Big ask for Monaghan hurlers

By Niall Gartland

THE Monaghan hurlers are already potentially in a spot of bother as they gear up for a difficult assignment away to Donegal this Saturday in Letterkenny.

The Farney are bottom of the table with nothing to show from their first two matches, having lost heavily at the hands of Roscommon and Mayo in recent weeks.

They’ve been conceding heavily at the back – on their first day out they lost out by 4-24 to 2-8 to a rampant Mayo, and they didn’t fare much better against Roscommon, shipping a 4-17 to 0-16 beating despite the best efforts of Niall Arthur up front in particular.

It hasn’t been a good season for Monaghan generally speaking having finished bottom of the table in Division 3A, their sole victory coming against a depleted Armagh side, and that wasn’t enough in the final shake up to avoid relegation.

Last year’s Lory Meagher champions were always going to find it tough back in the Nickey Rackard and so it has proved to date, and there’s very little in their respective form-lines to suggest that they’ll manage to eke out a result against Donegal this weekend.

Donegal have set aside the disappointment of losing a Division 2B semi-final to Tyrone to win their first two matches in the championship and are big favourites to make it a third successive win. Monaghan, to their credit, have been dogged in their matches but have been far too porous at the back and it’s hard to see them turning things around at this relatively late stage of the season.