By Shaun Casey

WHILE Saturday’s final league fixture against Longford will have zero bearing on how the Division Four table ends up, Monaghan are still targeting an improved performance as they look towards the championship, says Niall Garland.

The Farney men have been in poor form lately, winning just once in their previous five outings, but getting a win on the board before their Lory Meagher Cup campaign kicks off may help to turn their season around.

While Longford are fourth in the league table, they can’t finish any higher so this weekend’s clash is a dead rubber for them as well.

“It’s definitely a game to try and build momentum leading into the championship,” said Garland looking ahead to the round six clash.

“It’s a chance to try out a few things if we need to but it’s about getting ready for championship.

“That’s not to make light of the fixture, it’s an important fixture and a good competitive game to get.

“We’re definitely still looking forward to it because it is the last chance to tidy things up before the championship and Longford are in the same boat as we are.

“We can’t really afford to not try and win games.

“We need to start developing that habit of winning games rather than going in with the attitude that this game doesn’t make a difference.

“For us, every game should make a difference because we have to turn the tide.

“There’s no medals being handed out this weekend, there’s no league final up for grabs for anyone but I’d say whoever comes out on top on Saturday will definitely feel a lot better about themselves come the first round of the championship.”

On the league overall, Monaghan may not have got the points on the board needed to contest the promotion slots, but Garland says they can still take some positives from their Division Four campaign.

“We’ve let ourselves down as players but we have had a lot of injuries,” added the Castleblayney clubman.

None of the lads are using that as an excuse but we did get the chance to try out some new blood.

“They’ve had to learn some pretty tough lessons and that’s worth more than any amount of training sessions. They’ve gained that experience and they’ve seen firsthand in a competitive environment, how badly mistakes can be punished.

“They also see that when we are motoring well, like the Warwickshire game, that we can play good stuff and when it clicks, it clicks.

“We just haven’t been able to make it click for 70 minutes yet.”