Muineacháin v Fear Manach

[From the Bunker]

Monaghan (fans) and the media got caught up in running a Kerry team in second gear, close last year. True Monaghan qualified for the AI Quarter finals, but really, they hardly beat any quality team on the way. Fermanagh, have proven over the years that if you are a middle weight intercounty team they will ask you serious questions. The year after a successful run is alway tough for the (so called) weaker counties. Ask Sligo, Westmeath, Fermanagh, Laois who have had great runs over the last couple of years, but collapsed the year after making breakthroughs.

[J70]

Cue the red faces and re-evaluations!

I was surprised with Monaghan today. I always thought Fermanagh had a great chance as they are never easy to beat, especially in Enniskillen, but I thought Monaghan would be better and that it would be a point or two either way in it, instead of it petering out in the last ten minutes. Even when they closed the gap to four, before McQuaid's act of lunacy, they never look like they believed they could reel Fermanagh in. In fact, they reminded me a bit of Donegal against themselves last year, in that the heads collectively dropped in the last quarter of the game, although they didn't quite plumb the depths of surrender that Donegal did on that evening. As in that match, the goals came at very important times. It will be interesting to see how they recover now. While they were possibly overrated, all teams have off-days and I don't think many would fancy meeting them in the qualifiers after they've had a chance to regroup.

[Jinxy]

I was amazed that in the last 10 minutes no Monaghan player looked to grab the game by the scruff of the neck and kick start a comeback. Went down with a whimper really. Perhaps they had their sights set a bit too high going into this game.

[INDIANA]

heard nudie hughes the monaghan great on the radio about 5 weeks ago saying monaghan aren't as good as they think they are. but then again everyone thinks they are better than they are. i wasn't impressed with them against dublin in the league and a lot of teams have worked them out. maybe need to try something different, midfield is a problem area for them though.

[Main Street]

Fermanagh cleaned out Monaghan totally, on tactics, on ability on fitness and desire.
It wasn't that hard to do.
The worst of Monaghan was on display including some ugly unsporting cynical attitudes.
Their ordinary discipline throughout the game was just a shocking low standard.

[magpie seanie]

I'm not one who takes league football too seriously but the little I saw of Monaghan in the league (v. Cork) worried me about their prospects. I think tactically instead of developing they regressed. They over thought things and relied more on systems and that shit rather than their footballing strengths that they utilised last year. Fermanagh are a bloody good team and it will take a good team playing well to beat them.

[Dubh driocht]

Thought the decision to red-card Mc Quaid was a bit harsh.















Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit

[lurganblue]

Fermanagh well deserved their victory today. i was particularly impressed with Lynch and McCabe (his score with the outside of the boot was fantastic).  I thought Fermanagh cleaned out midfeild which is always a good step towards a victory.
Monaghan seemed to lack any ideas at all going forward. The cross feild diagonal ball was regularly picked off by Fermanagh backs. After that i dont think they knew what to do.

Free taking was dodgy at times from both sides

[tieroan]

I knew Monaghan would get beat when I heard about this ridiculous press ban. Who the hell do they think they are? I think thon banty man is to caught up inhis own self importance!

[mylestheslasher]

I suspected that this would happen. Monaghan set their sites high this year and maybe took there eye of this game. I think they have also shown their hand in last years championship and in the early stages of the league and don't seem to have worked on a plan B. Looks to me like they peeked way to early cos when they beat Cavan in the league in Feb they were really flying fit. Fermanagh weighed them up. They out fought them, out smarted them and out played them. If they weren't so wasteful up front they could have won this game by 10 points. I think Fermanagh could be serious contenders for Ulster this year. They remind me of Sligo a little, but they have much better players. Monaghan will struggle to make an impact in the qualifiers as they probably had Ulster as their goal and the whole thing could easily colapse now.

[tbrick18]

Fermanagh did their homework well and played with determination, passion and a fair degree of skill (albeit some of the shooting was awful...even if there was a strong wind), whereas Monaghan look to be a team who believe all the hype written about them in newspapers.
Monaghan are no-where near as good as some would have you think...they have half a dozen excellent players and another decent half dozen but after that they are poor. They dont have enough strength in depth. As likeable a character as Banty is, I also have doubts over his ability as an intercounty manager.
Last year a few teams underestimated them and they played above their own ability which brought them on as far as QF's last year. I dont see them getting to a QF this year unless the draw is very favorable, but if they come up against any decent dvision 1 side I think you'll see them knocked out.

Fermanagh will be a difficult team to beat alright...they are very well organised and have some very good players. I still think the winner of Donegal v Derry should be able to account for them comfortably as they both have stronger midfields and defences than Fermanagh and thier forward unit is poor but as we've seen in the past, they can surprise us with some big wins. I think we could see Fermanagh in a QF this year through the qualifiers....I'd be surprised to see them in an Ulster final and even more surprised to see them win it though.

One final thing....I thought it was a digraceful behaviour from McQuaid in particular for the sending off but discipline from some of the Monaghan players in the second have was terrible and I think they should count themselves lucky not to have at least another player off for a second yellow.

[tyroneboi]

What was the idea behind all the Monaghan players having their wrists strapped? Was reading in Oisin McConvilles book that all the Armagh players used to strap their wrists to help them stop players running. Probably something similar for Monaghan i would imagine.

[johnpower]

Monaghan disappointed big time today . The 2 goals were very sloppy ,what was the corner back doing for the second goal ?.I thought that they would have improved on last years performance but obviously not .

[ONeill]

Malachy O'Rourke is some customer. He will make the Fermanagh outfit extremely difficult to break down. Can see them making waves this summer.

[Maguire01]

Fermanagh fully deserved their victory today, no doubt.  However, they were unbelievably wasteful, considering the possession they had they had from midfield. Winning by only 4 points, considering both goals were pretty sloppy did not reflect their dominance.

The game itself was pretty poor and this was partly due to the wind which was a major factor that didn't seem to come across on The Sunday Game (especially McStay's comments regarding the free-taking).

It's strange that the 2 players we were waiting to come back were two of our weakest links.  Duffy should have been out for Fermanagh's second goal.  He was also wanted back for his ability to mix it up with his kickouts, yet when we were clearly being cleaned out at midfield, Duffy continued with the long kick outs straight to that very area. McQuaid wasn't at the races today either and his outburst at the end was ridiculous (and most out of character from what i've seen of him in the past).  He'll no doubt be out with a suspension for the first qualifier.

Midfield was a nightmare and Lennon/Clerkin/Finlay weren't even ch alleging for most of the kickouts - did Monaghan take more than one ball cleanly in midfield?
Hard to fault Monaghan's forwards too much as they weren't getting enough ball in to them.

So overall, Fermanagh deserved to win, but i'm not sure they'll overcome the semi-final.  As for Monaghan, this was always the potential banana skin, and we slipped on it.  There was obvious nerves, but there was also a real lack of passion abed hunger - no one seemed to want to chase the game at all. A decent run in the qualifers is the best we can hope for, but that's the chance of silverware pretty much out the window.