Changing of goalkeeping guard as Ulster foes collide

When Monaghan and Cavan take the Clones turf on Sunday (live on RTÉ2 from 3.15pm) for their latest Ulster joust, it is expected that Darren McDonnell and Gary O'Rourke will be the respective shot-stoppers - barring a late call from the Oriel County.

The pair have been filling significant voids in the early stages of the year. Clontibret's McDonnell was the main man for the Farney’s league campaign that ended in relegation while O’Rourke only missed the Division 3 opener.

Yet it is their respective predecessors that loom large in this fixture.

Raymond Galligan has moved from endline to sideline as he embarks on his first championship as an inter-county manager, 10 months after his final outing between the sticks for the Breffni men.

Rory Beggan will be on the sideline too, after being named on the bench as he waits to hear whether his NFL dream will become a reality. It seems a longshot he will be parachuted straight back into the team, notwithstanding his all-encompassing role as long-range shooting sweeper-keeper, but his inclusion in the squad keeps that option open.

With the RTÉ cameras rolling into town for the first televised match of the championship, viewers may need a little adjusting to the sight of both teams operating without such influential and conspicuous presences in goals.

Five years older than Beggan, Galligan had a more circuitous route to his role between the inter-county posts.

A highly-regarded forward for Lacken, it was during the Tommy Murphy Cup in 2006 that Galligan made his Cavan debut as an attacker. The early years were about getting in, making an impression.

In 2010 he did that in spades with a virtuoso league performance against Roscommon.

Galligan torched the home defence at the Hyde, picking off 10