Westmeath 1-10 Monaghan 0-11:MONAGHAN MAY have been the pacesetters in Division Two from the start of the league but it all came seriously apart for them in this final game as Westmeath came with a late flourish to book their place in the final at the expense of the home teams after a hard-hitting battle in Clones.
Monaghan committed too many unforced errors and conceded too much territory in a game where Westmeath dominated the physical stakes, picking up nine yellow cards as opposed to three to Monaghan's three. Westmeath's Michael Ennis was very fortunate not to have seen red following an incident with Paul Finlay.
Westmeath started brightly and a goal by Denis Glennon put them four points up after 15 minutes. Monaghan rallied and regained control to hit six points without reply between the 19th and 31st minutes to turn that deficit into a two-point lead entering the final five minutes of the opening half.
Dessie Dolan pulled back a point from a free for the visitors but he also picked up an injury that saw him replaced at half-time, a worrying sign for the team management just three weeks before their Leinster championship opener against Longford.
Finlay added a point to give Monaghan a 0-9 to 1-4 interval lead. Vincent Corey extended that lead to three but thereafter Monaghan came under increasing pressure as Martin Flanagan, who had been introduced as a substitute shortly before the break, began to orchestrate matters at midfield for the Lake County.
He also fired over two excellent points as Westmeath hit four unanswered points between the 4th and 26th minutes to go from being three behind to one in front.
A draw would have sufficed to see Monaghan through to the final and when Rory Woods curled over an excellent point on the half-hour they looked to be back on track.
But Flanagan fired over the lead point two minutes from the end and he then combined with Denis Glennon to set up John Smith for the final score that sealed Westmeath's crucial victory and their final place.
WESTMEATH: G Connaughton; F Boyle, K Gavin, J Keane; M Ennis (0-1), D Heavin, D Healy; D Duffy, D O'Donoghue; F Wilson (0-2, one free), D Dolan (0-2, one free), D Harte, A Mangan, D Glennon (1-2, one free), D Bannon. Subs: M Flanagan (0-2) for D Duffy, J Smith (0-1) for D Dolan, David Glennon for D Bannon, M Green for D Glennon.
MONAGHAN: P McBennett; D Mone, JP Mone, D McArdle; D Freeman, D Hughes, P McGuigan; E Lennon, D Clerkin (0-1); C McManus (0-1), P Finlay (0-3, two frees), S Gollogly; R Woods (0-1), V Corey (0-1), T Freeman 0-3 (two frees). Subs: D Morgan for P McGuigan, C Hanratty for C McManus, R Ronaghan for S Gollogly.
Referee: D Fahy (Longford).
