Monaghan will hold no fear of familiar foe

By Shaun Casey

THE stakes couldn’t be higher for Monaghan and Roscommon as this is the final weekend of the season for one of them. Whoever loses on Saturday afternoon will be packing their bags and waving goodbye to 2026.

Both sides lost by the minimum of margins in the opening round of the All-Ireland series. Monaghan pushed Mayo all the way before falling agonisingly short while Connacht champions Roscommon lost out to Tyrone at King & Moffatt Dr. Hyde Park.

Playing on home turf is the big advantage of being drawn out of the hat first, but St Tiernach’s Park hasn’t exactly been a bearpit for travelling opposition.

In fact, of Monaghan’s last five outings across league and championship, four of them have been in Clones and they’ve only earned one win, against Cavan in the first round of the Ulster Championship.

Gabriel Bannigan’s men lost to Armagh, Mayo and Donegal on home turf (and against Galway in Inniskeen) during a National League campaign that saw them relegated from Division One.

They started their championship campaign with a home win over the Breffni Blues but have since suffered defeats to both Armagh and Mayo in the Ulster final and the first round of the All-Ireland series respectively.

Monaghan have displayed unbelievable courage and fight so far in the championship. They were beat at the gate by Derry but somehow turned things around to win after extra time.

They shouldn’t have got anywhere near Armagh and Mayo but dragged the former to extra time and could have stolen victory the last day out against Andy Moran’s charges.

But how many comebacks have they got left in them? Their ace in the pack Bobby McCaul is gone for the rest of the season having picked up a second ACL injury in a short space of time.

Ryan McAnespie limped off the last day out and his recurring hamstring issues have really hindered him. Stephen O’Hanlon wasn’t fit to make the matchday squad against Mayo and neither were Louis Kelly or Gary Mohan.

Jack McCarron was in from the start against the Westerners, rather than his usual super sub role we’ve become accustomed to. Monaghan may hold him in reserve this time around for a punch off the bench, with Stephen Mooney handed a starting jersey.

But can you write them off? Absolutely not. While Roscommon come into the encounter with the favourites tag hanging from their necks, the Farney men will have zero fear of their opponents.

The pair know each other inside out at this stage have met so regularly in the last number of years. They shared relegation from the top tier in 2024 before returning alongside each other the following season.

2022 was the last time they didn’t compete in the same division, so they’ve met at least once every year since then. And there was the Division Two league decider at Croke Park in 2025, so that’s five meetings in the last four years.

Strangely, Clones has only hosted one of those previous meetings, back in 2023, which Monaghan won by three-points. They’ll hope that’s a good omen ahead of the weekend.

Roscommon do hold the upper hand in terms of recent meetings, having won three of the five, including the latest contest back in February. The Rossies won by six-points that day, at home, 3-16 to 1-16.

And scoring goals has been one of their main traits this year. They netted ten times on their way to collecting the Nestor Cup for the first time since 2019 and bagged another two majors in their recent defeat to Tyrone.

Darragh Heneghan is the man to watch when it comes to goalscoring as he nailed five three-pointers in four championship appearances, including two in the Connacht final.

Diarmuid Murtagh, Daire Cregg, Enda Smith and Robert Heneghan are other forwards that Monaghan will be wary of.

There’s also the influence of the St Brigid’s boys like Ruaidhdrí Fallon, Brian Stack, Conor O’Carroll and Conor Hand, who reached the All-Ireland Club final earlier in the year at the expense of Scotstown.

Ryan O’Toole is the go-to man-marker in the Monaghan ranks and may shadow Darragh Heneghan, with Dylan Byrne and Killian Lavelle attempting to limit the influence of Murtagh and Smith.

When it comes to Monaghan, they’re never gone until the final whistle and Roscommon know they’ll have to play for the full 70 minutes to see off their hosts.

The Farney County will be targeting a fast start and won’t want to rely on their unbelievable resilience to save their season.

The form guide points to a Roscommon victory, but Monaghan will be quietly confident. Despite missing so many key men, they’ll know that if they bring their A game, they can extend their season by at least another week.

Last meeting

2026 NFL Roscommon 3-16 Monaghan 1-16

At the time, this felt like a relegation four-point since both sides have been promoted alongside each other in 2025. As it turned out, Roscommon comfortably held their place in the top tier, winning four of their seven games, while Monaghan fell through the trapdoor with zero points to show for their efforts. Two goals from dangerman Enda Smith, including one from the penalty spot, were ultimately the difference between the teams while Diarmuid Murtagh and Louis Kelly also raise green flags at either end of the field while Micheál Bannigan top scored for the visiting side with 0-5 on the day.

Roscommon: A Brady; P Gavin, C Keogh, N Higgins; O Cregg, R Daly, S Lambe; K Doyle, C Ryan; D Ruane (0-2), E Smith (2-2, 1-0 pen), D Heneghan (0-2); D Murtagh (1-5, 3f), D Cregg (0-4, 2f), Robert Heneghan.

Subs: E Ward for O Cregg, C Heneghan for D Cregg, P Carey (0-1) for R Heneghan, J Duggan for D Heneghan, C Neary for D Ruane.

Monaghan: R Beggan (0-1, 45); D McElearney, D Treanor, R McAnespie (0-1); R O’Toole, D Ward (0-1), T Hughes; K Gallagher, G Mohan (0-1); R Boyle, M Bannigan (0-5, 1tp), S O’Hanlon (0-1); A Casey, A Woods (0-2, 1f), L Kelly 1-1.

Subs: M McCarville for L Kelly, S Mooney (0-1) for R McAnespie, O McGorman for T Hughes, L McDonald for G Mohan, E Walsh (0-2) for A Woods.

Last five meetings

2026 Div 1

Roscommon 3-16 Monaghan 1-16

2025 Div 2 final

Monaghan 1-26 Roscommon 0-19

2025 Div 2

Roscommon 0-24 Monaghan 2-14

2024 Div 1

Roscommon 1-16 Monaghan 0-7

2023 Div 1

Monaghan 0-14 Roscommon 0-11

Season so far

Monaghan

NFL

Monaghan 0-18 Armagh 1-27

Roscommon 3-16 Monaghan 1-16

Dublin 1-18 Monaghan 0-17

Monaghan 2-11 Mayo 2-30

Kerry 1-18 Monaghan 0-7

Monaghan 2-9 Galway 1-20

Monaghan 3-16 Donegal 3-20

USFC

Monaghan 0-27 Cavan 2-14

Derry 3-23 Monaghan 1-30 AET

Monaghan 0-25 Armagh 2-28 AET

All-Ireland

Monaghan 2-20 Mayo 1-24

Roscommon

NFL

Kerry 2-18 Roscommon 1-20

Roscommon 3-16 Monaghan 1-16

Roscommon 3-18 Armagh 0-24

Galway 0-21 Roscommon 2-16

Roscommon 2-7 Dublin 1-21

Roscommon 2-20 Donegal 0-20

Mayo 4-26 Roscommon 2-11

CSFC

New York 1-10 Roscommon 5-22

Mayo 1-18 Roscommon 2-25

Roscommon 3-21 Galway 2-22

All-Ireland

Roscommon 2-18 Tyrone 3-16

Top Scorers

Monaghan

Mícheál Bannigan 1-31 (10f, 1tp)

Stephen O’Hanlon 1-26 (5tp)

Andrew Woods 1-24 (5tp, 2f)

Roscommon

Diarmuid Murtagh 5-57 (16f, 7tp, 6tpf)

Daire Cregg 2-40 (10f, 4tp, 1tpf)

Enda Smith 6-17 (2tp, 1-0pen)