The first casualty of this year's knock-out football championship was Monaghan.
Their year was cut extremely short on Saturday afternoon with a 2-15 to 1-17 loss to Cavan in the Ulster Senior Football Championship.
The loss in Clones means Séamus McEnaney's side are finished for the year as there is no back door in this condensed season.
McEnaney was disappointed at full-time when speaking to OTB Sports,
"We lost one that we could have and should have won. It's wild disappointing, it's a gut-wrenching defeat for Monaghan.
"We certainly had enough opportunities to win the game. We could have and should have won it.
"We created enough chances to win the game and we left them chances behind us. "
Martin Reilly finds the back of the net for @CavanCoBoardGaa in extra-time of the game! pic.twitter.com/793R61aggc
— The GAA (@officialgaa) October 31, 2020
McEnaney felt that Martin Reilly's goal for Cavan in extra-time was a pivotal moment in the one-point loss.
"We let Cavan into the game, you have to give them credit, they came back and drew level with us in normal-time and then the goal in extra-time was a huge turning point in the game."
McEnaney also felt the sending off of Christopher McGuinness in extra-time for an off-the-ball incident was a crucial moment but he said they couldn't use that as an excuse.
"It certainly didn't help in the end but we still went on ahead and went two points clear in the game and could have pushed for home, but you don't want to be losing players in Championship matches because at this level you're going to be punished.
"It's a gut-wrenching defeat and it'll linger long with us into the winter but the positive is we are in Division One [of the Allianz National Football League] and we need to get back up on the horse when that time comes."
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