By Michael McMullan

MONAGHAN face a second trip to Clare this season for Sunday’s All-Ireland Ladies SFC quarter-final.

A shock one-point defeat to Wicklow saw them miss out on top spot and home advantage but it has sharpened the focus.

“I don’t think any of us really expected it after having such a good game against Cavan,” said Monaghan’s Éabha Sherry of the contrast from beating their Ulster neighbours

It was a tight game in Baltinglass with Monaghan missing chances to salvage a result.

There are elements to learn from as they step into the knock-out stages this weekend.

“I’d say we’ll definitely look back at the game and pick where we need to improve,” Sherry said.

“There was definitely a lot of things that needed working on. Then again, we need to look at the positive sides of it. Going into an All-Ireland quarter-final, there’s no point in dwelling too much on the bad of the Wicklow game.”

Monaghan finished mid-table in Division Two of the league, with Galway and Cork the top two by a distance. Galway had an impressive score difference from their seven games.

“We had a really good game against Cork and we were unlucky that day,” Sherry said of a 1-9 to 1-3 defeat in blustering conditions.

“Galway were a very strong side but it was the standard that we needed to be at and we just weren’t at it that day.

“The rest of the games were extremely tight. Our first game out against Roscommon was a tight game.

“Even though Cork beat us by six points, I definitely thought that was a tight game.

“We had a very good performance down in Clare against them which was massive to us.”

Monaghan were one-point winners against Tipperary with the last kick of the ball.

“We definitely had tight games throughout the year,” Sherry added. “I definitely think we should look at the positives as well as the negatives to push on against Clare.”

It’s Sherry’s second season on the Monaghan senior panel, coming in with a core of her minor team from the underage ranks for manager Darren Greenan.

This year it’s Darren Swift who has taken over as manager after a successful run with Emyvale.

“I’m really enjoying it, all of the girls, we get along so well,” Sherry said of the camp.

“I’d be coming up from college in Maynooth to trainings and it’s worth it. There are tough training sessions but everyone’s coming out feeling good after it.

“There might be five or six of us that came up from the same minor team.

“We had a really, really good side and were unfortunate there two years ago when we lost to Galway in the All-Ireland semi.”

Now, they’ve bedded into senior football and will be hoping to give the All-Ireland title a crack. Sunday will tell a story.

“It’s a massive game,” Sherry said. “I know we’ve played them before but you can’t really bank on that.

“They might have changes to their panel; we’ve changed to our panel so you just never know. It’s all really on the day.”