Monaghan ravaged by personnel shortage
Galway edged closer to securing their status as an Allianz Football League Division 1 side, while Monaghan plummeted through the trapdoor after a 1-20 to 2-09 win for the Tribesmen at Grattan Park on Sunday.
The Oriel County never looked like avoiding a sixth successive top-tier defeat, with manager Gabriel Bannigan lamenting their first-half display, and admitting that facing the prospect of life in Division 3 would have been a real possibility if they had played in Division 2 this season.
The visitors led by 1-05 to 0-04 at the interval and were in control throughout, with the concession of two late goals primarily due to their own complacency in defence.
Speaking to RTÉ Sport after the game, Bannigan said: "The last two weeks in training it's been excellent. I don't know how we were so flat, lacking energy, lacking work rate and making so many errors.
"Our first-half performance was our worst first half of the league to date, which is very disappointing considering we had a few men back today.
"I was expecting an awful lot better. We got them in at half-time and we certainly produced a hell of a lot better performance in the second half.
"A couple of key decisions went against us at a crucial stage and Galway got two two-pointers in a row, and there was no pulling them back then.
"We lost the game by eight points but we were four down at half-time having played with a strong breeze. Losing the second half by four points was actually a very good performance."
For many years, Monaghan have arguably been the poster boys for all those counties who aspire to be greater than the sum of their parts. However, their comparatively small pool of playing talent has suffered major personnel issues this season, with results reflecting a difficult predicament for their manager.
"The reality is Division 1 was too high a step up for us, considering 20 players who played for us last year in Division 2 last year we didn't have for most of this league campaign," Bannigan admitted.
"Some won't be coming back. There are a couple of boys who went travelling, we've had three retirements, and a few left the panel.
"We've been missing 10, 11, or 12 of our top 20 for most of the league games. You just can't manage on that in Division 1.
"We've given 16 debuts in six games and there is a serious level of turnover and transition.
"Thank God we were in Division 1. If we were in Division 2, with all the issues we've had this year, we could be heading for relegation to Division 3."
The charms of Inniskeen were lost on opposite number Pádraic Joyce, who said of his own team's display: "We're delighted to get two points and to get out of here.
"Overall, we wouldn't be overly happy with the performance.
"I think we were a bit sloppy. We conceded two softish goals at the end, but any time you get two points on the road in Division 1, it's quite good."
