The Monaghan County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) (Irish: Cumann Luthchleas Gael Coiste Mhuineacháin) or Monaghan GAA is one of the 32 county boards of the GAA in Ireland, and is responsible for Gaelic games in County Monaghan and the Monaghan county football and hurling teams. Separate county boards are responsible for the promotion & development of handball, camogie and ladies' football within the county, as well as having responsibility for their representative county players/teams. The current team sponsor of Monaghan GAA is Activ8 Solar Energies.

Clubs contest the Monaghan Senior Football Championship.

Football was recorded in Inniskeen in 1706 in a poem. Monaghan were prominent in Ulster championship competitions during the period 1914–30 and one of the first Ulster counties to contest an All-Ireland final.

Monaghan beat Kildare in a semi-final to reach the 1930 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final, where Kerry beat them by 3–11 to 0-2 without their goalkeeper touching the ball.

In 1979 the Monaghan team won the Ulster Senior Football Championship for the first time in 41 years with a defeat of Donegal. In the final Monaghan Kieran Finlay scored 1-09, which was a record in an Ulster final for 20 years, until Armagh's Oisin McConville bettered it with a 2-07 tally against Down in 1999. They also won the Dr McKenna Cup in 1979. Victories in the Ceannarus Tournament against Roscommon and Dublin in 1979 brought gloss to the county's finest year on the football field in almost half a century. In the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship 1979 semi-final at Croke Park, Monaghan were again beaten by Kerry, 5–14 to 0-07.

In 1984 the Centenary Cup final was reached following wins over Limerick, Mayo, Offaly (quarter final) and Derry (semi-final after extra time) The Offaly and Derry games were played in Croke Park as was the final against Meath which Monaghan lost by 0–10 to 0-08. Monaghan also won Division 3 of the National Football League that year and lost to Meath in the quarterfinal.

1985 was the county's most successful year to date when a National Football League final victory against Armagh in 1985 created a momentum that peaked in 1985 when future Monaghan manager Eamonn McEneaney kicked one of the most spectacular equalizing points in many years from 48 metres out near the sideline beside the Hogan Stand to draw the All-Ireland semi-final against Kerry on a scoreline of Monaghan 2–09 to Kerry's 1-12. Kerry won the replay on a 2–09 to 0–10 score. That National football league title of 1985 was won by Monaghan on a 1–11 to 0–09 score against pre-match favourites Armagh. The game was effectively settled by an Eamon McEneaney penalty in the first half when referee John Gough from Antrim decided that an Armagh defender had taken too many steps in his own penalty area. Armagh got to within a point in the second half but a flurry of exceptional long range points from Bernie Murray, Eamon McEneaney and Ray McCarron brought the trophy to Monaghan for the first time.

That year's Ulster Senior Football Championship was also a stirring success. An easy first round victory over Donegal in Castleblayney, marked by a spectacular Eamon Murphy goal, followed by a lucky draw against Armagh in the semi-final and one-point victory in the replay saw Monaghan meet Derry in the Ulster Senior Football Championship final. The first day against Armagh, Monaghan relied on pure luck to survive for a draw, as Armagh dominated the game from start to finish, doing everything but score. Paddy Linden saved a penalty, while and Armagh player saw the line barely 30 seconds after coming onto the field as a substitute, following an apparent high tackle on Declan Flanagan. The replay was a better match but a late Armagh goal had Monaghan concerned. However they won by 1–11 to 2-07.