Preview: Donegal v Monaghan Ulster Hurling Senior Shield Final

THE failure of two teams to field created the clear cut nature of this weekend’s Ulster Senior Hurling Shield final between familiar foes Donegal and Monaghan.

Whoever wins on Sunday at Brewster Park will replace Derry in next year’s Ulster Senior Hurling Championship. The Oak Leaf county failed to field against Down last Sunday and, as a result, forfeited both the fixture and their place at the provincial top table.

Monaghan also reached today’s decider as a result of a walk-over after managerless Tyrone threw the towel in ahead of last weekend’s scheduled Shield semi-final between the two counties. The Farney may have rued that missed opportunity to shake off any rust ahead of today’s tie.

Donegal, for their part, won a tough semi-final contest with near-neighbours Fermanagh. Donegal were physically superior in last Sunday’s encounter and, although Ciarán Corrigan struck two second-half goals for the Erne men, Tír Chonaill stuck it out to win by four on a 3-18 to 3-14 scoreline.

The last meeting between these sides was as recently as May, when they went head-to-head in the quarter-finals of the Nicky Rackard Cup. Donegal won by the margin of a goal in Inniskeen that day, on a scoreline of 4-14 to 3-14.

However, Monaghan may have felt they left something behind in that quarter-final as they cut what was, at one stage, an 11-point Donegal lead down to just two, only to allow the game to slip away from them again.

Fergal Rafter was Monaghan’s star performer at Inniskeen, scoring 11 points, 0-10 of them from placed balls. But ultimately, the contributions of Lee Henderson (1-6) and Kevin Campbell (1-3) were telling for Donegal as they completed their fifth Nicky Rackard win over Monaghan in as many seasons.

Although Ardal McDermott’s team then fell at the Rackard semi-final stage, they acquitted themselves well against a Mayo team who would go on to win the competition, with Danny Cullen’s fine second-half goal leaving the westerners clinging on for dear life in Letterkenny. Ciarán Matthewson and Lee Henderson (0-7) were also impressive on the day and demonstrated Donegal are a dangerous outfit when at full strength, which was far from the case in the early stages of the league.

Monaghan made it to the final of Division 3A in the National Hurling League, although they were easily dismissed by Roscommon in the decider, while they also hammered Fermanagh on their way to that Nicky Rackard quarter-final with Donegal.

Both sides will be playing Division 3A hurling next year, as Donegal lost their relegation play-off to Wicklow, so Monaghan manager Trevor Hilliard will be confident they can put their recent poor record over their northern neighbours to bed at Brewster Park.

To do so, they will need to compete for 70 minutes and not just in patches, as was the case at Inniskeen in May. In addition, they will need to keep the likes of Henderson and Campbell relatively quiet, while hoping Fergal Rafter is in hungry form.

That may be too tall a task this time around for the Farney county as Donegal will be eager to strut their stuff on Ulster’s highest stage this time next year and keep the interest among their undoubtedly talented squad high in the process.

Donegal v Monaghan Ulster GAA Senior Hurling Shield Final starts at 12.30pm at Brewster Park on Sunday 26 June.

Report: Pádraig Ó Meiscill