Ulster remains one of Gaelic football's top prizes

While much was made of the wisdom to hold the draw for the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship before the provincial finals, Monaghan manager Gabriel Bannigan does not feel it has diluted this Sunday's Ulster SFC final against Armagh in Clones. With each of the eight provincial finalists guaranteed a home draw [Monaghan will host Mayo on 30/31 May], it has been argued there is little to be gained by going all-out in pursuit of an Ulster title. Bannigan disagrees with that sentiment, arguing the home draw aspect is simply "a small part of" the motivation to go on a run in Ulster and with Monaghan in their first final since 2021, winning what he describes as "the second best competition in Gaelic football" is motivation alone.

"Winning an Ulster final is still a big prize," the Monaghan manager told BBC Sport NI. "If you look at the [All-Ireland] draw, whether we win or lose [against Armagh] we still have a very tough draw but we'll deal with that after the Ulster final. "The Ulster final is the second biggest prize in Gaelic football in my opinion.

That's no disrespect to the other provinces, but it's same in hurling with the Munster Championship being second to Liam MacCarthy. " Monaghan hopeful on the injury front Bannigan is boosted by the availability of Gary Mohan and Ryan Wylie who are fit for a place on the bench, but this week has come too early for Fionan Carolan who is still recovering from a hamstring injury. Bannigan adopted a "patient" approach to injuries earlier in the year as while Monaghan failed to pick up a point in their Division One league campaign, championship was always the priority.

"We made particular choices and decisions along the way with players like Conor McCarthy who came back from Scotstown in a bad way," he explained. "We could have patched him up and had him for a couple of the league games, but we decided we'd rehab him properly and having him for a sustained championship campaign. "Same with Killian Lavelle and his shoulder, but the advice was he needed surgery so we decided we'd get it right and get him back for championship.