Monaghan’s reward for their two-point win over Armagh in the preliminary round of the Ulster U20 Championship is a quarter-final clash against Cavan four days later. It’s a quick turnaround, but Monaghan boss Paul Curran doesn’t mind the short break between games.
“I’m happy with the quick turnaround as long as we’re still in it,” said Curran.
“The unfortunate thing about this competition is, in preparation, you’re competing with university competitions and school competitions and then it’s over and out after one game if you’re beat.
“I think there’s plenty of room for change there. I don’t mind four days, we’ll take. We’ll do our best to recuperate because there’s a few boys sore after that game but four days and a win under your belt, fellas don’t be long healing up. I don’t know much about Cavan to be honest. We’re going into the dark there really so we’ll just do the best we can do.”
An improved second half showing and Monaghan’s efficiency in front of goal saw them past the Orchard County. “We fought it out and we were more efficient up front,” added Curran.
“They kicked a lot of wides, but they were under pressure, they’d a couple of bad wides but a couple of forced wides. We were a bit too laboured, and we were doing everything we said we wouldn’t do (in the first half).
“Tactically, they got it right. We were slow to build and once they get back, they’re hard to break down. We felt at half time, we only had four points at half time and that wasn’t going to win the game.
“We had to put the full press on and try to win more ball and increase our attacks and luckily we were more efficient in our shooting, that was the difference at the end of the day.”
