'The cards fell right for us' - Bannigan savours Monaghan win amid calendar crunch

FAMILY AFFAIR: Monaghan Monaghan’s Micheal Bannigan and manager Gabriel Bannigan celebrate with the trophy. Pic: INPHO/Ryan Byrne

Gabriel Bannigan said the 'cards fell right' for Monaghan who were able to give their full focus to claiming the NFL Division 2 title.

Of the four teams in this evening's two national finals, in Division 2 and 4, Monaghan were the only team who won't have a Championship opener next weekend.

In fact, Bannigan's side won't start their provincial campaign until April 20 when they meet the winners of the Derry/Donegal blockbuster.

Bannigan said it allowed them to be fully tuned in and they looked like a side with their eyes on the prize as they outscored Roscommon by 1-6 to 0-1 in the last 13 minutes to win by 10 points.

"Without a doubt the cards fell right for us in that regard," said Bannigan of the fixtures situation. "We have three weeks until we play Donegal or Derry. Whatever about it being a help, we certainly didn't have any distraction.

"We were able to come here and to let the lads go for it. The other teams...listen, there is no doubt I wouldn't want to be going out and playing Championship next weekend.

"I think that is something that the powers that be need to look at. I think that there should be at least a two-week gap between the league finals and your first game in the Championship."

Asked if there is enough room in the calendar to accommodate that, Bannigan insisted there is.

"Of course there is, start the National League a week earlier, or go a week or two later," he said. "What's a week or two? It's no big deal. The league is such a good competition. The competitiveness of the league in all four divisions, it's such a good competition. I'd definitely be in favour of keeping the finals. But make sure there's a couple of weeks after them. It doesn't have to be three or four, two would do."

Bannigan said it was a significant national success for Monaghan who last claimed silverware in 2015, winning the Ulster championship.

"There's not that many national titles that Monaghan have won over the years, it's great to get our first silverware in 10 or 11 years," he said. "It's great to get a cup and bring it back down the road, that will help our players.

"You're saying our players are used to playing in Division 1, and a number of them are, but we have a number of new players in there this year. Dylan Byrne is new into the panel and has played every minute of every game. Aaron Carey made his debut tonight. What a debut and what a place to make it, in Croke Park. He's another out of last year's U-20 team so we have young lads there as well that have never played in Croke Park before so it's great to give them that experience and I thought they acquitted themselves really well."

Losing Roscommon manager Davy Burke said his team were keen to win, despite the proximity to their Championship opener.

"You saw the team we picked," he said, referencing their strong lineup. "We came up here to win the game, picked a team that we thought was strong enough but fair play to Monaghan - they got 12 points from two-pointers, fair play to them."

But Burke also acknowledged it was a distraction knowing that the Championship is on the horizon.

"It is probably difficult for the players and ourselves to juggle with such a big game coming next Saturday, and obviously in a different country and all that type of stuff," said Burke. "The performance for a long time was positive but obviously the result wasn't overly positive. But we got out without too many knocks."