‘We’ve four games left and we’ll fight for those points’

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Colm Shalvey

Monaghan senior football manager Gabriel Bannigan was grappling with weighing up the positives of his team’s performance against Dublin with the frustration of the missed chances that saw an opportunity for a first win of the campaign slip away.

Bannigan reflected: “On the positive side, we created a lot [of goal chances], but we missed them all. If we had taken one of them, particularly in that second half when we were pretty dominant and had the momentum with us, it might have been a different outcome. That’s sport.

“The disappointing thing about the Dublin goal was that it came off our possession, from a turnover. It was obviously crucial, plus Con [O’Callaghan]’s two two-pointers, which were just magical scores. I thought we were the better team for an hour, but we didn’t win the game because the most important thing in football is finishing your chances and we just didn’t do that

“It was a really gutsy, spirited performance all over the field. We had two young lads making their league debuts, Cameron Dowd and Oisín McGorman, I thought they were excellent. Fionán Carolan came off the bench for his debut at this level. That substitution was forced because of Ryan McAnespie’s injury, but Fionán came on and gave us great legs as well, so great credit to those young lads. Liam McDonald and Eddie Walsh came off the bench again.

“Cameron is one of the hardest-working players in the panel. He had a very positive McKenna Cup. He didn’t make the team for the first two league games, but he stayed positive and kept putting the work in.

“We felt that with his pace and strength, Croke Park would suit him. We needed someone with those attributes to match up with Paddy Small. He’s a good lad and he deserves it, he needs to build on that now. Daragh McElearney got in and has played well and stayed in.

“I thought Oisín McGorman ran himself into the ground. We have handed out seven league debuts in three games and another four off the bench. That’s through necessity because we’re ravaged with injuries, but I couldn’t be prouder of the way the boys are working, what they’re putting in at training.”

Acknowledging that Ryan McAnespie had gone off with a recurrence of his hamstring issues, which “don’t tend to be simple”, Bannigan added.

“It is very frustrating, but we have to keep going. I brought 16 new players into the panel this year, which is more than I would have intended; it looks like we’re going to use them all.

“The reality is that any team in the country would find that challenging. You want to blooding one or two players at a time with lots of experience around them, but we’re having to go deep [into the panel] at the moment. They are good lads and they’re making progress. They’ll keep improving and they’ll benefit from this experience. Our luck is bound to change and hopefully injuries will stop hitting us.”

The Aughnamullen man is adamant that morale remains good in the squad despite the difficult run over the last few weeks.

“The spirit is really good in the camp and training has been excellent, but the lads are desperately disappointed. They know we had a great opportunity of winning that game and we left two points behind us. We have to get ready for Mayo.

“Every game in Division 1 is a huge challenge. I know everybody is going to write us off, but we have four games left and we are going to fight for every single one of those eight points and see where that takes us.

“We are going to keep putting the work in as a group to try and improve and build on the positives that we had from that performance.

“The league is not the be-all and end-all; it is about preparation for the championship. Of course, we fought hard to win Division 2 last year. Division One is where we want to be, but we have to deal with the challenges we face at the moment and I’ve no doubt the boys will do that.

“I thought our performance under the breaking ball was better. Mícheál McCarville had a big game at midfield and it wasn’t until the last ten minutes or so that Dublin started to get more of a grip in that area. It was Ryan Wylie’s first start of the year and he ran himself into the ground. Dessie Ward gave his best performance so far. As a manager, you can’t ask any more of players than to give everything they possibly have and I thought the boys did that.”