Allianz National Football League Division Two

Meath 1-15 Monaghan 1-9                           4/2/12

 

Monaghan’s finishing touch let them down in a six-point defeat against Meath in Navan in the first round of the NFL on Saturday evening. Monaghan enjoyed more than enough possession to win the match, but they kicked 16 wides – including 12 in the second half – to allow Meath get off to a winning start, with a Shane McAnarney goal seven minutes from time putting a gloss on the scoreline for Séamus McEnaney’s side. McAnarney was a driving force behind Meath’s victory, along with Stephen Bray, Graham Reilly, Cian Ward and Chris O’Connor, while Darren Hughes, James Turley and Vincent Corey were the pick of the bunch for Monaghan, who weren’t helped by losing Colin Walshe to a recurrence of his hamstring injury within five minutes of the start, even though Ronan McNally acquitted himself well on his NFL debut.

Monaghan opened the scoring through Neil McAdam after Kieran Hughes had won a long ball in from his brother Darren, but Stephen Bray linked up with Cormac McGuinness to get Meath off the mark on five minutes and he quickly added his second point following good work by Chris O’Connor. Monaghan had a sniff of a goal chance in the ninth minute when Kieran Hughes made a good break, but Mark Downey was unable to hold onto his pass and his shot was blocked. Substitute Ronan McNally, James Turley and McAdam combined to set up Vincent Corey for an equalising point, but Séamus Kenny won the break from the resulting kick-out to set up Graham Reilly for his first point. Paul Finlay was uncharacteristically off-target from a scoreable free, but Monaghan did draw level with a good point from Owen Duffy at the end of a move involving Turley, Kieran Hughes and Donal Morgan and goalkeeper Mark Keogh kept them on terms when he saved a shot from Donnacha Tobin, who had been released by Cian Ward. Reilly turned provider for Brian Meade to regain the advantage for the hosts, but the following kick-out from Keogh fell for Downey, who set Turley off on a run which finished with the Scotstown man drilling a low shot to the net, via a deflection off Bryan Menton. Reilly got a point back almost immediately, but Donal Morgan got forward to kick a point for Monaghan after a one-two with Kieran Hughes. Reilly added another point to his account after taking a pass from Paddy Gilsenan and Meath drew level when a quickly-taken sideline kick from McGuinness set up Bray for a point. Cian Ward got on the end of a well-worked move involving Kenny, Reilly and Shane McAnarney to edge Meath ahead, before winning a 13-metre free which Bray tapped over the bar. Duffy replied for Monaghan, who drew level for the fifth time when Darren Hughes booted over a 50-metre free for a foul on Finlay, but a clever pass from Bray created a point for Gilsenan, which sent Meath in at half-time leading by 0-10 to 1-6.

Bray converted a 25-metre free for a foul on sub Joe Sheridan to double Meath’s lead and they pulled further clear when Gilsenan tapped over after good approach play by O’Connor and McAnarney and Sheridan added a well-taken score. Finlay won and scored a 25-metre free to finally open Monaghan’s second-half account after a number of wides, but another succession of missed chances followed before Darren Hughes burst through to kick what should have been an inspirational point. Instead, it was Meath who hit back when Cian Ward landed a point from a narrow angle, before Ciarán Hanratty was crowded out just when the Monaghan sub looked to be heading through on goal. Another replacement, Dermot Malone, combined with Kieran Hughes to set up Finlay for a point which reduced the gap to two points, but instead of Monaghan finding a way through the Meath rearguard, it was the Royal County who made the breakthrough to all but kill the game off. Cian Ward and Stephen Bray were again centrally involved in the move, which finished with McAnarney firing to the net from close range. Meath finished with 14 men after Gilsenan was shown a second yellow card in the dying minutes for a foul on Dessie Mone, but it made no difference at that stage and Bray had the last word when he linked up with Sheridan to kick his sixth point. Monaghan continue their campaign at home to Kildare in Clones next Sunday, while Meath make the short trip to Mullingar to play Westmeath.

Meath: D Gallagher; G O’Brien, B Menton, M Burke; C O’Connor, S McAnarney (1-0), C McGuinness; B Meade (0-1), M Ward; S Kenny (Capt.), G Reilly (0-3), D Tobin; P Gilsenan (0-2), C Ward (0-2), S Bray (0-6, 2f).

Subs: J Sheridan (0-1) for Tobin (H-T), C Lenehan for Kenny (47 mins), T Walsh for M Ward (56), C Gillespie for Meade (60).

Monaghan: M Keogh; D Morgan (0-1), Darren Hughes (Capt., 0-2, 1f), C Walshe; David Hughes, D Mone, V Corey (0-1); O Lennon, J Turley (1-0); M Downey, O Duffy (0-2), N McAdam (0-1); P Finlay (0-2, 1f), K Hughes, C McGuinness.

Subs: R McNally for Walshe (inj., 5), D Malone for David Hughes, S Gollogly for Downey (both H-T), C Hanratty for McGuinness (50), D Clerkin for McAdam (65).

Referee: P Hughes (Armagh).

 

Match Reaction:

Monaghan manager Eamon McEneaney was understandably disappointed by the failure of his team to take the opportunities which should have given them something from the game in Navan: “We created enough chances, for part of the second half we owned the ball around the middle of the field and we held them at bay for long periods and I think if we had got even half of what we missed when we were pushing hard at Meath it would have changed the game”, although he acknowledged that Shane McAnarney’s late goal had “finished the game”.

McEneaney continued: “That (the poor finishing) was the most disappointing aspect. They (Meath) had four shots at the start of the second half and scored four points and then after that we had I think it was 12 shots and we didn’t score at all. You just simply cannot do that and win matches but unfortunately that’s the way it went and it was a real sickener. You can’t kick it over the bar for them and that is something they have to address themselves. Meath were coming out far too easily with the ball as well and I felt that our forwards could have put a lot more pressure on them and that is something else we will have to look at.”

He pinpointed the spells either side of the half-time whistle as pivotal in deciding the outcome of the match: “We had the momentum right up until we got the goal, but then we seemed to sit back instead of pressing them and tackling them further up the field. We let them back into it and they went in a point up when we should have been pushing on after the goal to go further ahead. The really disappointing part of that match, though, was when we has 11 or 12 attacks in a row without scoring.” The Castleblayney man added that no matter how often you practice shooting, replicating the pressure of a match is a different thing.

Speaking about the replacement of the injured Colin Walshe after just five minutes, McEneaney admitted: “He had a problem with his hamstring but we thought it was okay. We tested it and it looked good but he got a twinge in it again in a race for possession so we had to take him off. Having had to make a substitution as early as that, it left us with fewer options when we were chasing the game.”

Looking ahead to this Sunday’s game against Kildare, McEneaney said: “It certainly would be hard to lift them tonight, but tomorrow is another day and we have to realise that this league is a marathon, not a sprint. There are going to be lots of teams beating each other and lots of upsets in this division and by the time it’s all over, there will be very little between a lot of the teams.”

 

His counterpart Séamus McEnaney admitted it had been a “very difficult game … going up against a group of players that I have total respect for and going up against my own county” but he added that his loyalties “lay completely in the Meath dressing room”. The former Monaghan boss admitted that he and his team had taken “a right bit of stick and in some cases rightly so” but added that they “feel we have a much better foundation for this year’s league.” The Corduff native agreed that “you have to be winning your home games” and he said “it was a good competitive match; we are delighted to get the result.” McEnaney took heart from Meath’s work-rate, saying: “I suppose the most pleasing part for me was that the Meath players fronted up to the challenge and for me, when a group of players are playing with pride in their jersey means everything to me.”