Monaghan face Derry on Sunday to keep alive their Ulster title challenge
Colm Shalvey reports
Ulster SFC Final is the prize on offer as Monaghan take on Derry in Armagh this Sunday. Both teams go into this one on the back of double-digits wins, but while Monaghan’s comfortable path past an out-of-sorts Down was widely predicted in advance, the other side of the draw produced a red-letter day for Derry as they turned over All-Ireland champions Tyrone on their home soil.
Tyrone were far from their best on the day, having lost Brian Kennedy to a straight red card before half-time, but that’s taking nothing away from Derry, who delivered on Rory Gallagher’s gameplan to a tee. The teams managed the same number of attacks (30 each), but Derry were uber-efficient, turning their share of possession into 19 scores. Their free-taking was unerring on the day, as they hit 1-9 from their ten placed kicks, including Shane McGuigan’s penalty.
It has long been flagged that Derry were underperforming at senior level, given their wealth of talent and competitiveness in…
