Gabriel Bannigan: Scotstown players’ absence ‘a nice headache’ for Monaghan

Despite the freezing temperatures, a healthy crowd of 2,083 gathered on Saturday for the meeting of south Ulster neighbours and Bannigan says the return of the pre-season competition is a plus, following its absence in 2025.

“I’m on record as a fan of the McKenna Cup as we get competitive games and got a good run-out there tonight with seven debutants from the start and another eight off the bench,” he added.

“It’s great to get minutes into those boys and we acquitted ourselves well in most parts of the game. There are things we wouldn’t be happy with, but that’s the case with every game.

“It’s six months since anyone saw their county play and if it wasn’t so cold, I’d imagine there would be four or five thousand here tonight.

“Even so, it was a good crowd, bit of an atmosphere, better for the players and a good, competitive game of football and good to get the new year off to a winning start.”