Bannigan: ‘You have to face up to these battles’

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Colm Shalvey

Monaghan senior manager Gabriel Bannigan admitted that his team weren’t up to the required standard in the first half of last Sunday’s NFL first-round loss to Armagh.

“In the first half, we were way off it and Armagh were right at it. It wasn’t up to the standards of Division 1. We had a good enough team on the pitch in that first half to play a lot better than what we did, so we have to look in the mirror,” Bannigan told the Anglo-Celt.

“Armagh were missing a number of players as well, but they’ve had their squad together a lot longer than the one we’ve assembled for this year. We’ve brought so many new players into the panel. Armagh were very cohesive, both defensively and from an attacking point of view. We haven’t reached that level of cohesion yet. We have a lot of work to do.

“I’m under no illusions; I expected that to be the case. Only five of our starting 15 started our first game in Division 2 last year against Cavan, so that’s a huge turnover. You don’t get cohesion when you have that level of turnover all at one time.

“That’s not an excuse; it’s just the reality of the amount of work we have to do. On the positive side, I believe we have a very honest bunch of players. I have a lot of faith in them, that they will put the work in to improve, but we’re going to have to find those improvements very quickly.

“Breaking ball was one of the decisive battles that we lost in the first half and it was a huge influence in terms of the amount of possession Armagh had. Their passing was very slick, their support play was excellent and they kicked some fantastic scores. That was a really impressive performance from Armagh. We did some good things and we were a lot better in the second half, but the first half left us with too much to do. Stephen O’Hanlon had a very good day, but not enough of our players did. When you’re playing against the top teams, you need a lot of our players having good days.”

Having handed out first NFL starts to Jack Kiernan, Thomas Hughes, Darragh Treanor and Daragh McElearney, as well as league debuts for subs Liam McDonald, Eddie Walsh and Oisín McGorman, Bannigan noted: “We had seven debutants, four from the start. Those fellas are working hard and they’re going to learn quickly. This is Division 1 and the lessons are tough.

“We have to take the hits and get back up. Those boys are going to get better. I knew we were facing a very difficult start to the year. There’s nothing we can do about the fact that we’re missing as many players as we are. As we get them back and get them back up to speed, we should be getting better, but we have a mountain to climb. We have to work with what we have. The lads who are there are putting the work in and they will get better week on week, I’ve no doubt about that.”

Already without several players, including Monaghan’s Scotstown contingent (bar the returning Ryan O’Toole), Bannigan rued the loss of another five to injuries and illness in the build-up to the Armagh game.

“We were already missing a lot, but we lost five players in the last week: Shane Hanratty, Davy Garland, Alastair Stewart, Fionán Carolan and Ryan Wylie. Of those five, really only Ryan Wylie has a realistic chance of being involved next week. Ryan O’Toole was back out training during the week. We had intended to have him on the bench, but our hand was forced with Ryan Wylie’s illness and we put Ryan O’Toole in from the start. He’s the only Scotstown player back training yet.

“We have a two-week break between the Roscommon game and the Dublin game when we will hopefully see some lads starting to filter back in. We have a number of long-term injuries, Bobby McCaul, Michael Hamill, Robbie Hanratty, Killian Lavelle, Davy Garland, Conor McCarthy. None of those boys will be back until the back end of the league or into the championship.”

One positive on a difficult day for Monaghan was Ryan McAnespie coming on for his first competitive game for club or county since he went off injured in last year’s All-Ireland SFC quarter-final against Donegal.

Bannigan admitted: “When things are going against you, we were nearly afraid to risk him”, adding: “We weren’t going to win the game at that stage, but the plan was to put Ryan in for 15/20 minutes, so we stuck to that plan. Hopefully, he can get another week’s training and get more game-time (v Roscommon).”

The Aughnamullen man says Monaghan will be up for the challenge as they head to Roscommon this Sunday.

“When you’re involved in any sport at the highest level, you have to face up to these battles. Hyde Park has always been a tough place to go for any team and I don’t know when Monaghan last won there, but that’s the challenge we have to take on.

“Last year it was probably the toughest game we had in Division 2, so it will be a tough game. Roscommon will be buoyed by their performance down in Kerry, so we will have to be a lot better if we are going to put it up to them. We have to focus on getting improvements in a number of areas, look for a better performance and see where that takes us.”