By Shaun Casey

A DERBY-DAY clash with near neighbours Cavan awaits Monaghan in round two of the Lory Meagher Cup this weekend and Farney manager Arthur Hughes says the challenge his side face “will not be simple.”

Cavan were surprising winners when the sides last clashed in the competition back in 2023 but Monaghan had the last laugh, finishing the campaign on the steps of the Hogan Stand as Lory Meagher Cup champions.

Now, after a season in the Nickey Rackard Cup, Monaghan are back in the competition, but Hughes expects Cavan to be favourites this time around.

“We know we have a big task ahead of us on Saturday,” said Hughes.

“They seem to be the in-form team in the competition but we’ll give it a go. They got more points in Division Three than we got in the lower division so the cards will be stacked against us but there’s never really a big pile between us and Cavan any time we play.

“Cavan have beaten us this last couple of times though. Some of those games we would have been going in as favourites and it didn’t work out but we’ll definitely be going in as underdogs on Saturday and the task will not be simple.”

Monaghan made a winning start to the campaign, defeating Leitrim by ten points, with early goals from Emmet Walsh and Rowan McMahon leading the way. Hughes also puts their victory down to the return of some key personnel who missed their Division Four campaign.

“We didn’t have a good league campaign but maybe with a couple of boys back, I’d say the difference between the league game and the championship game (against Leitrim) was that we had Jack Guinan back,” Hughes remarked.

“We had nobody to mark Joe Murray in the league but Jack did a good job on him and just kept that scoring threat down. I suppose we played a bit better and took our goal chances at the start and drove on from there.

“We had Kevin Crawley as well at centre half back, that was his first game of the year, he’d been out injured all year so it was great to have him back. The likes of Declan Hughes and Conal McHugh are probably a wee bit off match fitness yet.”