Gabriel Bannigan: Monaghan boss makes no excuses for heavy Armagh defeat

Monaghan manager Gabriel Bannigan insists the absence of key players is “not an excuse” for his side’s 1-27 to 0-18 defeat by Armagh on Sunday.

The Monaghan boss remains without the bulk of his Scotstown contingent, aside from Ryan O’Toole who started the Division One match, with Bannigan saying his “hand was forced” to start the defender having lost Ryan Wylie to illness overnight.

The Farneymen are without a host of injured players, including Conor McCarthy, while Davy Garland, Fionan Carolan, Alistair Stewart and Shane Hanratty have all joined the lengthy injury list since last week’s Dr McKenna Cup final defeat by Donegal.

Still, Bannigan refused to use this as a reason for their poor showing, especially in attack during the first half he felt wasn’t “up to the standards of Division One”.

“It’s well documented the amount of men we are missing from last year, but we have to talk about who we have and it’s a steep learning curve,” Bannigan said.

“On the positive side, I thought some of the newer players showed quite well. We had four debutants from the start and three more from the bench – a lot of lads in one go. We had to do that because at the moment we have to go with what we have.

“When it rains, it pours. We were already missing players and lost five more over the last week but that’s not an excuse.

“We had a good enough team on the pitch in that first half and have to play a lot better than what we did, so we have to look in the mirror, take a lot of learnings and move on.”