Monaghan 1-14 Tyrone 0-16:INNISKEEN GOT the game, the weather and the result which the club's enterprise merited yesterday. The host club opened their new grounds to much fanfare and then Monaghan added a sweet grace note in beating Tyrone in a contest which strummed along harmlessly for a while before really getting to rally and hum at the death.
The upshot was a first brace of league points for Monaghan and a nailing onto the ground floor for Tyrone who have no wins in three games and are facing a scrap for their Division One status.
Monaghan had little periods of narcolepsy which suggested the venture would end in disappointment but they kept on coming too, making a fuss in their pesky way before lapsing again. Overall a display befitting a side who came into the game with the best attacking record in the first division. And the worst defensive record.
For Monaghan the final whistle came just at the right time. Mickey Harte was precise in his argument that it came at precisely the wrong time – his players having apparently been told that the game had 30 seconds left just before Dermot Carlin posted the last point of the day and the game ended.
It was a surprising end to a game which promised more grit than drama. From the time three minutes of extra time was announced the game went all helter-skelter producing two points, two dismissals (both Monaghan men) and a series of free kicks which seemed likely to bring Tyrone at least a point.
“Coming toward the end it wasn’t looking good but we still ground out the points to win this game,” said Seamus McEnaney afterwards. “That sort of character doesn’t just happen.”
It doesn’t. And there was something defiant about the sight of Monaghan breaking loose en masse near the end after a period of siege. They had just lost Stephen Gollogly to a second yellow and were about to lose Tomas Freeman to the same fate but they transferred the ball at exhilarating speed the length of the field and finished the move with a point from Rory Woods.
Seamus McEnaney reckons his side need six points to secure Division One football next year. And they need Division One football to ensure their continued development. As such, this campaign has been a balancing act and Monaghan have used eight debutants in the course of three games so far.
Colm Walshe and Colm Greenan got nods yesterday and both did well. Monaghan will be heartened by new options and the emergence of Conor McManus as a forward of outstanding quality.
For Tyrone, the prospect of the drop is worrying but not panic inducing and one sensed summer and the return of a few big guns is what occupies the ever-inscrutable Mickey Harte’s thinking these days. Throw in a Dooher, a Cavanagh an O’Neill and young Kyle Coney and Tyrone are still a side with a serious edge to them. The development of midfielder Aidan Cassidy and forward Eoin McCusker are further reasons to be cheerful.
Having started slowly, Tyrone had seized the game by the throat by the time it entered the second quarter. They led 0-8 to 0-4 with half-time in sight but in the 33rd minute a short kick-out to Conor Gormley backfired. He lost possession to Tomas Freeman who was suddenly scooting towards the Tyrone goal. He rippled the net and Paul Finlay added another free just before the break to leave Monaghan a point ahead.
The second half began with a long series of exchanged frees with Tyrone’s more adventurous approach yielding the balance of opportunities which Martin Penrose and Tommy McGuigan lapped up. Monaghan just couldn’t be shaken off however and a few exceptional kicks from Finlay and McManus kept matters tight.
A fine late score from Eoin McCusker suggested the draw but Monaghan were having none of it. Vincent Corey and Woods added a couple of points to stretch the gap to two again before Tyrone’s Carlin pointed at the death.
“We were up for the fight,” said Seamus McEnaney afterwards.
“We played some decent football. . . . We are hopeful we will grind out four more points somewhere along the road.”
That road brings them to Parnell Park next Saturday night.
MONAGHAN: S Duffy; D McArdle, D Hughes, D Mone; C Walshe, N McAdam, K Hughes; F Caulfield, P Finlay (0-7, six frees), D Clerkin (0-1), S Gollogly, M McElroy; C McManus (0-3 two frees), V Corey (0-1), T Freeman (1-1). Subs: C Greenan for Caulfield (20 mins), M McNally for Greenan (45), R Woods (0-1) for K Hughes (50), D Malone for McElroy (68 mins).
TYRONE: J Curran; D Carlin (0-1), J McMahon, S O’Neill; D Harte, C Gormley, R McMenamin; A Cassidy, K Hughes (0-1); C Kavanagh, B McGuigan, R Mulgrew (0-3); T McGuigan (0-3, two frees), M Penrose (0-5 frees), O Mulligan (0-2). Subs: E McGinley for Hughes (ht). E McCusker (0-1) for Mulgrew (51), C McCullagh for B McGuigan (51).
Referee: M Higgins ( Fermanagh).
