven scores came from open play, with Mickey Murphy and Peter Hughes also on target.

Daniel Kille hit Fermanagh's sole first-half score, from a free, as their attack was unable to make any headway against a tight-marking defence in which Peter Harte, PJ Quinn and Dermot Carlin excelled.

Peter Hughes and Tommy McGuigan added to the home side's tally, and they took a commanding 0-10 to 0-1 lead into the interval.

Fermanagh narrowed the gap with points from Séamus and Conor Quigley, and, midway through the second half, the youngest of the three Quigley brothers, Seán, fired in a goal.

Séamus Quigley, who only entered the action at the start of the second half, hit his fifth score to make it a two-point game.

But they had captain Ryan McCluskey sent off for a second booking in the 68th minute, and Tyrone held on for a three-point win.

TYRONE: J Devin; A McCrory, C McCarron, PJ Quinn; Seán O'Neill, P Harte (0-2, one 45), D Carlin; M Murphy (0-2), C Cavanagh (0-2); P Hughes, M Penrose, M Donnelly (0-1); T McGuigan (0-1, free), Stephen O'Neill (0-5, two free), J Lafferty. Subs: D McCaul for Carlin, O Mulligan for Penrose, K Coney for Donnelly, S McNulty for McGuigan.

FERMANAGH: R Gallagher; N Bogue, B Owens, J Woods; C Quigley (0-1), R McCluskey, N McElroy; E Donnelly, S Lyons; J Sherry, D Keenan, E Maguire; P Ward, D Kille (0-1, free), Seán Quigley (1-0). Subs: B Mulrone for Lyons, Séamus Quigley (0-5, four frees) for Kille, T Corrigan for McElroy, L Lynch for Maguire.

Referee: R O'Donnell (Donegal).

[wanderer]

Didn't get down to the game last night. What was the Fermanagh team?
How did Fermanagh get on in the middle third? It was been something I feel has been overlooked due to our lack of scoring forwards/free taker recently

Quigley has the potential to be a brilliant county player, but it's only the McKenna cup and neither Antrim or Tyrone were playing there best teams. I'd also hazard a guess Tyrone dropped the pace a bit?
He is very talented with his feet but whether he has his head in order is another matter. I would be delighted if he sticks it out til the end of the championship but I'd guess there will be a wobble somewhere. Mcginnity was trying to indulge him I'd guess, and if he was county level fit Rosslea would be unstoppable

[bustsummoves]

3 Quigley brothers from Roslea Shamrocks who have won back to back championships in Fermanagh and the double last season. Conor oldest (about 26 I think) then Seamy is about 23/24 and Sean is 19/20. All good footballers on their day, Conor being a back is most under rated out of the 3, Seamy is an enigma, quality footballer who comes with a hot temper.

Seamy Quigley undoubtedly is the best forward in Fermanagh in terms of talent (what has he scored in the McKenn cup 2-21 in 3 games?) but can Canavan get him to knuckle down and stay committed all year?

Dont forget most of them scores are from free kicks..

Last night all he scored was 1 point from play and apart from score frees didnt do apile only trying to shove is fat ass around.

[sammymaguire]

3 Quigley brothers from Roslea Shamrocks who have won back to back championships in Fermanagh and the double last season. Conor oldest (about 26 I think) then Seamy is about 23/24 and Sean is 19/20. All good footballers on their day, Conor being a back is most under rated out of the 3, Seamy is an enigma, quality footballer who comes with a hot temper.

Seamy Quigley undoubtedly is the best forward in Fermanagh in terms of talent (what has he scored in the McKenn cup 2-21 in 3 games?) but can Canavan get him to knuckle down and stay committed all year?

Dont forget most of them scores are from free kicks..

Last night all he scored was 1 point from play and apart from score frees didnt do apile only trying to shove is fat ass around.

whats that there in English fella     

[Radda bout yeee]

Irish Times report on Tyrone Fermanagh:

Tyrone hold on to deny Canavan's charges

Tyrone's Matthew Donnelly barges past Fermanagh's Shane Lyons at Healy Park, Omagh, last night.



Photograph: Inpho

Tyrone made it three wins on the trot and march on to the Dr McKenna Cup semi-finals.

In front of a crowd of almost 7,000, Fermanagh staged a superb second-half comeback and came close to stealing what would have been a remarkable win.

They trailed by nine points at the break, but the introduction of Tommy McGuigan sparked the revival. He fired over five points and his brother Seán grabbed a goal, but Tyrone held on.

Fermanagh could have had a goal early on when James Sherry sent Seán Quigley through, but his shot was kept out by John Devine's foot.

Tyrone, after a shaky opening, finally got off the mark in the eighth minute, but once Stephen O'Neill nailed their opening score they were able to hit the target almost at will.

Colm Cavanagh won an abundance of possession around the middle of the field, and chipped in with a couple of long-range scores, while O'Neill displayed his genius with two more gems from play.

Indeed, Tyrone's first seven scores came from open play, with Mickey Murphy and Peter Hughes also on target.

Daniel Kille hit Fermanagh's sole first-half score, from a free, as their attack was unable to make any headway against a tight-marking defence in which Peter Harte, PJ Quinn and Dermot Carlin excelled.

Peter Hughes and Tommy McGuigan added to the home side's tally, and they took a commanding 0-10 to 0-1 lead into the interval.

Fermanagh narrowed the gap with points from Séamus and Conor Quigley, and, midway through the second half, the youngest of the three Quigley brothers, Seán, fired in a goal.

Séamus Quigley, who only entered the action at the start of the second half, hit his fifth score to make it a two-point game.

But they had captain Ryan McCluskey sent off for a second booking in the 68th minute, and Tyrone held on for a three-point win.

TYRONE: J Devin; A McCrory, C McCarron, PJ Quinn; Seán O'Neill, P Harte (0-2, one 45), D Carlin; M Murphy (0-2), C Cavanagh (0-2); P Hughes, M Penrose, M Donnelly (0-1); T McGuigan (0-1, free), Stephen O'Neill (0-5, two free), J Lafferty. Subs: D McCaul for Carlin, O Mulligan for Penrose, K Coney for Donnelly, S McNulty for McGuigan.

FERMANAGH: R Gallagher; N Bogue, B Owens, J Woods; C Quigley (0-1), R McCluskey, N McElroy; E Donnelly, S Lyons; J Sherry, D Keenan, E Maguire; P Ward, D Kille (0-1, free), Seán Quigley (1-0). Subs: B Mulrone for Lyons, Séamus Quigley (0-5, four frees) for Kille, T Corrigan for McElroy, L Lynch for Maguire.

Referee: R O'Donnell (Donegal).

Does anybody bother proof reading this??

[antrimlad]

Not too sure if this has been covered, and no doubt there'll be a few dissenting voices however...

I think the tickets prices for single games in this are a bit of a joke. £9 in last night to see Antrim vs Queens is utter madness in the middle of January especially when you consider the fact that in a few weeks time there will be a double header at Croke involving Dublin and Tyrone (seperate games) which im told will cost 12 euro a ticket. Think whoever sets these prices, Ill assume the Ulster Council, need to have another look at the price structure.

Not only that, the people taking the money didnt really seem to have a clue either. Was told by some who asked outside what the price was for student tickets and were told full price then got up to the gate and were told £5 (which was decent, and in my opinion should have been teh price for all), however a few other fellas who went up and asked for students were charged £9 

Then seen a couple of young fellas (under 16) head up in antrim tops and were told that if they werent with an adult they would be charged £2 each. They should be encouraged to go in, not told they'll have to pay otherwise they wont get in.