Monaghan manager Bannigan starts 2026 down to the bare bones after loss of 14 players

Retirements, injuries, travel plans and Scotstown's involvement in the All-Ireland club SFC series have all conspired to leave Monaghan looking for bodies

Thu, 18 Dec, 2025 - 06:31

Paul Keane

Monaghan manager Gabriel Bannigan is preparing to start the new season without a whopping 14 players.

Last season's All-Ireland quarter-finalists won the Division 2 league title so will return to the top tier in 2026.

But Bannigan revealed that he's currently without 14 players that he would have considered to be part of his Championship 26 in the season just gone.

Retirements, injuries, travel plans and Scotstown's involvement in the All-Ireland club SFC series have all conspired to leave Monaghan down to the bare bones for their Bank of Ireland Dr McKenna Cup campaign.

Depending on how Scotstown fare next month, and the length of recovery time required by those players, things mightn't get much brighter for Monaghan for several league games.

"Scotstown thoroughly deserved their victory and I was delighted to see a Monaghan team winning an Ulster championship," said Bannigan.

"Some of the older Scotstown lads are ex-Monaghan players at this stage but for a number of those that are current Monaghan players, and some are younger boys who are future Monaghan senior players, they're only going to benefit from the experience.

"So it's going to be good for Monaghan football in the long run. In the short-term, it's going to be challenging for me because I've had the retirements of Kieran Duffy, Darren Hughes and Karl O'Connell.

"Ciaran McNulty has gone travelling and I have three long-term injuries in Killian Lavelle, who is going to miss the entire league, Bobby McCaul, who is going to miss most of the league, and Mick Hammill, who will probably miss the entire league.

"If you take those seven players, and another seven Scotstown players, out of my panel, that's 14 of last year's 26 that I'm starting the season without. That's the challenge. Now tell me that I don't need the McKenna Cup! With all the new players that I need to look at, of course I need the McKenna Cup. I need those games, I need those opportunities, the players need those opportunities. Because we need to unearth some new faces for the season ahead."

On the credit side of the ledger, Monaghan do have Karl Gallagher back after two seasons in the AFL with Adelaide. The Emyvale forward, 23, last featured for Monaghan in 2023 and is a huge option now for Bannigan around the middle third.

"Karl is sharp in training," said Bannigan at the launch of the Bank of Ireland Dr McKenna Cup. "Delighted to have him back, a young player who is in great shape athletically. A little bit of Gaelic football rust, which is understandable, but he'll catch up on that. It's just great to have him back.

"There are other players who I worked with last year who were a bit unlucky not to see more game time. I have a lot of faith in them and I'm looking forward to seeing them get their opportunity in the McKenna Cup and probably the early rounds of the league. Hopefully some of those guys will come through."

Monaghan will host 2024 All-Ireland winners Armagh in their first Division 1 game before testing trips to Roscommon and Dublin. It could be a baptism of fire for a number of young and rookie players.

"I'm missing numbers that I'd rather not be missing," acknowledged Bannigan. "So that makes the task of Division 1 football bigger but that's still where you want to be playing. Hopefully as the league goes on, we'll get stronger. We'll get more of those boys back and we'll become stronger and please God come the summer we'll have a stronger Monaghan group."