Monaghan 1-13

Down 0-11

Monaghan had to dig deep in the final minutes to fend off Down’s challenge in their Ulster SFC quarter-final clash  yesterday evening in Clones.

Leading by 1-6 to 0-2 at half-time, Monaghan’s  lead was twice whittled down to four points in the closing stages before injury-time efforts from Sean Burns and Padraig McMahon confirmed Monaghan’s place in the last four

Monaghan  started brightly  by opening up a 0-5 to 0-1 lead inside the first 20 minutes thanks to three frees from David Gartland and one each from Michael Bannigan (45) and James Wilson, with Declan Murdock registering Down’s sole reply.

Monaghan extended their lead to seven points in the 23rd minute when Ryan O’Connor set up  Wilson for the only goal. Owen McCabe (Down) and Frank Connolly swapped  scores as Monaghan  took a seven-point advantage into the break with the half time score Monaghan 1-6 Down 0-2. Monaghan goalkeeper Jack Kirk played no small part in keeping that score down with numerous saves in both the 1st and 2nd half.

McCabe was on the mark again after the restart, only for Gartland to reply with two for Monaghan one from play and another from a placed ball to push the winners eight clear, 1-8 to 0-3.

But the Mourne County then rallied with a succession of scores from Liam Kerr, Murdock and Conor McCrickard to close the gap to four, 0-10 to 1-11. Down  suffered a setback when one of their corner backs was red-carded and Monaghan were able to close out the game. They now  meet Donegal in the semi final  but will have to improve after a shaky second half.

Team and Scorers: Jack Kirk, Josh Walsh, Colm Lennon, Owen Quinn, Pádraig  Mc Mahon 0-1, Ryan Mohan, Fergal Hanratty, Conor Leonard, Pádraig Finnan, Ryan O’ Connor, James Wilson 1-1, Aaron Courtney, David Garland 0-8 (6f) Michéal Bannigan 0-1 (1- 45), Frank Connolly 0-1

Subs used -HT Robbie Mc Allister for Aaron Courtney, 56min Fabiaan Beggan for Ryan O Connor, 58min Seán Burns 0- 1  for James Wilson, 63 min Conor Doyle for Josh Walsh(Black Card)