Ulster SFC quarter-final: Monaghan 0-21 Donegal 0-23
It ended in chaos. Monaghan, doughty and willing throughout, thought they had hands on ball for one last effort. Ryan O’Toole stood over a sideline ball with the clock ticking dead and paused slightly, only kicking it after the hooter began to sound. David Coldrick, correctly according to rule, blew for full-time, much to the home side’s indignation.
“Our understanding was that when the hooter went after the ball went out, we had that play,” said Monaghan manager Gabriel Bannigan. “I know if it’s a 45 you definitely get to take the 45 so I thought it was the same with a line ball but I could be wrong on that and if I am ... look whether I am or I whether I amn’t, it’s done now and the game is over.”
When the smoke cleared, Donegal were still standing – and deservedly so. They were far more efficient in front of goal, kicking just four wides all day. Across the expanse of the afternoon, Monaghan missed seven two-point efforts, pulling four wide and dropping three short. Donegal only attempted two and kicked them both.
The visitors were smart too. Rory Beggan was Monaghan’s top scorer in the league but only had a single 45 to show for his day’s work here – Donegal didn’t give him a single free to take inside scoring range. Stephen O’Hanlon was Monaghan’s player of the league but he had a bit of a nightmare, repeatedly getting ushered down the sniper’s alley of Donegal’s zone defence.
So while Monaghan might convince themselves that they were short-changed by the referee, the reality is that Donegal led for all but two of the 70 minutes. Jim McGuinness’s side used the wind to construct a six-point lead at the break, assiduously filling out the profit side of the ledger.
Peadar Mogan, Ciarán Thompson and Michael Langan were all in exceptional shooting form. Michael Murphy oversaw it all like an urgent shopkeeper for whom no job was too small. One minute he was laying on a lovely score for Dara Ó Baoill, the next he was whipping a beauty of his own on the run, soon after he was back in his own defence getting his hands dirty. He played the full 70 minutes here again. He is as vital to them as ever.
Donegal led by 0-14 to 0-8 at the break. There was no question that the wind was worth six points, it just remained to be seen whether Monaghan could gather up the momentum to make it count for more than that. They gave it a right go, with Conor McCarthy, Jack McCarron and the outstanding Dessie Ward swinging over some glorious two-pointers to close the gap. In total, 0-10 of their 0-21 came from two-point scores.
Ultimately though, they never managed to draw level. Much of the credit for that goes to Donegal goalkeeper Shaun Patton. Time and again, as Monaghan squeezed up after scores, Patton pinged his kickouts to find a Donegal team-mate. It meant that the home side only came after Donegal in fits and starts – they were never able to generate that wave of pressure to keep Patton and his defence penned in.
The Donegal bench served it well, with Jamie Brennan popping up with two points and Oisin Gallen a huge threat throughout the second half. They were never truly in trouble, stretching out to a five-point lead in the 66th minute.
And though Ward brought Monaghan back to within shouting distance with his second two-pointer of the day late on, they gave themselves too much to do. A team that misses seven two-pointers has no business landing their woes on a referee. It was a valiant effort and they will be dangerous in the All-Ireland series. But Donegal did a professional job here.
“We knew it was the Ulster Championship, going away from home, playing a team very high in confidence,” said McGuinness afterwards. “From their league performances and also in terms of their capacity to score two pointers – I think maybe half their scores came from that. We knew Monaghan were going to come hard at us. I think every time they did we responded really well. That was the most pleasing thing from our point of view.
“We had some really big performances as well. Shaun got them away at crucial moments, Finbarr [Roarty] had a massive game there at corner back for a young lad, Ciaran Thompson in that role, Michael Langan kicked four points. But we’re moving on in the competition and that’s all that matters.
“You don’t have kick average of 1-25 or 1-26 in the league like Monaghan did and not bring that confidence to the table. They will be very formidable as well for the rest of the championship.”
Monaghan: Rory Beggan (0-0-1, 45); Ryan Wylie, Ryan O’Toole, Dylan Byrne; Kieran Duffy, Dessie Ward (0-2-2), Conor McCarthy (0-1-1); Michael McCarville, Gary Mohan (0-0-1); Stephen O’Hanlon, Micheál Bannigan (0-1-3, 2f), Ciarán McNulty; David Garland, Andrew Woods, Ryan McAnespie (0-0-1). Subs: Jack McCarron (0-1-0) for Garland, 30 mins; Gavin McPhillips for McCarville, 30 mins; Stephen Mooney (0-0-2) for Woods, 53 mins; Joel Wilson for McNulty, 62 mins; Karl O’Connell for Byrne, 65 mins
Donegal: Shaun Patton; Finnbarr Roarty (0-0-1), Brendan McCole, Peadar Mogan (0-0-4); Ryan McHugh, Hugh McFadden, Stephen McMenamin; Michael Langan (0-0-4), Ciaran Thompson (0-1-3, 1m); Daire Ó Baoill (0-0-2), Shane O’Donnell, Ciaran Moore; Patrick McBrearty (0-0-1), Michael Murphy (0-1-1, 1tpf), Conor O’Donnell. Subs: Odhran McFadden-Ferry for McHugh (temp), 30-35 mins; Oisin Gallen (0-0-1) for C O’Donnell, half-time; Jason McGee for McFadden, 47 mins; Jamie Brennan (0-0-2) for McBrearty, 52 mins; Aaron Doherty for Ó Baoill, 52 mins
Referee: David Coldrick (Meath)
