Lauren Garland aiming to restore Monaghan's fortunes

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 0-06 victory at the expense of Laois in Smithborough in March - a game in which Garland scored two points from right corner-forward - Monaghan safely secured sixth spot in the second tier.

Three of the five teams that finished ahead of them in the spring will be kick-starting their TG4 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship campaigns in the coming weeks and it is in this grade that 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 under way 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.

"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 All-Ireland 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 All-Ireland final."

Before then, however, there is