Saturday’s All-Ireland 2B fixture features two sides that have served up more thrills and spills than many in this spectacle of a championship, but one will go no further.
Here we break down Monaghan v Roscommon in five parts, availing of the superb statistics served up by GAA Performance analyst Darren Devine (@DarrenDevine92 on X).
1. Need for speed
Back in April, Stat Sports informed us that Down’s Caolán Mooney clocked a speed of 35.06 km/h in the Mournemen’s shock win over Donegal. Not bad at 33 years of age.
To put that in context, Adrian Truffert clocked Bournemouth’s fastest speed in 38 Premier League matches last season at 34.96km/h. Ian Maatsen was Aston Villa’s fastest at 34.68km/h.
It quickly got the debate going as to who are amongst the fastest players in Ireland. Roscommon quickly entered the chat. Broadcaster Tommy Rooney quizzed Diarmuid Murtagh on the topic of pace, speculating Conor Hand may be the fastest in Ireland:
“Conor Hand is fast, but Darragh Heneghan is faster.”
Colm Neary later claimed that he is faster than Heneghan, and anyone that saw the utility man earn a penalty against Monaghan on St Brigid’s Day this year would struggle to argue.
Roscommon’s forward press was equally impressive in that league win, forcing erratic decisions and turnovers high up the pitch. Something that has been a marker of Monaghan’s change in fortunes during this championship since relegation this spring.
Last time out, Monaghan forced 11 turnovers from Mayo. Roscommon forced 10 from Tyrone, and despite Ethan Jordan’s last ditch winner, they shipped just 0-2 from frees. Monaghan conceded 0-6 from frees in Round One.
On the other side of the spectrum, the Ulster runners-up gave away a round-high eight unforced errors, albeit coming with the caveat of a risky long-ball ploy that paid dividends with a goal for the luckless Bobby McCaul.
Roscommon gave away five unforced errors against Tyrone, but scored a goal from their own direct ball into Enda Smith. Men travel quickly but the ball always wins.
These two sides believe in a risk-reward approach. Buckle in. The autobahn awaits.
2. Green with envy
Only Kildare, Meath and Mayo rank lower than Monaghan’s 0.75 goals per game tally, which stood at 0.33 prior to the defeat to Mayo. Roscommon’s average of 3.0 meanwhile is the highest of the remaining 16 teams in the hunt for Sam Maguire.
In 2026, Enda Smith is top goalscorer in Ireland, with only David Clifford and Chris Óg Jones matching his tally of six. He will prove a big miss, having missed out on the 26 due to an injury sustained in training.
Darragh Heneghan and Diarmuid Murtagh have registered five majors each however.
More notably still is the fact that The Rossies have hit 27 goals this calendar year, with Westmeath one behind, before a jump down to Cork in third with just 17.
Heneghan’s hot streak has seen him hit his five goals in four championship games, while Murtagh is second top scorer in Ireland in 2026, with his 5-29 behind only David Clifford.
But there are different horses for different courses. The wind in Clones is so often a factor, likely to whisper at the very least towards Roslea. Ironically both of these sides opt to play against the breeze in the first half and use the momentum of two-pointers coming down the stretch.
Monaghan are top in that department in this championship with 19, with Roscommon on 10.
Rory Beggan’s placed ball accuracy went from 42 per cent in the league to 66 per cent in the Ulster Championship, but Roscommon have been brilliant at not fouling around the fringes of the arc.
In 2025, the Scotstown man kicked just 0-1 from a 45 in the King and Moffatt Dr Hyde Park league meeting. In 2026, likewise.
In last year’s Division Two league final however, he punished ill-discipline for a game-changing 0-7, with Davy Burke labelling him ‘the number one player in the new game’ last summer.
3. Shooters shoot?
It was somewhat surprising to read that Enda Smith’s conversion rate in the league was just 44 per cent, perhaps masked by his tally of goals, often created from nothing.
Notably however, his shot taking was more careful than it first seems from range. Just three of his 27 shots in the league came from the left-hand third of the pitch, the perceived weaker side for right footers.
Energy and conviction can be confused with reckless abandon.
So without him, will that alter the approach of Diarmuid Murtagh? The Rossie captain took just 1/22 shots from the left-hand third of the pitch. It seems rather deliberate when compared with Monaghan captain Mícheál Bannigan, whose shot map shows little in the line of pattern.
And while injury doubt Stephen O’Hanlon has earned a reputation as a two-point shooter in 2026, he attempted just one effort outside 40 metres in the entire Ulster Championship, splitting the posts against Armagh at the aforementioned Roslea end.
A quirk in Murtagh’s shooting meanwhile saw him take on almost a fifth of his league shots from between the edge of the D and the inside edge of the 40m arc, an area referred to as the red zone due to the high risk, low reward for a singular point.
Read more:
- Owen Mulligan: Sunny day supporters will find an excuse but the real fans will be there for their counties this weekend
- The Monday Club podcast: Can Tyrone carry momentum into Mayo clash? Or will Red Hand revival fall flat?
- Monaghan v Roscommon: How to watch, TV channel and stream, throw-in time and ticket info as Farney look to rescue season against another Connacht opponent
4. Short kings
Conor Carroll missed the league win over Monaghan, but soon replaced his cousin Aaron Brady once the dust settled on St Brigid’s All-Ireland final defeat, in a manner the likes of star forward Conor Hand has yet to manage.
Against Galway, Carroll struck 10 short kickouts in a row at one point. The pocket to his left is favourable, and his side managed 1-7 in all from the former Oranmore Maree man’s short kickouts.
Galway’s press was pretty abysmal on that occasion, with the benefit of an energetic press proven by Mattie Donnelly’s third Tyrone goal in the Hyde three weeks ago.
Over a quarter of kickouts have gone short in this championship campaign as a whole, with an average success rate of 88 per cent, but an inherent danger of conceding a goal in that remaining 12 per cent.
Interestingly, despite a stellar league campaign, Roscommon fared lower than average on both short and long kickouts, and lower than relegated Monaghan overall, with their shortfall perhaps masked by that goal scoring ability.
5. Getting to grips
If taking kickouts is a balancing act, so too is defending them.
The most common zonal defence seen is a four-four-three press, with four men around the arc, four outside the 45m line, and three bigger frames primed to break the long kickout back toward the middle bank of four.
Monaghan deployed a similar set up in dismantling Shaun Patton’s kickouts in the first half of last year’s All-Ireland quarter-final. Mícheál Bannigan’s goal came off a short kickout gone wrong.
Which makes it all the more interesting how ineffective Monaghan’s zonal press has been in 2026, a turnover rate 7 per cent lower than average on kickouts beyond the 45m line, even factoring in more aggressive presses as seen against Derry when Rory Beggan pushes to the opposition wing half-back channel.
But it’s man-to-man where Monaghan excel, as highlighted by GAA+’s Shane McEntee, with an excellent box off as Armagh attempted to bunch and break in the Ulster final, before Gabriel Bannigan’s charges communicated so as to follow each runner as they came.
Monaghan’s man-to-man turnover rate on short kickouts is over triple the average when using Ulster Championship data, turning over 4/12 such kickouts against Cavan, Derry and Armagh.
Their long kickout turnover rate with the same strategy is also 15 per cent higher than average.
Roscommon will turn to the pace they have from the likes of the Heneghan cousins to counteract this, while Monaghan in turn will hope Stephen O’Hanlon is fit to come short and be brave once Rory Beggan sets the ball down on Clones’ carpet.
