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I'll be surprised if the Monaghan team starts as lined out. Sure Malone injured his knee in the league final and has been more or less struggling with injuries since the McKenna cup final too. I didn't think he is/was fully fit. Make no mistake, he's worth his place when fully fit, but question is , if he is that.

I still think Kelly and Duffy in defence are somewhat shakey. Kelly has been a decent find this year but is prone to the odd moment of rash decision making. Duffy is a bit of an undisciplined tackler, arm acrosss the shoulder type thing. I think Walshe will play half back where he's been superb all year.

Dick's form has been very hit and miss. His work rate is not what it was of 2/3 years ago. Also the team suffers when Dick gets too focused on his personal 'battle' with his opposite number e.g. v Sean Cavanagh in McKenna cup or v Marty McGrath in Enniskillen.

Looks a very even championship this year. Tyrone/Donegal will be a pivotal match at minor level. Donegal beat Tyrone in the league semi final so either will be favourites to progress to the ulster final. That's not saying Derry be a poor outfit especially when their Maghera contingent return. Cavan will improve for sure but will have a tough game against Monaghan who won the ulster league. Tyrone's record at this level is very hard to ignore. 

Very saddening to hear this. Drew Wylie is a superb and highly committed footballer. Any sort of abuse like this by small minded idiots/bullies has to be stamped out.

Dessie mone is a decent ball playing half back to be fair to him but seems to revert to "the dark arts" when moved to corner back. He was up there with ricy till a few years ago but seems ok now.

Ah Dessie hasn't totally lost the Dark arts just yet, he's already been sent of twice this year for Monaghan! And not forgetting the craic he gets up to at club level!

The Div 3 title was nice but not essential win for Monaghan. The manner of the win was important in that it showed areas clearly needed for improvement in defence and midfield. Biggest plus is the strength of the Monaghan bench which is the best squad we've had in years. Even when Banty was in charge it was usually sub Rory Woods and then bring him back on with 15 minutes to go. We've got real options now. O'Rourke has done a good job for Monaghan so far though some of his substitutions were highly quesitonable against Meath. Did Gollogly honestly do any better than Dermot Malone? Not really in my opinion. And bringing the willing but totally out of his depth Donaghy on , still bamboozles me. We've much better options on the bench e.g. Jack McCarron and Pete Dooney. Still have Freeman, Doogan, and O'Hanlon to return from injury.

Meath folks shouldn't be disheartned by the defeat, they've some fine young players there in Gillespie, Menton, Wallace, Newman and Lenihan. Those lads should be mainstays for the Meath teams for a long time.

This division is looking very interesting. Sligo looked like relegation material yesterday. You couldn't see where their scores were going to come from. Monaghan , well, were simply okay, nothing more. Without Darren Hughes and Conor McManus I was worried , but Neil McAdam was solid at CHB, but the attack was not on the same wavelength at all. Some absolutely woeful ball was hit into the full forward line. Kieran Hughes is an engima; physcially powerful and a decent targetman, but he presists in coming out the field and trying to sell unnecessary dummies. He slowed down the play numerous times and hit blind passes behind his intended targets frequently. Yet when he was told to stay on the square he was very effective.

Monaghan haven't won two games in a row for a very long time, so the game against Fermanagh in Enniskillen is a crucial game. That will decide who is going to be in the mix come the end. Moanaghan will need to improve hugely for the Fermanagh game.

I am going to attempt to put this thread back on it's tracks...

I see Mal O'Rourke has named the same starting line up for the Cavan game. Personally I think it's a good thing to infuse confidence in the team and help bring the lesser experienced players on. To me that was a big problem with Banty, he always reverted to this 'chosen fews' irrespective of how the replacements fared. Not a good way to promote competitiveness in the squad IMHO..

Personally, I don't think the Cavan game will be an easy one at all. They will be well up for it.. I was listening to the coverage of the Cavan v Antirm game last week and they seemed to play well in patches of that game. Get ahead with the home crowd behind you and they could inflict damage..

In saying that I'm not gonna sit on the fence however. Monaghan by 2! 

I'll be surprised if the same Monaghan 15 start as did the previous game.  One thing that is obvious is that the players believe in O'Rourke and believe that they can achieve something this year- you more or less have every player who should be on the squad actually on it.  Eamon McEneaney didn't have that - players went to the states, opted out or were injured. It's very early days, so too soon to see if Monaghan have the back bone and substance to produce consistent results. The thrashing by Tyrone was a good thing and helped to settle the minds ahead of the Meath game. If a win is obtained against Cavan , I'll be more optimisitc that the right frame of mind is in the squad to gain promotion.

Monaghan were very comfortable against St. Marys which was to be expected. A raft of subs diluted the game in the second half and some late scores for St Mary's put some respectibility on the scoreline. Jerome Johnston and Niall Sludden put up a good fight for the students, both working very hard. But they were clearly under strenght and it showed.

Monaghan will be happy enough. Of the debutants, Paul McArdle and Stephen Smith will be happy enough with their showings. Smith was lively and worked hard and earned his point. McArdle showed some nice tocuhes and quick thinking especially for the pass for the goal. Plus his physical power is a big asset. Donaghy while getting the goal was near anonymous. For me the jury is still out for Kelly at FB. He's worth another game there.

Dermot Malone was hugely impressive at wing forward. He'll be a nailed on starter for that position this year. He was a big loss to Monaghan last year so great to have him back. Also impressive was Marti McElroy at wing back. He was alert, read the play superbly, linked the play well and took his score expertly. Mansy was superb at FF, while Mcadam got through a huge amount of work in the middle.

I also seen Jack McCarron scored 1-2 for DCU against Wicklow, while Pete Dooney also started that game. Unfortunately Colin Walsh got a straight red for DIT against Wexford.

Monaghan team for sunday announced

http://www.monaghangaa.ie/2013/01/03/monaghan-team-v-st-marys/

Some new faces getting a run out. I'm particularly interested to see how Fintan Kelly gets on at full back, Paul McArdle at centre forward and Stephen Smith at wing forward. Though I think Smith will switch positions with Dermot Malone who is a more natural wing forward. I'd like to see Gavin Doogan make an appearance from the bench - he'd be ideally suited to a wing back slot.

Monaghan panel

1 Mark Keogh  Seán Mac Diarmada
2 Rory Beggan  Scotstown
3 Conor Galligan Monaghan Harps
4 Fintan Kelly Clones
5 Kieran Duffy Latton
6 Ronan Mc Nally Tyholland
7 Owen Coyle Latton
8 Martin Mc Elroy Castleblayney Faughs
9 Karl O'Connell Tyholland
10 Drew Wylie Ballybay
11 Owen Lennon Latton
12 Gerard Mc Ardle Inniskeen
13 Neil Mc Adam Monaghan Harps
14 Stephen Smith Currin
15 Owen Duffy Latton
16 Shane Mc Quillan Ballybay
17 Dick Clerkin Currin
18 Dermot Malone Castleblayney Faughs
19 Kieran Hughes Scotstown
20 Padraig Donaghy Donaghmoyne
21 Thomas O'Neill Ballybay
22 Keith Mc Enaney Corrduff
23 Donal Hahessy Monaghan Harps
24 Matthew Mc Kenna Inniskeen
25 Paul Mc Ardle Doohamlet
26 Conor Mc Manus Clontribret

6 new players from last season - defenders -Owen Coyle , Shane McQuillan, midfielder - Ger McArdle,  fowards -Donal Hahessy, Keith McEneaney & Padraig Donaghy

Key players Paul Finlay, Darren Hughes, Tommy Freeman, Vinney Corey & Dessie Mone not included but presumably for inclusion for the league. Colin Walshe captaining DIT in O'Byrne cup, Pete Dooney and Jack McCarron at DCU in O'Byrne Cup.

The GL ulster club team of the year includes repesentatives from Junior and Intermediate too. They tend to also go for clubs that competed in latter part of Ulster competitions. For that matter, I think John Gilmore of Cookstown, Collie Holmes of An Port Mor, Colin Walsh of Doohamlet, Ross McGarry of Warrenpoint will all be in the running for team of the year.

We aren't as bad as I was thinking a fortnight ago. How did Cookstown Doohamlet go?

I was at both games in Enniskillen. Drumhowan were my tips for Ulster JFC. It shows I know nothing! Everyting was in Drumhowan's favour - a point up at half time and then An Port Mor had a man sent off shortly into the second half. It was all set-up there for Drumhowan to win. There collpase was a total surprise as the first half was even enough and Drumhowan looked to have enough to edge out a win. There is no doubt Drumhowan missed Darren Duffy who is a key player for them but they totally lost their heads. Credit to An Port Mor and espcially Collie Holmes who grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck. He did the simple things well and kept his head when others were losing it around him.  The second half was completely one sided and in the final five minutes the Drumhowan players tempers got the better of them and had 3 sent off. If An Port Mor play like they did in the second half, they'll make it a good final, but if it's like they played in the first half, it's Brackaville's to lose.

Cookstown won the Intermediate match as expected. But they were made fight all the way in a bruising encounter and truth be told, Cookstown were very lucky it didn't at least go to extra time. Cookstown got of to a flying start 1-1 up after 4 minutes and they looked like they'd be rampant. Big Gilmore was proving very dangerous and there were moving the ball well out of defence. Thereafter Doohamlet settled and were completely dominant for the remainder of the first half. Their problem was finishing , they missed a goal and 5 or 6 point efforts. Even though Doohamlet led at half time, this wastefulness came back to haunt them in the second half.

Cookstown effectively won the match in the third quater of the game. Conor O'Hare and Barry Mulligan got on top in the middle for a 15 minute spell and they got 4 pts on the trot. Then  Doohamlet's FB was sent off, but Mugsy should have got the line too. After that it was all Doohamlet. They were camped in the Cookstown half but again their wastefulness was their undoing. They came migthly close to a draw when Paul McArdle hit the post with a free.  This was effectively the final of the compeition and I expect Cookstown to beat Warrenpoint handily.

IFC semi finals

Warrenpoint v Aghagallon / Termon/ Aodh Ruadh
Doohamlet v Cookstown

JFC

Drumhowan v An Port Mor
Laragh  v Brackaville

Warrenpoint v Aghagallon / Termon

Termon won Donegal last night. They line out against Aghagallon this weekend. Have to tip Aghagallon to win.
Warrenpoint have a great chance of getting to the final. Slamming 5 goals past Teemore was impressive.

Drumhowan were lucky to beat Downings. I'd of made Drumhowan favourities to win the JFC competition due to them winning it a few years ago, but I think some Drumhowan lads must have thought all they had to do was turn up and win. Downings competed very well but lacked inspiration and Drumhowan showed some character to claw back a 4 point deficit at HT to edge out the win. I still think they'll beat An Port Mor but they'll want to improve greatly if they have aspirations of winning it out.

Doohamlet looked a good side today against Lacken. Dominated from the start, Colin Walshe was impressive at centre back. They had a  player sent off in the first half but still led at half time 1-5 to 1 goal. They also missed a penalty. They had 7 players booked in the second half,

I thought they way it was going they would have a few more sent off in the second but it was Lacken who did, 3 players from Lacken sent off in the second half. Finished 11pts to 1-4. Ballybay is quite an unusual ground.

Ballybay is an odd ground for sure! It's a good quality pitch , but access in and out leaves people bemused. I was at Clones for the double header so can't comment on their performance. However I'm not surprised they had a man sent off and so many booked as they are a team that play on the edge and have a lousy disciplinary record. Colin Walshe is a future Monaghan captain in my opinion, an outstanding player and leader.

Rodney, how do you rate Doohamlet's chances against Cookstown?

IFC semi finals

Warrenpoint v Aghagallon / Termon/ Aodh Ruadh
Doohamlet v Cookstown

JFC

Drumhowan v An Port Mor
Laragh  v Brackaville