Monaghan 2-18 London 1-9: Monaghan recovered from their disappointing defeat by Derry in the Ulster championship to record a comfortable and convincing win over London in what was at times a fairly one-sided affair in Clones.

"It was important for us to win this game," said manager Séamus McEnaney. "And we were in a no-win situation but we had to buckle down and work hard. This London team ran Roscommon close and they would have taken heart from that.

"The big thing for me was we showed character, we fell behind a couple of times early on but the boys always responded and we had a little more in the tank."

Monaghan dominated from the start but were matched for a time in the opening 20 minutes at the end of which the sides were level at 0-6 to 1-3, London's goal coming in the 12th minute from Pat Quirke.

With James McElroy giving an exhibition of high fielding Monaghan upped the tempo in the second quarter to hit two goals and four points without reply to lead at half-time by 10 points, 2-10 to 1-3, and create the platform for victory. Hugh McElroy got the first goal in the 24th minute after excellent work by Tom Freeman and Stephen Gollogly rammed in the second in the 26th minute to send London reeling at that stage.

MONAGHAN: S Duffy; D McArdle, J Coyle, C Flanagan; D Freeman, V Corey, G McQuaid; D Clerkin (0-1), E Lennon; J McElroy, P Finlay (0-6), S McManus; T Freeman (0-3), H McElroy (1-8), S Gollogly (1-0). Subs: R Ronaghan for J McElroy, F Doogan for E Lennon, N Corrigan for S McManus, B O'Brien for H McElroy.

LONDON: P O'Dowd; P Callaghan, D McKenna, J Rafter (0-1); J Niblock (capt), John McKevitt, Paddy McConigley; Senan Hehir 0-1, Eamonn Brennan 0-1; Barry Solen 0-2, Paul Hehir 0-2, Paddy Quinn 0-2; Colm Fooday, Shane McInerney, Pat Quirke 1-0. Subs: V O'Sullivan for P Callaghan, F Cunningham for P Quirke, Dany O'Connor for B Solan.

Referee: C Reilly (Meath).