Lauren and Farney chasing Garlands!
AFTER recently retaining their Lidl National Football League Division 2 status, Lauren Garland and the Monaghan footballers now have a couple of more targets in their sights for 2024.
Thanks to a 3-18 to 0-6 victory over Laois on March 24 — a game in which Garland scored two points from right corner-forward — Monaghan secured sixth spot in the second-tier.
Three of the five teams that finished ahead of them will be kick-starting their TG4 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship campaigns in the coming weeks and it is in this grade the Farney outfit are hoping to compete in 2025.
Relegated from the Brendan Martin Cup after a 30-year stay in 2022, Monaghan will begin their second attempt at claiming promotion back to the big time when the TG4 All-Ireland Intermediate Football Championship gets underway in early June.
Having watched several of her Donaghmoyne Fontenoys team-mates featuring for the county in the All-Ireland SFC deciders of 2011 and
2013 in Croke Park (both of them ending in narrow defeats to Cork), Garland has aspirations for both a top-flight return and a day out in GAA HQ with Monaghan.
Experience
“I would have gone to a couple of those games, but I also would have had conversations with those girls of how it all felt back then. All they can say is it was a great experience. Getting to Croke Park and AllIreland finals, getting to experience that. They all talk about how they wish they could do it all over again,” Garland said.
“It’s great to hear what they have to say about it. That’s all I want for Monaghan ladies, is to get back there. That is the goal, that is the top goal for us. To be able to say we reached an AllIreland final.”
Before then, however, there is another potential shot at silverware for
Monaghan in the form of the TG4 Ulster Intermediate Football Championship.
Lidl NFL Division 2 finalists Tyrone provide the opposition to Monaghan in a provincial semi-final at Smithborough tomorrow.
And while the Red Hands recorded a 3-12 to 2-8 League victory against the Farney, Garland is looking forward to a return to competitive action.
Level
“The last game we had was Laois and that was probably about four or five weeks ago. Everyone wants to win their provincial title. I don’t think I have at senior level won an Ulster. Even for a couple of girls that are new to the panel, getting one provincial title under your belt is a good way to start the All-Ireland series and that is what we’re planning to do.”
Yet Garland has enjoyed considerable provincial success at club level, winning an Ulster senior title with Donaghmoyne on no fewer than five occasions.
In fact, she experienced a whirlwind introduction to senior football at the age of 15 with the South Monaghan side in 2016.
In addition to winning maiden county and provincial honours, she also appeared as a second half sub when Donaghmoyne claimed their fifth All-Ireland Senior Club Championship crown with a 2-9 to 0-8 showpiece win against Foxrock/Cabinteely at Parnell Park.
“That year seems like so many years ago. It was definitely a whirlwind. I wish I had taken it in a lot more back then. I was very young. I was very new coming into a very experienced panel. Linda Martin and all were in there,” Garland recalled.
“They had retired out of the county before I got to play with them at the county level, but I’m hugely grateful to be able to play with a couple of those players.”