After taking five points from games against Tyrone, Dublin and Mayo, Anthony Moyles argued that Monaghan's defeat to Donegal this weekend highlighted a potential flaw that may be similarly exploited as the year progresses on Monday's OTB AM. 

In the aftermath of Monaghan's first four National Football League games, life back under Seamus McEnaney appeared to be going quite nicely for the Ulster county.

A narrow defeat to a table-topping Galway on the opening weekend preceded wins against Tyrone and Mayo; these results coming either side of what should have been a win - but ultimately ended as a draw - against Dublin in Croke Park.

Beaten convincingly by Donegal on Sunday afternoon, Anthony Moyles believes there is reason to be worried about how far Monaghan can truly go, however.

"Monaghan are a very one-trick team," he expressed on Monday's OTB AM. "They showed it against Dublin.

"They have this all-out counter-attacking style where the full-back and corner-backs all try to go beyond the opposition's defence and get in behind you.

"But it is a very high-energy, high-octane game and when you're up on Donegal on a bog of a pitch, coming against a blanket like Donegal's, it is wickedly tough."

1 March 2020; Ryan McAnespie of Monaghan in action against Ryan McHugh and Michael Murphy of Donegal during the Allianz Football League Division 1 Round 5 match between Donegal and Monaghan at Fr. Tierney Park in Ballyshannon, Donegal. Photo by Oliver McVeigh/Sportsfile

Theoretically, the stormy conditions found in Ballyshannon over the weekend aren't likely to be replicated in the summer months. Yet, Moyles isn't convinced that Monaghan are stylistically capable of overcoming a team as organised as Donegal.

"They really struggled," he explained with regard to the difficulty with which McEnaney's side gathered scores. "It was a worry for Monaghan."

"There was a lot of talk about [Conor] McCarthy coming into this game but he was really played out of it. I think he got one score.

"So, you're wondering who is going to get the scores for them if they come up against a similar sort of system again.

"If you play a running game against them and have it very open, yes, they're going to get plenty of scores. But I think that if you just retreat and go, 'Ok, try and run through us. We're going to do what you want to do to us to you.'

"Donegal are the masters of that."

Excellent goal by Hugh McFadden for @officialdonegal pic.twitter.com/TR9SPapvkk

— The GAA (@officialgaa) March 1, 2020

One stand-out moment of the game whereby Donegal took advantage of Monaghan's high-press was Hugh McFadden's second-half goal.

The final recipient of a move that saw Donegal's 'keeper Shaun Patton launch a monster kick into an area that deceived his opposite number, Rory Beggan's decision to leave his position in the Monaghan goal cost his side on his occasion.

You can watch back Anthony Moyles' full assessment of the weekend's GAA action here. 

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