TG4 All-Ireland Senior Ladies' Football Championship Qualifier:
Monaghan v Cavan (Saturday, Kingspan Breffni Park, 5.15pm, live on TG4)
MONAGHAN and Cavan rivalry is renewed once more this summer and in Kingspan Breffni Park again, only, this time, it is the ladies who will do battle.
While the losing men’s team had another shot through the back door, it is a winner-takes-all scenario on Saturday evening – with an All-Ireland quarter-final against Dublin up for grabs.
This is undoubtedly Monaghan’s biggest game of the season, so far. Peter Clarke’s side must bounce back from that disappointing Ulster final performance and defeat to Donegal, meaning Cavan could be on the receiving end of a serious backlash from a wounded animal. They will have had plenty of time to look at what went wrong that day in Clones as a far superior Donegal side won their first ever Ulster Senior Championship title and, as Monaghan captain Sharon Courtney says, they must get back on track again.
“We were very disappointed, not just with the defeat but also the manner of the defeat,” said Courtney.
“I cannot pinpoint what went wrong for us, so many of us underperformed. We knew the way Donegal were going to set up, but we still couldn’t counteract it. Donegal showed more hunger than us and I think that was the telling factor on the day.
“There is no doubt that we were poor against Donegal, but we have no choice but to rectify that against Cavan this weekend. If we fail to progress much further in the All-Ireland competition, then I do believe it would be a step back, but if we go on and win the All-Ireland, then defeat to Donegal will be long forgotten.”
Monaghan will still be favourites to progress to the last eight, but there will be that added pressure, coming from themselves, to ensure there isn't another Championship upset.
Courtney said: “We have not trained all year to finish on back-to-back defeats.
“We know we were poor against Donegal, but we have upped the intensity at training and we are looking to channel that hurt in the right way and be the ones that dictate the intensity against Cavan. Cavan are certainly a team on the up, but I firmly believe that we will pull together a big performance that will give us the win over Cavan.”
This is also Cavan’s biggest game of the season and, while it will be a much stiffer test than their preliminary qualifier round game against Down proved to be, it is one captain Gráinne McGlade feels they can win.
“We have had no fear playing any team this year,” she said.
“We have focused on our own game and that’s what we’ll do against Monaghan. Of course, seeing Donegal beat them at the weekend has given us a belief that we can play to the quality of football that they did, but we are not underestimating Monaghan. They are still one of the best teams in the country.
“We will go at Monaghan with everything we have. We are playing to win because we believe we can. We are in the same position as we were last year, so we have nothing to lose.”
