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Not much in the game throughout but Derry had a 10 minute spell where if they had a couple of 2 footed forwards they could have got a lead. Plenty of talent on show and interesting to see who will kick on

Tyrone be looking a reasonable return out of this squad. Rafferty, Daly, Hughes, O'Neill, McCullagh, McElholm, Potter, O'Hare, McAneney would be the obvious players that would offer something to the Senior panel.

Tyrone's McElholm and O'Hare look like very good indeed. They look to have 5 or 6 that will make the cut at senior.  That's a very good Derry side too. Forbes, McEldowney and McGuckian will be top players for Derry for years to come. That was a very even Ulster championship with very little between the top 4 sides. Monaghan will be a coming force in next few years too with some top prospects coming through especially Stephen Mooney who put on an exhibition of point scoring against Armagh and Tyrone.

Castleblayney Faughs,  record Monaghan title holders, had the highest number of county titles in the country till we surpassed them, haven't won a senior in 20 years and relegated to Intermediate last year for first time in their history.

Blayney were in the brink of relegation for about 4/5 years before last years relegation. They were the beneficiaries  of a fortuitous fixture list a couple of times in avoiding relegation e.g. meeting championship winners Clontibret a week after Clontibret had won the championship and they fielded a B team and getting the points from some walk overs too. Blayney really ought to have been relegated a few years ago but were very, very lucky to beat the drop.

Blayney have won a couple of D1 county minor titles (including this years) so talent is coming through for them but that will take a few years to make an impact at adult level. They'll be intermediate for a few years more I'd say. It was bad news for them that Truagh got relegated from Senior this year.

At minor level Derry, Monaghan and Tyrone have/had very little between them this year. Derry are the team with the best defence with McEldowney outstanding at CHB and Cahair Spiers also excellent. Sargent at midfield really drives them on too. For the most part with the exception of the ulster final Derry have given up so few scoring opportunities and they demoralise most opposing teams such is their meanness. The ulster minor final was a classic with the editor of the  Gaelic Life tweeting  that there was 27 goal scoring chances. Both team's goalies made incredible saves in the final, especially the Derry keeper who saved at least 3 chances that looked like certain goals. Only Monaghan have really tested Derry though I feel Tyrone would have been their match too. Tyrone were very well coached, had some very strong  running half forwards like Donaghy and had ran up some huge tallies in the ulster championship. Monaghan are a very physical side (which is unusual for them at minor level) with a few outstanding forwards; McGinnity, Finn and Mallen. On Wikipedia it says McGinnity is currently top scorer across the 4 provinces and Finn is also in top 10 (though nearly all of the latters is from play) but Mallen is the player who makes them tick. McGinnity is the son of former 90's Monaghan player Stephen McGinnity who some of ye might remember.  I fully expect Derry to beat Dublin. Monaghan / Kerry will be very close. Wouldn't be surprised at all if it's an all ulster final.

Martin O'Neill still talks about the penalty he missed for the minors in the 1970 All Ireland semi final.

I find it hard to get interested in minor football especially now that they are only 16 and 17. I think the very small attendance shows that some people feel the same.

Be interesting to see how many of these players, from bith sides, have a prolonged inter-county career at senior level.

Out of the, say 40 lads, it could be very minimal.

Was thinking the same post game and I'd say possibly 2 from Derry and maybe 4-5 from Monaghan. Monaghan looked to have the bigger more athletic players whereas Derry were better footballers.

It's always hard to know how many will make the grade at senior - injuries, work, travel, just pure interest in doing it, and a manager that rates them are all variables. From what I seen of the Monaghan minor team, McGinnity, Finn, Mooney, Carolan and Mallen all look to have significant ability and have the potential to be senior inter county players.  5 prospects making the grade would be an excellent return from this minor team. Meehan and McKenna are underage next year and look decent too.

Monaghan v Down will be an interesting semi-final. Huge result by Down to knock Tyrone out. Monaghan have started slowly in their games against Cavan and Armagh. But reeled both in and the longer the games went on they looked like the more likely winner. Both Armagh and Cavan will regret kicking a shit load of wides in the first half of both games when they were a few points up. Both if they were more clinical really could have killed Monaghan off. But this Monaghan team are a tenacious bunch with 4 or 5 superb talents (especially Mooney up front). Derry still favourites and I expect them to win their semi-final handy enough.

I haven't been impressed with Armagh at all over the league. For all the obvious talent they have in individual players , they are collectively lesser than the sum of their parts. They play in fits and starts where they look like they could blow teams away and then spend long periods phaffing about, over complicating things. I see them against Monaghan and that summed them up - despite largely dominating the game against a very understrength Monaghan team, they won via a double f**k up from Rory Beggan and were pushed all the way when they really should have been out of sight.

They somehow got a draw against Mayo (and didn't deserve it), played very defensively in next few games trying not to lose and paid the price for it. I think for Cavan a lot will depend on whether Dara McVeety is fit or not. With the way the game is now, McVeety playing from CHB plays a vital role in breaking up play and arriving late for scores. I think Cavan have the players to match up to Armagh and the last two results for them don't matter a whole lot. Could be wrong and next weeks Div 3 final will tell where Cavan are at.

I remember an interview with Jim McGuiness on Tomas O'Se's podcast and he talked about when when he first took over and they asked the players to hand over their phones for a weekend away training session. He said Michael Murphy was immediately first up to do it. He was made captain shortly after. Not only was Murphy the best player and probably still would be Donegal's best player today, but he was the standard setter and the bar all other player's had to reach. Donegal are a total mess and appear to be lacking leadership from the playing group.

Monaghan - well that was another amazing escape. Delighted for them in what is a very tough job for Corey. Lee Keegan said their age profile is against them and he's right. A very tough job to transition them in next couple of years. Some brilliant talent coming through in Monaghan. The tough part will be finding that new leadership amongst the players similar to what Donegal are experiencing now. 6 of the squad are 32 are more (McManus, D and K Hughes, Duffy, Kelly, O'Connell) and are some of Monaghan's best ever. Hard to see all (maybe any) of them return next year. With Dublin and Derry also in Div 1 next year it will be even tougher.

For Monaghan the latest rumour is Vinny Corey is in the running. Adding fuel to the fire is that his brother Martin (after 4 years) is not going to be coaching Cavan for 2023. After a few red herrings, this does seem like the one that is going to come to fruition. Might be possible that Eoin Lennon might be involved too but hard to know.

I think that could be the start of a slippery slope for Monaghan now, they could be facing several player retirements soon also with an ageing side. They had some run of it given where they began from first under Banty and then O'Rourke and Banty again. I'd say the biggest regret they will have is not getting to an AI final particularly that year against Tyrone in 2018. They were never going to beat the Dubs but they could have got to a final.

I thought Banty would be a shoe-in for another term, not that I would have agreed with that so yeah it's a major surprise he walked. Banty is a Proud Monaghan man but he never convinced in terms of tactics and motivating the team. Darren Hughes and Conor McManus have already gone on record this year in 2 separate podcasts that they will be back for 2023. Nevertheless 8 players from current squad are 32 or older and there is going to be a considerable void to be filled when they leave over the next 2 years. I would expect at least 4 retirements this year, maybe more. So the timing is right for a new manager to come in and build the team in their image. I firmly believe that the talent is there and very encouraged by the young players that have been coming through under age ranks in the past few years. It was disheartening that they were not being given the trust to build on. It would be no surprise if Monaghan drop down a division and rebuild from there.

There's much slagging of Banty but I'm not sure how much actual influence he has on the game plan. In his first "era" he brought in the Armagh heavyweight Paul McGirl and now has Donnie Buckley. Banty, if left to his own devices would never have 3 up front against a Gallagher team or against Mayo in the league have a team set up to with attractive play to create many goal scoring chances.  Last year could/should have been our year at least to get to an AI final. I'd say Buckley is calling the shots on the game plan. My only gripe is considering Drew Wylies effectiveness against Dublin, I wonder what the reason is to exclude him from the team.
If Mayo would be so hospitable as to leave a bit of space for Mohan, McCarron, and McManus  to do their thing, then I'd be hopeful. Considering our (what passes for) history this is the type of game with the potential to bring out our best.
Any Mayo supporter pessimism will have absolutely no effect on the Mayo performance.

Banty ultimately decides the starting 15, decides the positions they play and matchups too. I would feel he dictates the style of play and gets a coach to implement it. I can't get around McCarthy playing in defense, it still doesn't make sense at all. Persisting with Carey who has amassed 5 pts from play over 9 games in 2022 makes little to no sense either. He's someone who fails to deliver and his lapses in concentration are costly. It's hard to know how Monaghan will go against Mayo. Bar the Kildare game, Monaghan have been big on effort and possession. Not the sterile back and forth you'd see Donegal do, but a full court press with lots of turnovers. The problem has been converting that dominance in possession into scores. Monaghan have been hugely wasteful with shots for  most of 2022's games. Against Mayo in the league I think they got below 50% accuracy (the 7 missed frees were particularly bad and I still can't believe the one Bannigan dropped into the Keepers hands in first minute from 20 yards out). The Derry game was not much better. Colm Shalvey of the Northern Standard tweeted Monaghan  scored 17 of their 36 chances. It felt like a lot of chances being missed watching the game but 36 shots blew my mind. It shows Monaghan are doing something right to a degree but failing on where they are shooting from or poor execution of skills. Bar the Dublin and Down games, Monaghan have been struggling to turn their substantial spells of dominance during games into scores. Will it click this weekend? It could. It also relies on Banty getting his starting line up, player match ups and positioning correct and that does not fill me with hope as he's not got a great record of this. Can the players sharepn their finishing and positioning, maybe. Monaghan can do it, but I dunno if they will do it.

Who would be the favourites for the intermediate crown?

Hard to call this year. Tyrone clubs are usually contenders each year but Tattyreagh don't seem like a Moy  yet Boyle Sports have them as favourites to beat St Peter's. Mullahoran have tradition and were cavan senior champs 6 years ago and while not the force they were, they will still be strong.  Would Glenfin be regarded as good Donegal champs? St Enda's look like especially strong antrim champs with county talent across their attack but they'll meet a very tough Doohamlet team who are far too good for intermediate in Monaghan but lack squad depth to last in senior football (4 IFC's in 9 years i think shows how much they yo-yo between divisions).

Boyle Sports odds
St Enda's 15/8  v Doohamlet 1/2
Mullahoran 5/6  v Bredagh 6/5
St Peter's 15/8 v Tattyreagh 8/15
Glenfin 11/8 v Banagher 8/11

Expecting Ulster to be a Donegal v Monaghan final with Donegal favourites. Ususal suspects of Dublin, Corkr, Mayo and Kerry to be there or there abouts in the eventual shake up

just looking at the sigerson highlights on independent.ie

McCarthy scored 1-2 from play and looked really impressive. He has the talent to give Monaghan that other option up front beside mcmanus that the badly need. He's one to watch this year.

McCarthy and fellow UCD team mate McGinn are serious talents for Monaghan. McCarthy has bags of scoring potential but also works like a dog of the ball. He's excellent at disposing opposition players of the ball and probably best suited to a half forward role. I don't think we'll see too much of McGinn during this NFL campaign as he's got the U-21's to contend with too, unless of course they get eliminated early. I suppose seeing Jack McCarron back and fit is the great hope. Heard he was kicking points for fun at training recently.

Fintan Kelly getting dropped was on the cards. His league form was mediocre. The surprise will be if the team lines up as named as O'Rourke usually makes at least one change. McGinn not on the squad is disappointing as he's ready made for the centre forward spot but he's probably a week or two of being match ready with his shoulder injury (it's a re occurrence of one he did a couple of years ago).I'd like to see McCarthy starting. Intelligent on the ball, accurate and that rare mix of flair and workrate, McCarthy is ready. Darren hughes should  play out the field, not at FF. The experiment during the league at FF didn't work. It's one thing Hughes being effective there at club level but a different story at county level. Overall it's an experienced team and bench. Jap hopefully to play a part as he's in superb form at the minute, he looks totally revitalised.

Two great games and some brilliant players on display. Con O'Callghan, Colm Basquel, Michael Hurley, Sean Powter, Barry McGinn Conor McCarthy, Diarmuid O'Connor, Stephen Coen all stood out for me. Michael Hurley is younger brother of Brian, right?