Football

Malachy O’Rourke focused on Galway to keep Monaghan run going

22-01-2017.Derry Vs Monaghan Malachy O'Rourke in the Dr McKenna cup semi-final at the Athletic grounds, Armagh..Picture Colm O'Reilly 22-01-2017.
22-01-2017.Derry Vs Monaghan Malachy O'Rourke in the Dr McKenna cup semi-final at the Athletic grounds, Armagh..Picture Colm O'Reilly 22-01-2017. 22-01-2017.Derry Vs Monaghan Malachy O'Rourke in the Dr McKenna cup semi-final at the Athletic grounds, Armagh..Picture Colm O'Reilly 22-01-2017.

Following their one-point victory over Tyrone in Castleblayney on Saturday, Monaghan now prepare for a trip to the west.

They take on joint-table-toppers Galway in a game which Malachy O’Rourke readily admits his side will face a different challenge than anything they have encountered so far.

“It is a game that could have something of a Championship feel about it in that Galway are one of the pacesetters along with Dublin in Division One and last Sunday accounted for Kerry with a commanding performance,” said O’Rourke.

An Ulster Championship date with Tyrone in May beckons after the League race is run, but O’Rourke is only focused on the task in hand.

“Games early in the year in the League and later in the year in the Championship are totally different ball games,” he added.

“And when we play Tyrone in the Ulster Championship they will be a completely different team. But we can’t think of that at the moment because our next big task is an away trip to Galway next weekend.”

So, did O’Rourke think that the six points Monaghan have on the board would be sufficient for survival given that his final games are against Galway away on Sunday, Donegal at home in Clones and then a trip to Croke Park to play the Dubs?

“It’s hard to know if six points would be enough but you would probably feel a bit unlucky if it wasn’t,” he said.

“But there are so many of the teams that have to play each other over the next three weeks, you still need to keep a run of form which is tricky enough. Although, I’d have to say that mathematically we are not safe on six at this moment in time.”

The Farney boss admitted that his side rode their luck a little against Tyrone and feels there are areas that they will need to improve on because the Tribesmen have established very strong credentials.

“We were in a good position a couple of times against Tyrone, going four points up, but then we squandered a four-point lead in the first half and again in the second half,” he added.

“We have to look at that because if we’re in a position like that against Galway, we will need to close it out.

“We do have a stronger panel and we did make a conscious decision to use as many players on the panel as possible as opposed to just using the same 18 or 19 players and overloading them.

“But we will have to look at our options because Galway will pose a totally different proposition. They are playing a different style of football to most of the other teams. They can defend well, but they are breaking very quickly and they have some very pacy players as we have seen on counter-attacks.

“We will have to be able to counter that, but with only a week we have very little time to work on areas that we know need attention.

“It’s another challenge though for this group of players and that’s the way we are taking it in Division One because all of the teams we are meeting are quality teams with quality players.

“So the most positive approach is to look forward to it, look forward to the challenge and see can we produce a performance that will keep our winning run intact.

“That’s what’s exciting about it in that it is another test for this group who have taken on and passed so many tests over the years.”

O’Rourke’s counterpart last Saturday night, Mickey Harte, is facing an equally difficult prospect when the Red Hands entertain Donegal and the Tyrone supremo now sees every game as “having a knockout status” for them.

“From here on in every game is important because you have to target the number of points that every team needs,” said Harte.

“At the moment the suggestion would be that you need at least six points to be safe in Division One. We are four points off that, so we are not in a good place, but it is still in our own hands to affect that.

“To do that, though, we will need to finish a better percentage of the chances we are creating and that is something we need to think about seriously and see if we can create something that is going to bring us to a better place.”