Bannigan: Monaghan and Cavan always a close encounter

By Shaun Casey

TAKING a stroll down memory lane, Gabriel Bannigan can point to plenty of examples where Monaghan and Cavan ties have gone right down to the wire and he doesn’t expect the record to change much this weekend.

Bannigan grew up on tales of Monaghan and Cavan clashes. Stories of days gone by. When he was old enough, he got to witness and experience them himself.

Even when the Breffni Blues were winning All-Ireland titles, Monaghan often had their measure. When the Farney County were on top, they could always count on Cavan to give them a run for their money. Some things never change.

“Monaghan and Cavan games, there’s never anything in it,” noted the Monaghan manager, now in his second season in charge. “Over the years, in the championship in particular, it’s a point or two either way.

“Monaghan people don’t really like talking about the Cavan golden era when they won five All-Irelands, but I remember my dad telling me that in two or three of those years, Cavan beat Monaghan after a replay.

“So, Monaghan and Cavan games have always been tight. If you go back to the 80s when we had an excellent team under Sean McCague, Cavan knocked us out in ’87 in Breffni Park when Monaghan would have been hot favourites.

“It doesn’t matter, even when one of the teams appear to be stronger than the other, when it comes to championship, all that goes out the window and it’s a 5050 game.”

For Bannigan, Sunday will be a special occasion personally. He’s witnessed plenty of these derby days and has been involved in a few, but this weekend marks his first championship contest after the old enemy as Monaghan manager.

In his very first game as boss, Bannigan’s boys defeated Cavan at Kingspan Breffni Park in the opening round of the 2025 National League. In the first game of 2026, a McKenna Cup encounter, Monaghan gained the upper hand once again at the same venue.

This time around will count for so much more of course. And Bannigan will hope for a hattrick of victories over their near neighbours as he watches on from the sideline at St Tiernach’s Park.

“I’ve managed against them in the league last year and the McKenna Cup this year and now it’s my first time managing against them in the championship,” the Aughnamullan man continued.

“It’s the first time in Clones and I was involved a couple of years ago with Vinny (Corey) when Cavan beat us in Clones (2024) so I know the challenge that Cavan will bring and I’ll be giving that every respect.”

Monaghan surrendered their Division One status in the league, finishing on zero points at the foot of the table, while Cavan just about survived the drop in Division Two and experienced a difficult campaign themselves during Dermot McCabe’s first year in charge.

Bannigan won’t be reading too much into league form and is well aware of the threat that Sunday’s visitors will offer having kept an eye on them all throughout the year. In particular, it’s their forward division and their attacking threats that catch the eye of the Monaghan boss.

“I was very impressed with their performance against Derry in the last round of the league,” he added. “They were very strong around the middle and Derry are strong around the middle. They have a lot of good fielders, and they were very good around the breaking ball as well.

“They have a lot of scoring threats and obviously Paddy Lynch is back now fully fit and Paddy is one of the best forwards in the game. Gearóid McKiernan is back and seems to be in really good shape and he’s having a big impact for them.

“Dara McVeety is probably the heartbeat of the Cavan team. He certainly sets standards wherever they play him and he’s been playing in the forwards at the moment, but we all know he’s an excellent half back as well.

“Cavan have other players too and they have plenty of pace in the team with Oisin Brady, young (Caoimhin) McGovern has a lot of pace, and they have quite an experienced backline as well with Brian O’Connell, Jason McLaughlin and all the Bradys.”

A win this weekend could ignite Monaghan’s season, and that’s exactly what Bannigan is aiming for.

“Winning is important for everybody, and it would certainly lift everybody,” he said.

“It would be a real shot in the arm confidence wise. The fact that it’s Cavan, it makes it even more important because of the rivalry so it would be massive if we can beat Cavan and progress to an Ulster semi-final.”