Monaghan manager Gabriel Bannigan lamented his side's sluggish first-half display in defeat to Mayo, but praised their resilience in battling back to put Andy Moran’s side to the pin of their collar in Clones.
The Farney men now find themselves in Tuesday’s last-chance saloon Round 2B draw, where they will be joined by Cavan, Roscommon, Derry, Kerry, Dublin, Meath and Kildare following their All-Ireland Football Championship one-point defeat to Mayo.
Monaghan, who came into the contest on the back of their extra-time Ulster final defeat to Armagh, opted to play against the wind in Clones and by the time referee David Coldrick blew the half-time whistle they found themselves 11 points adrift, with Mayo sending over five two-pointers against a passive Oriel defence.
The introduction of the dynamic Bobby McCaul changed the flow of the game however, with the forward central to a number of spurned goal chances. A creaking Mayo defence simply had no answer to the Aghnamullen man, who had 1-01 to his name before a nasty-looking injury forced him off in the 58th minute.
Stephen Mooney’s late goal had the home supporters dreaming of an unlikely win, but the Green and Red held on to squeeze through by the bare minimum.
For the second outing in a row, Monaghan's second-half rally ultimately fell short, with Bannigan left to rue a sluggish start.
"We were very disappointed at half-time to be 11 points down, but there were two big factors in that," he told RTÉ Sport.
"We actually had more shots than Mayo did in the first half. We had 18, they had 15. Our efficiency was terrible. Our option-taking was poor. They kicked seven two-pointers in the first half and we were shockingly disappointed with that, we stood off them. We shouldn’t have been standing off them.
"We’re after coming off the back of two horrible defeats. It was difficult coming back from the Ulster final defeat, to get them back up for today. I didn’t doubt them. I knew we were going to bring it, but we didn’t bring it in time in the first half.
"We’ll have regrets over the first half."
"I keep saying it, what character we have in this team," Bannigan continued.
Anything that could go wrong, could go wrong. We lost Ryan McAnespie, we lost Bobby McCaul with a bad injury, with him causing havoc in there.
Bobby McCaul's Monaghan cameo sadly came to a premature end due to injury, but this goal in the one-point loss to Mayo summed up the impact he has had on championship 2026. pic.twitter.com/qt8EEow8ao
— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) May 31, 2026
"I’m heartbroken for the boys."
For Moran it was job done after their Connacht humbling at the hands of Roscommon. In all he made eight changes - either personnel or positional - from that sobering defeat five weeks ago.
Central to that was the eye-catching display from his full-forward line.
Darragh Beirne (0-04) was lively throughout, while Ryan O’Donoghue (0-08) left with the player of the match award. The person who most likely pushed him hardest for the award was teenage sensation Kobe McDonald, who lit up the first half with 1-04, and made a vital fetch for the last restart as Monaghan desperately sought possession to force extra-time.
'All I wanted from the lads was a response' – Mayo manager Andy Moran was proud of his team bounced back from their disappointing Connacht exit pic.twitter.com/Wf5aaesXCW
— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) May 31, 2026
Asked where the main energy of the team came from, Moran said: "I thought our full-forward line led it, Ryan, Kobe and Darragh were excellent, showing for ball, getting together and linking up, but we knew Monaghan were going to come back into it.
"We knew they would go against the wind if they won the toss, it’s what they do, lining Jack McCarron up for the last 20 minutes. We knew there would be a flow. Did we think it would be as close? Absolutely not."
