FORM…Kevin Cassidy says Michael Murphy is the key man against Monaghan

Neither game was a classic by any stretch of the imagination, but with Galway dethroning Mayo in the West and Cavan pushing Tyrone to the pin of their collar in Ulster it was a good weekend for the neutrals.

I’ve read and heard a lot over the last few days on both games but I feel people are getting slightly carried away.

The notion that Tyrone struggled under the high ball tactic adopted by Cavan last Sunday made me chuckle. Take the two flukey goals Cavan netted out of the equation and a poor Tyrone team on the day would have won with ease.

Cavan placed full faith in the long ball tactic but when it didn’t pay off they didn’t seem to have a Plan B. This would worry me as they wont sting Tyrone for a couple of goals the next day so they are going to have to be more creative in attack.

Tyrone were poor when you compare to how they have been playing so far this year. Although Lady Luck played a part in two of the Cavan goals, those type of calamities are normally a rarity in the Tyrone defence and I’m sure addressing that will be Mickey’s number one priority before the replay.

Galway produced a spirited display to send Mayo packing on Saturday evening and although Mayo were poor, I don’t buy into the notion that they are finished.

We must not forget that Tony McEntee is an integral part of Stephen Rochford’s backroom team and I have no doubt Tony has had an input into the team’s training plan for the season.

Mayo usually blitz their way through Connaught only to come unstuck when it matters most. Tony would have made the point that it is of the highest importance that they peak at the right time and if that means releasing their grip on the Nestor Cup for greater heights in the summer, I’d say that they will gladly take that so watch this space.

This weekend sees the clash of old foes Donegal and Monaghan. We have been accustomed to watching these two teams go to war in Ulster over the last number of years and with no love lost between the two of them, it should make for a cracker.

The big question seems to be who will mark Conor McManus in the absence of Neil McGee. From what I hear Donegal have appealed Neil’s red card on some sort of technicality but as I pen this they are currently planning without him.

With Neil out there are only really two people that Donegal can put on Conor and that is Karl Lacey or Eamon McGee, and personally I don’t feel that either of their style of marking is suited to marking McManus so Donegal might need to double team him.

With all of the attention surrounding who will mark McManus, it could be easy to forget about the other two men who make this Monaghan team tick and that is the Hughes brothers.

Eamon McGee would normally pick up Kieran Hughes so if he were to move onto McManus it could turn out to be a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul because if Kieran Hughes gets time and space he is capable of doing serious damage.

From a Donegal point of view their is no doubt that they will need a huge lift in their performance levels from the Fermanagh game if they are to put it up to this Monaghan team.

Donegal will need a massive game from Michael Murphy to pull them through, with the likes of Neil Gallagher and Colm McFadden seeing less game time this year it means that even more pressure is placed on Michael’s shoulders.

The problem is that Donegal need a Micheal Murphy at full-forward and at midfield and when he is not in one of those areas that area tends to struggle.

Monaghan will enter the game as slight favourites but this game really could go either way. Both teams will be eager to avoid the backdoor considering the likes of Mayo and Cork are lingering in there so that adds a little extra pressure in itself because whichever team is beaten they will have a long hard road back to the top.

Having weighed up all angles I just feel that Monaghan will have a little too much in the tank this weekend but if Murphy catches fire that could easily change.
comment@gaeliclife.com