Monaghan master St Mary’s challenge

Monaghan 1-16, St Mary’s College 0-8.

St Mary’s College, Belfast defeated Fermanagh last Wednesday night in Enniskillen. Bt this time out the student teachers were brought back down to earth with something of a bump when a stronger, more focused Monaghan proved the masters in this entertaining if never spectacular contest that was played in very wintry conditions in Clones yesterday.

Monaghan were never headed in the entire gamet, getting off to a good start with four points on the board before St Mary’s opened their account in the 15th minute.

Monaghan went on to lead at half time by 0-9 to 0-3 and could perhaps have been a little further ahead but for some poor shot selection at times.

By the end of the third quarter Monaghan had extended their lead to nine points with Jack McCarron then striking for the only goal of the game in the 53rd minute to effectively seal the issue at that stage.

Conditions were deteriorating further and St Mary’s legs tired visibly although to their credit they battled gamely to the finish but the couple of late scores they got only served to put a little more respectability on the final score line.

MONAGHAN: G McCaffrey, F Kelly, K Duffy 0-1, R Wylie, K O'Connell 0-1, D Mone, C Galligan, G Doogan, P Finlay 0-2, P Keenan, J McCarron 1-4 (0-1f), T Kerr 0-3 (1f), C McGuinness 0-1, S Smyth 0-1, P Donaghy 0-1. Subs: S Gollogly 0-1 for C McGuinness, D Clerkin 0-1 for P Finlay, C Boyle for G Doogan, D Malone for K Duffy (BC), S Carey for J McCarron, P Finlay for S Carey (BC).

ST MARY'S COLLEGE: D McAnenly, D Morrow, N Donnelly, M Murray, C McMahon, R Loughran, C McCann, B Hasson 0-1, K McKernan, R O'Callaghan, A Forker, R Johnston 0-1, B O'Hagan, P Carragher, T Canavan 0-3 (2f). Subs: R Sexton 0-2 (1f) for A Forker, J Duffy for C McCann, A McGarrity 0-1 for R Johnston (BC), S Mullan for D Morrow, E Magee for C McMahon, T McCaffrey for B O'Hagan.

Referee: J McQuillan (Cavan).