Gabriel Bannigan: The Monaghan boss is making no excuses for Armagh’s heavy defeat

Monaghan coach Gabriel Bannigan insists the absence of key players is “no excuse” for his side’s 1-27 to 0-18 defeat to Armagh on Sunday.

The Monaghan coach remains without the bulk of his Scotstown squad, with the exception of Ryan O’Toole who started the Division One clash, with Bannigan saying he was “forced to have his hand” in starting the defender after losing Ryan Willie to illness overnight.

The Farneymen are without a host of injured players, including Conor McCarthy, while Davy Garland, Fionan Carolan, Alistair Stewart and Shane Hanratty have joined a long injury list since last week’s Dr McKenna Cup defeat to Donegal.

However, Bannigan refused to use this as a reason for their poor performance, particularly in attack during the first half which he felt was “not up to Division One standard”.

“The number of men missing from last year has been well documented, but we have to talk about who we have and it’s a steep learning curve,” Bannigan said.

“On the positive side, I think some of the new players showed very well. We had four debutants from the start and three more on the bench – a lot of players in one go. We had to do that because at the moment we have to make do with what we have.

“When it rains, it pours. We’ve already been missing players and lost five more over the past week, but that’s no excuse.

“We had a good enough team on the pitch in the first half and we have to play much better than we did, so we have to look in the mirror, learn a lot and move on.”