Preview: Favourites' tag will mean very little on Sunday

Preview

In a week chock-full of Drumlin derbies, with Monaghan just edging through Wednesday night’s U-20 duel, anticipation is slowly rising for Sunday’s Ulster SFC quarter-final in Clones, writes Colm Shalvey.

Confidence is not in abundant supply in either Monaghan or Cavan – understandably so, after difficult league campaigns for both counties – but as the big game approaches, the build-up is slowly beginning to clank into gear. Despite the fatalistic mood among both sets of supporters, this fixture has always mattered and continues to do so, with bragging rights and pride on the line.

Wins over relegated sides Kildare and Offaly proved to be enough to keep Cavan established at Division 2 level in a mixed first campaign under Dermot McCabe, while Monaghan shipped some heavy losses in the top flight.

Monaghan fans can be forgiven for having unwelcome flashbacks to 2024 and a third Ulster SFC loss to Cavan since 2019. Like two years ago, Monaghan go into the championship after relegation from Division 1, amid a lengthy losing streak and with question marks over a raft of players through injuries.

Conor McCarthy, Killian Lavelle, Bobby McCaul and Michael Hamill have yet to feature this season, while Ryan McAnespie, Dylan Byrne, Stephen Mooney, Louis Kelly and David Garland were among several more who missed large chunks of the league. Of the 20 players who featured in last year’s provincial clash with Donegal, six haven’t appeared for the county in 2026.

With Darren Hughes, Kieran Duffy and Karl O’Connell (who made 187 SFC appearances between them) having retired during the off-season, Monaghan’s most experienced players at this level are Rory Beggan, Ryan Wylie, Jack McCarron, McCarthy and McAnespie, with doubts over whether any of the last three will start. Most of Monaghan’s long-term absentees have returned to training, but Gabriel Bannigan will have to balance out how many of them are ready to go straight back into the team for such a pivotal game.

Newcomers Cameron Dowd, Fionán Carolan and Oisín McGorman showed enough in the last few months to put themselves in the picture for potential championship debuts, while Aaron Carey and Louis Kelly should be in line for their first taste of the Ulster SFC, both having featured in the All-Ireland series last summer.

Karl Gallagher’s return from Australia has boosted Monaghan’s options in the middle third, but neither side will be expected to dominate in that sector, based on recent evidence.

Monaghan conceded heavily in the league, despite the full-back line of Wylie, Ryan O’Toole and Daragh McElearney putting out fires on numerous occasions. Much of the damage in the league was self-inflicted, with almost half of their scores conceded in the league (8-65) emanating from turnovers.

O’Toole (now with 50 county senior appearances to his name) has become Monaghan’s go-to man-marker and will likely be tasked with taking on the gifted Paddy Lynch, who was Cavan’s match-winner in this fixture in ’24. Oisín Brady and Ryan Donohoe have developed into scoring threats, along with established duo Gearóid McKiernan and Dara McVeety.

Up front, Monaghan have struggled to hit the heights of 2025, albeit while facing a higher level of opposition. They broke the 20-point barrier in 13 consecutive games last season – four of which saw them hit at least 30 – but it took them until the last round of this year’s NFL to reach the 20-point mark.

That came in an improved performance against Donegal, which was one of just two games where their shot-conversion rate topped 50%. Andrew Woods showed glimpses of his ability that day, with his 1-3 from play being the highest individual tally by a Monaghan player since Stephen O’Hanlon’s 0-7 v Armagh back in January. Monaghan need to find a way to get Mícheál Bannigan and O’Hanlon running at their opponents and to get Dessie Ward, who made his 100th senior appearance last time out, into shooting positions.

With their fate in the league sealed relatively early on, Monaghan’s focus will have turned to this Sunday. After the penultimate-round NFL game against Galway, Gabriel Bannigan said: “it’s all about Cavan now”.

Speaking to reporters at the recent Ulster championship launch, the Aughnamullen man reflected on the topsy-turvy nature of a rivalry steeped in history, saying: “Monaghan-Cavan games have always been tight. Going back to the 1980s when we had an excellent team under Seán McCague, Cavan knocked us out of the championship in 1987 in Breffni Park when Monaghan would have been hot favourites. Even when one of the team appears to be stronger than the other, in the championship it’s a 50-50 game.”

With both teams currently searching for form, the favourites’ tag will mean very little come Sunday afternoon