Ulster SFC quarter-final – Fermanagh v Down
Venue: Brewster Park, Enniskillen Date: Saturday, 19 April Throw-in: 16:00 BST
Coverage: Watch Fermanagh v Down live on BBC Two NI, BBC iPlayer and BBC Sport website; text updates & in-play clips on BBC Sport website; text updates from Monaghan v Donegal on Sunday (14:00)
Two-time Ulster Championship winner and BBC pundit Conor McManus explains why, despite a successful Division Two campaign, Monaghan must improve to take down All-Ireland contenders Donegal in Sunday’s provincial quarter-final.
As a player, big championship games in Clones were occasions I really relished and Sunday’s tussle with Donegal will be no different for the current Monaghan panel.
Monaghan have seen this game coming for a long time. There was always a good chance of Donegal getting past Derry in the preliminary round and now Jim McGuinness’ side are preparing for their first trip back to Clones since winning the Ulster title last year.
For Monaghan, the challenge is real. Monaghan were very good in Division Two and won it comfortably, but they haven’t played a team of Donegal’s quality this year.
It’s a huge step-up for Monaghan but it’s a home game in Clones, the sun will likely be shining. As a Monaghan player, there is no place you’d rather be.
Scoring has been Monaghan’s strength this year. It’s well-documented but they have been averaging about 28 or 29 points and I’d imagine Donegal will have a fairly rigid defensive plan to counteract that.
The important thing for Monaghan is maintaining a high level of performance for the 70 minutes. In the league, patches of great play and scoring bursts served them well, but they will need to find another level to topple Donegal.
The GAA Social with Down’s two-time All-Ireland winner Ross Carr
Monaghan will have full belief. I was involved with Monaghan for a long time and we always set out with the belief we could win any championship game.
Rory Beggan, as he has been so often in the past, will be central to Monaghan’s chances. Rory has been brilliant this year; his shot-stopping, his distribution and his kicking off the ground have all helped power Monaghan over the line.
Last year, his season was interrupted with being away with the NFL. He missed training and games, but you can see he’s fully tuned into Monaghan now. He has a full pre-season and a run of games under his belt and Monaghan have certainly been reaping the rewards.
If the likes of Conor McCarthy, Stephen O’Hanlon and Micheal Bannigan can build on their great league campaigns too, Monaghan will have a real chance.
‘Donegal’s running power a real threat’
Daire O Baoill scored 1-4 in Donegal’s preliminary-round win over Derry
The reality, however, is that they’re coming up against one of the favourites for the All-Ireland.
Combatting Donegal’s running threat will be key to Monaghan’s gameplan. Against Derry, the two corner-backs – Finbarr Roarty and Ciaran Moore – and the two half-backs – Ryan McHugh and Peadar Mogan – scored six points between them.
Beyond that, Daire O Baoill covers every blade of grass and chipped in with 1-4 against Derry and he is one of several players capable of kicking two pointers. With Ciaran Thompson, Patrick McBrearty, Oisin Gallen and Michael Murphy in there too, Donegal are seriously well-stocked in that area.
Donegal didn’t go after two-pointers an awful lot against Derry, but I’d expect to see more of it on Sunday and the championship as a whole because there is a clear incentive among teams to emphasise two-pointers.
Kicking three two-pointers is the equivalent of scoring two goals so you could argue it’s somewhat taking goals out of the game because we’re not seeing as much forward inter-play with balls being popped into the inside line.
The two-pointer is one of the rule ‘enhancements’ I’ve struggled with. The tap and go, three-up rule and kick-outs having to travel further have transformed the game enough.
There is no real need for the two-pointer but it’s here now and teams must make the most of it. Monaghan did that during the league and may need it again to end Donegal’s Ulster reign on Sunday.
‘Down will want to lay down a marker’
Pat Havern scored 0-59 during Down’s Division Two campaign
Waiting for either Monaghan or Donegal in the semi-final will be Down or Fermanagh, who meet in Saturday’s quarter-final in Enniskillen.
It’s an interesting game between two teams who had topsy-turvy league campaigns. Fermanagh started the league well but tailed off and that obviously killed their promotion hopes.
Fermanagh have home advantage but are still without Ultan Kelm, which is a big blow.
Down’s league campaign obviously didn’t work out as planned either. They were promoted from Division Three last year and would have had strong aspirations of moving up again this season, but to earn six points and still drop straight back down would have stung.
Don’t let that fool you, though. Down played Monaghan in the last round of the league and played very well to win by a point.
It’s maybe easy to forget that they pushed Armagh all the way in last year’s semi-final in Clones only to be denied by Jason Duffy’s late winner.
They’re probably better than what their league form suggests. For Down, Saturday could be the chance to lay down a marker and really build on last year’s Tailteann Cup win.
