Gaelic Games

David Mohan
BBC Sport NI journalist at Breffni Park

Image source, Inpho

Scotstown manager David McCague hailed his side's "massive effort" in their All-Ireland club football semi-final loss to St Brigid's and feels there are "lots of positives" to take into 2026.

The Ulster champions played their part in an intriguing battle against the Roscommon side, but could not make the most of their chances when seeking to hunt down the Connacht champions in the closing stages.

Trailing by four at the break, Scotstown had work to do in the second period and they seemed to get a head of steam in the final quarter, but a combination of wides and some fine saves prevented them from closing the gap.

Instead, it was Anthony Cunningham's side who advance into their second All-Ireland final in three years, but McCague was fulsome in his praise of his own team.

"The challenge was laid down at half-time to work our way back into the game and I thought we did that," the Scotstown boss told BBC Sport NI.

"We upped the rate of dispossessions we made and that led to chances but we just left too many of the chances behind and, at this level, that's the disappointing thing.

"Fellas didn't miss them on purpose and they took them on in that moment they thought was right. I trust them and back them 100 percent.

"We got the break of the ball in previous games to get us over the line but we just didn't get that today. It would have helped us to get close to St Brigid's and put a bit of pressure on them, but they are a fantastic team who will give the All-Ireland Club Championship final a serious rattle."

'We'll start building again in a few weeks'

While Scotstown are laden with household names in Monaghan and Ulster football, it took 36 years to return to this point after some near misses on the provincial stage in recent years.

Although they are backboned by inter-county stalwarts including Rory Beggan, Darren Hughes and Jack McCarron, McCague insists the future is bright despite their loss with a number of fresh faces bolstering their squad this year.

Ultimately, it was a disappointing day at Breffni Park for the Monaghan men, but McCague hopes their appearance in the All-Ireland series will give them an added hunger to go further next season.

"We'd be disappointed it took us 36 years to get back to this stage of the competition," he added.

"We got a taste of it this year and we're disappointed we haven't managed to win our semi-final, but we will start to look ahead to next year in a few weeks and start building again.

"Max Maguire, Tommy Mallen, Donnchadh Connolly to name three [of the younger crop who made an impact] - Sean Og McElwain missed out through injury - but there is so much to build on."

Image source, BBC Sport NI

Sunday's Dr McKenna Cup game between Donegal and Derry and the Walsh Cup match between Offaly and Antrim have been postponed due to the icy weather conditions.

In Letterkenny, despite the pitch being deemed as playable, the decision to postpone the match between Donegal and Derry was taken based on the current road conditions.

Offaly and Antrim's Walsh Cup match was due to be played at O'Connor Park in Glenisk but, after heavy snowfall, the game was called off due to a frozen playing surface.

Sunday's All-Ireland Club Football Championship semi-final between St Brigid's and Scotstown is still set to go ahead as planned.

A yellow weather warning for snow and ice is in place in Northern Ireland until noon on Monday with a snow and ice warning for Cavan, Donegal, Monaghan, Louth and the province of Connacht in the Republic of Ireland.

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Cavan manager Dermot McCabe says his side "didn't convert well" during their 0-16 to 0-13 defeat against Monaghan at Breffni Park in their opening Dr McKenna Cup game.

During a tight encounter, Cavan's Ryan Donohue, Paddy Lynch and Darragh Lovett scored to level the game heading into three minutes of additional time.

However, David Garland, Michael Bannigan and Eddie Walsh converted injury-time points to secure the victory for Monaghan against their Ulster rivals.

"We put the pressure on kick-outs and we didn't convert enough to get the win in the end," McCabe told BBC Sport NI.

"We had opportunities and I do think at times we didn't convert well. We had five drop shots which is a lot and you get punished.

"Monaghan are a strong Division One team and we have to tidy up on those things."

Cavan will look to register their first victory of the campaign when they go to Fermanagh on Wednesday, 7 January.

McCabe, who was taking charge of his first competitive game as Cavan boss, added that he was content that his side didn't pick up injuries ahead of that match.

"We had six debutants who made the start and three or four more who came on. Everyone has got through it unscathed," McCabe continued.

"We are only together six or seven weeks so, at this point, we are working on fitness and we haven't done a huge amount of tactical stuff.

"We have more game time into some of the guys who are a little bit more experienced and got debutants on the field."

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Clogher moved through to the All-Ireland Club Junior Football Championship final with a 2-13 to 0-9 win over Kiltimagh in Carrick-on-Shannon.

Ciaran Bogue struck a goal in each half to finish as top-scorer with 2-4, while Ryan McCaughey chipped in with five points including four from play as the Ulster champions took over after an even start.

The Tyrone side will now meet Ballymacelligott in the final at Croke Park on Sunday, 11 January [13:30 GMT] with the Kerry side defeating Grangenolvin in the other semi-final.

It was an even start to this semi-final with Clogher goalkeeper Rory McElroy's 45 cancelled out by Oisín Mulderrig.

The sides traded again in an even start before Ryan McCaughey and McElroy opened a two-point gap for the Tyrone men.

That margin remained in the 23rd minute when Bogue burst through to finish low to the net and after Thomas Keegan hit back with a free for the Mayo men, points from Bogue and Vincent Lowry helped Clogher into a 1-7 to 0-4 advantage at the break.

A point from Kiltimagh's Conor Mallee shortly after the restart hinted at a rally from the Connacht champions, but Ryan McCaughey and Bogue reasserted Clogher's dominance.

Paul Kelly's two-pointer rallied Kiltimagh briefly, but the game was put to bed with 10 minutes to play as Bogue cracked home his second goal with Clogher finishing with a flourish as McCaughey and Conor Shields added scores to seal their side's passage into the final.

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All-Ireland winner Niall Grimley has confirmed he has stepped away from the Armagh panel, but has not ruled out a return to inter-county action in the future.

Grimley was a key member of Armagh's Sam Maguire-winning side in 2024, earning an All-Star nomination after starting and scoring a point in the final victory over Galway.

The 31-year-old, who helped Madden win their first Armagh title in October, spoke about his decision to step back from county duty on an Armagh GAA, external podcast.

"I met the boss man (Kieran McGeeney) a couple of months ago and made the very tough decision to step away," he said.

"It's not a decision that I have taken lightly, a lot of thought has went into it.

"Obviously, I have two kids at the minute, Olivia is coming three [years old] and Kaden's only coming three months, so it's just very busy."

Grimley, who made his senior Armagh debut in 2016, was coy on potentially returning to the Orchard fold in the future.

"I'm just taking time to step away, it could be for three months, could go back next October and give it another rattle, might never go back," he added.

"I know the lads [have been] unbelievable, they're only going one direction. It's been a decision I've had to make for myself. I've been on the road 10 years, the past couple of years haven't been easy with injury.

"I've two kids now, a lot going on, tough, tough decision. I'd do anything for the Armagh lads, some of them are the best friends in the world, Joe McElroy is as close to me as my brothers.

"It was a tough decision, but it is a decision that I am happy with and one that is right for me and my family right now."

Image source, Getty Images

Former Republic of Ireland international Eunan O'Kane has been appointed manager of Derry GAA club Banagher ahead of the 2026 season.

O'Kane, 35, was previously involved with Banagher during Paul Bradley's time in charge and was also part of the coaching set-up of the Moneyglass side that reached this month's All-Ireland Ladies Club final alongside his father Charlie and Maxi Curran.

A Banagher native, O'Kane represented Northern Ireland at underage level before switching to the Republic of Ireland.

He earned seven caps for the Republic of Ireland but narrowly missed out on selection for Euro 2016.

O'Kane played in the Premier League for Bournemouth, while he also had spells with Torquay, Leeds and Luton before injury issues forced his retirement in 2021.

Banagher have never won a senior Derry title and were knocked out of the 2025 championship by Glen.

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Scotstown goalkeeper Rory Beggan said "you can't pay a man enough" to match the feeling of ending his club's Ulster championship drought.

Beggan, who won inter-county provincial titles with Monaghan in 2013 and 2015, kicked 11 points at the Athletic Grounds on Saturday as his side outlasted Kilcoo in an extra-time thriller.

The 33-year-old briefly pursued a career in American football through the NFL's International Player Pathway last year, but there was nowhere he would rather have been than Armagh as Scotstown claimed their first Ulster title since 1989.

"You can't pay a man enough to be in these shoes," he said.

"Unbelievable. This is so much for this club."

Scotstown had led by five points at half-time and extended their advantage out to eight after the restart. Kilcoo, however, sent the game to extra time with the penultimate kick of normal time.

Despite that setback, and the weight of history, Beggan always felt convinced his side would be victorious.

"We weren't being beaten," he said.

"I just knew it the last two weeks, I knew it after the Newbridge [semi-final], what it meant to this group.

"We've been through the ringer with this competition, but the rewards will come, you just have to be patient.

"It's been too long, 36 years is too long for the club to not be winning this competition."