By Michael McMullan

THERE has rarely been a kick of a ball between Cavan and Monaghan and Amy Garland expects the same on Sunday.

Cavan put their unbeaten Division Two record on the line against their rivals, who have recovered since being hit for seven goals in the opening round against Tyrone.

Monaghan were forced to dig deep inside themselves last weekend when they found themselves 13 points adrift in Tipperary.

“The wind played a huge part because, even the second half, Tipp only scored a point,” Garland said of last weekend’s inspirational comeback from trailing 1-11 to 0-1.

“We went out for the second half with the thoughts of kicking a couple of points.

“We chatted about taking the scoreboard down a bit and seeing how far we get with it.

“We had to go out and control the game. We had to get our shooters on the ball and get ourselves in the proper positions for the shots that had to come off.”

It was a valuable point as Monaghan continue their recovery. They ran Donegal close, who shipped their first defeat on Sunday at the hands of Cavan.

Like all the teams, Monaghan used their pre-season to get a handle on the new-look rules and Garland said the Tyrone game was a valuable lesson.

“To come into that first round of the league and to play with the new rules was probably a big thing,” she said.

“We obviously took a lot of learnings from the Tyrone game, which was good.

“We had prepared for it and we fixed up on a couple of our mistakes against Tyrone.”

It’s a busy time for Garland who is currently based in Limerick where she is studying sports and exercise performance psychology.

“I’ve probably missed most of the mid-week trainings, but I’m home for the weekends,” she said.

“Things are very good, preparations have been going since before Christmas and prepared us for these leagues, which is very good.”

Monaghan are on the road this weekend and Cavan are a familiar face. When they met in last year’s All-Ireland group stage in Clones, it went all the way to the dying minutes with the home team prevailing.

“They are probably the team we played most last year,” Garland said. “All through underage, growing up, we have been playing Cavan.

“It’s always been tight enough battles between the two of us. We’re up for the challenge now come Sunday because it is an Ulster derby.”