Monaghan football is on a high following last Sunday’s Ulster SFC final victory over Donegal and the county’s ladies’ captain Sharon Courtney has noticed the buzz.
Courtney and her team mates hope to follow suit on Sunday by reclaiming the Ulster crown in Clones, the venue for last weekend’s joyous scenes.
Just like it was for their male counterparts, it’s Donegal who will provide the opposition and Courtney, 27, can’t wait to get going.
“Do you know what, more people know about our match because of the men’s match,” she revealed.
“There was a big buzz about the men and there was stuff in the match programme about our game.
“I have noticed more people talking about our match and we’re raring to go.
“You see the buzz it created and a lot of the girls were in Clones last week. We can’t wait to get out – the week ahead of the game is nearly a bit of a drag.”
After they were shocked by Armagh in last year’s provincial decider, Monaghan gained revenge against the same opposition at the semi-final stage.
But the Farney girls have work on their hands against rejuvenated Donegal as they look to regain the Ulster crown.
Donegal steamed past Tyrone in their semi-final and have inside forwards Geraldine McLaughlin and Yvonne McMonagle in red-hot form.
Courtney noted: “They were in Division 1 but struggled and going down (in 2014) helped them because they had something to play for this year.”
Donegal contested a Division 2 final against Armagh and despite losing, McMonagle bagged a hat-trick of goals.
She’s one of a number of players to have returned from stints abroad and Termon’s All-Ireland club success late last year also provided a fillip to the county.
Courtney noted: “That happened at the right time for them.
“They had a really good League campaign too and racked up a good score against Tyrone.
“We saw that first half and they were very well organised before finishing with a high score themselves.
“In the second half they definitely let loose a bit and seem to be in good form.
“Their inside line looks lethal enough. They were very dangerous and their half-forward drop back.
“They have four if not five very good scoring forwards.”
Having contested the All-Ireland final against Cork in 2013, Monaghan suffered Ulster final heartbreak last year before crashing out of the All-Ireland series at the quarter-final stage against Galway.
Courtney admitted: “After last year we were very flat. I can’t really pinpoint why that was but we were. We came back this year and realised that we didn’t become a bad team overnight.
“We did alright through the League, had some good and bad performances but struggled to put a 60-minute game together.
“That was until we came up against Armagh. We knew we had that performance in us but the motivation wasn’t anything to do with last year.
“It was more the fact that we weren’t performing as we could.”
