Monaghan senior ladies reached thier first National Football League final in 11 years setting up a repeat of last year’s All Ireland senior final against reigning champions Cork.

This was a superb performance by the Monaghan girls right accross the field and they fully deserved their victory.

It was Monaghan who opened the scoring just after two minutes when Catriona Mc Connell fired over a fine point. Monaghan doubled their lead when Catriona tracked back to the 45 metre line to disposses Dublin. Monaghan moved forward with Ciara Mc Anespie combining with Niamh Kindlon to free Caoimhe Mohan whose shot lingered in the air for some time before finally dropping over the bar. Monaghan were very unlucky not to score a goal when Caoimhe Mohan was through on goal.  Her shot beat Dublin’s keeper Cliodhna O Connor but the post came to the rescue. Dublin went up the field and they too had a real goal opportunity for goal. Sinead Ahern’s shot on goal was excellently saved by Linda Martin, but Sinead followed up and fired over the bar to score Dublin’s first point of the day with 16 mins of the first half gone. Monaghan took over in the final 10 minutes of the half sith 5 unanswered points. The first came when Isobel Kierans found Niamh Kindlon who fired over the bar.Caoimhe Mohan added another soon after. Some excellent play by Monaghan saw Catriona Mc Connell add 2 more, one from a free to put Monaghan 5 points up and the final score of the half once again saw some great forward movement by the Monaghan girls. Great vision from Ciara Mc Anespie found Niamh Kindlon who in turn found Caoimhe Mohan who knocked over the final point of the half to give Monaghan a 6 point lead at the interval

Monaghan made the ideal start to the second half when Isobel Kierans found Ciara Mc Anespie who hit a wonderful pass to Caoimhe Mohan who blasted to the net . Dublin were thrown a lifeline a minute later when Sinead Ahern was brought down in the square with Eugene O Hare sending Grainne Mc Nally to the sin bin for 10 minutes. The resulting penalty taken by Amy ring was well saved by Linda Martin but she blasted the rebound over the bar to register Dublin’s second score of the day.  Gemma Fay was sinned binned soon after for Dublin to even things up. Ciara Mc Anespie added another point for Monaghan with Sinead Goldrick hitting one back for Dublin soon after. Dublin tried to get back into the game but Monaghan’s defence were excellent, leaving it almost impossible for Dublin to break through. Catriona Mc Connell added another point for Monaghan to put Monaghan 1-9 to 0-3 in the lead. Sinead Goldrick pulled another point back for Dublin, but Monaghan were in top gear and with Ciara Mc Anespie’s pass finding Caoimhe Mohan through on goals, goal no 2 for Caoimhe looked certain. However, Caoimhe was taken down in the square. Catriona Mc Connell stepped up to take the penalty and made not mistake in converting to put Monaghan in a commanding lead going into the final few minutes of the game. Dublin did hit back with 3 late points 2 fromAmy Ring the other from Gemma Fay, but it was too late for Dublin and in the end Monaghan ran out very deserving winners.

Final score   Monaghan 2-9   Dublin 0-7

Line Out

Linda Martin, Grainne Mc Nally, Sharon Courtney, Christina Reilly, Laura Mc Eneaney,  Nicola Fahy, Aoife Mc Anespie, Amanda Casey, Isobel Kierans, Therese Mc Nally, Cora Courtney, Ciara Mc Anespie (0-1), Catriona Mc Connell (1-4), Niamh Kindlon (0-1), Caoimhe Mohan  (1-3)

Subs used Eileen Mc Elroy

Cliodhna O Connor, Sinead O Mahony, Sinead Tracey, Grainne O Malley, Gemma Fay (0-1), Siobhan Mc Grath, Fiona Hudson, Sinead Finnegan, Denise Masterson, Amy Ring (0-2), Amy Mc Guinness, Aisling Mc Kenna, Sinead Ahern (0-1), Niamh Mc Evoy, Orlagh Egan

Subs used  Sinead Goldrick (0-2),  Ciara Murphy, Olivia Leonard, Joanne O Sullivan (0-1)

Monaghan now meet Cork in the final which takes place on Saturday 12th May in Parnell Park Dublin 4.45. It has been 11 years since Monaghan have been in a league final, their last appearance against Clare in 1991 in which they lost. They last won the league in 1999 when they defeated Waterford, the venue that year also Parnell Park. This team deserve to be in the league final. And their performance last Sunday is one which the manger Gregory Mc Gonigle must be very happy with. Their performances throughout the league have been good but as Gregory said last weekend this team has so much to give, and they certainly gave it all last Sunday. Linda Martin excelled in goals, taking off a wonderful save in the first half and saving the penalty in the second half. The defence, well sometimes it is hard to put into words what this defence when in form can be like. Last Sunday they excelled. It would be easy to think that because of the scoreline, the defence had an easy day. But nothing could be further from the truth. Dublin try as they might just couldn’t break down Monaghan’s rear guard and they deserve full credit for their excellent performance. The midfield pairing of Isobel Kierans and Amanda Casey worked tirelessly throughout. Up front Gregory felt was an area Monaghan could improve on from previous performances, and he has also to be vrey happy with the movement up front. Cora Courtney and Laura Mc Eneaney must have covered every inch of the pitch on Sunday with Cora deserving particular mention for her trojan work. Caoimhe Mohan made a very welcome return after injury and showed what a threat up front she is, scoring 1-3. Catriona Mc Connell finished top scorer of the day on the total of 1-4, but it was the sellless runs and team work up front that really impressed.

Monaghan need to repeat this performance if they are to gain revenge on Cork but from what we saw last Sunday, we know they have the ability. Let’s just hope now that they can go out and do what we know they are capable off. Well done to all involved.

Monaghan U14 girls showed great composure and fighting spirit when they overcame a strong Donegal side in an absorbing contest in Convoy on Saturday last.

It was Donegal who got out of the blocks the quickest when their no 9  Leanine Boyce operating at full forward fired to the net. She followed up with a point to put them 4 points up. Monaghan responded with a point when a fine move resulted in Emma Clerkin firing over the bar. The sides were soon all square when Eimear Mc Anespie found Saoirse Treanor who found the net. Sarah Capaldi followed up with a point to put Monaghan one up. Donegal responded almost immediately with Leanine Boyce adding another point to level matters up once again. Sarah Capaldi was unlucky not to score a goal when her shot was deflected over the bar and soon after a high lofting shot by Celine Nally dropped into the top left hand corner of the net to give Monaghan a 3 point lead. Celine as on target once again this time with a point to put Monaghan 2-3 to 1-2 ahead with 10 minutes of the first half remaining. Donegal were beginning to come more into the game with thier physical strength causing Monaghan problems. Once again it was their full forward who was causing all sorts of problems. She added her second goal of the day to leave just a point between the sides and soon after she added another goal to put them in the lead. Verity O Connor was unlucky not to get her name on the scoresheet but another point from Sarah Capaldi reduced Donegals lead to just 1 point with 5 minutes of the half remaining. Leanine Boyce      added another goal for Donegal and 2 points from    Mairead Coll and Grace Nolan put Donegal into a 6 point lead. Monaghan looked in trouble as they tried to stem the pressure, and their cause wasn’t helped when Niamh Kierans had to retire through injury. The final 2 minutes of the half saw Monaghan pull themselves back into the game. A fine point from Eimear Mc Anespie and a last minute goal from Orlaith Hamill brought Monaghan right back into the game, with the half time score reading

Whatever was said in the Monaghan dressing rooms at half time definately worked, cause from the start of the second half, the Monaghan girls really got to grips with the game. It was Sarah Capaldi who opened the scoring of the half, converting a free to leave just a point between the sides. Celine Nally who was excellent all day, followed up with a goal to put Monaghan into the lead, and a string of points from the Monaghan girls, 2 from Amy Coyle and another form Sarah Capaldi put Monaghan 5 up. Eimear Mc Anespie was coming more into the game and she added 2 fine points to give Monaghan some breathing space. Amy Coyle added another point and with 15 mins remaining Monaghan were leading 4-12 to 4-1. It was all Monaghan now, and Saoirse Treanor bagged her second goal of the day to give Monaghan a commanding lead 5-12 to 4-4 going into the final quarter of the game. The game looked all but over for the Donegal side but a spell of 5 minutes saw them pull back 5 points, a goal from Niamh Mc Graghan  and 2 points from  Lauren Mc Elwaine and Mairead Coll       respectively. With 10 minutes to go Monaghan led by 6 points. Donegal were starting to excert some real pressure again, but Monaghan dug deep and some excellent defending kept Donegal out.. Celine Nally added another point but Leanine Boyce   responded with another point for Donegal. An excellent save by the Donegal keeper  Sinead Mc Ginnity denied Sarah Capaldi what looked like a certain goal but she did get a point to leave the scoreline going into the final 5 mins 5-14 to 5-7 in favour of Monaghan. T hat was to be the last score of the game as Monaghan defended excellently to hold out for a wwell deserved win.

 Aoife Hamill,  Megan Boylan, Niamh Kierans, Hannah Mc Skeane, Rosemary Courtney, Siobhan Keenan, Shauna Hetherington, Verity O Connor, Celine Nally(2-2) , Orlaith Hamill(1-0), Emma Clerkin(0-1), Eimear Mc Anespie(0-3), Amy Coyle(0-3), Sarah Capaldi(0-5),  Saoirse Treanor(2-0)

Sinead Mc Ginnity, Zoe Mc Glynn, Megan Mc Gee, Aisling Howe, Denise Breslin, , Lauren Mc Elwaine (0-1), Naoimh Mc Graghan(1-0), Lara Sweeney, Lubakan Hassin, Shara Doherty, Erica Wilson, Grace Nolan(0-1), Mairead Coll (0-2), Leanine Boyce (4-3) Alva O Donnell

Just like the senior girls, this was another wonderful performance by this team. They have showed glimpses of what they are capable of in their games to date, but thier performance on Saturday, and in particular in the second half showed what they are really capable of. If they have a repeat of their second half performance again in the final, who knows what might happen. I believe there is still a lot more to come from this team and hopefully the Ulster final will give them another chance to show us just how good they really are.

Their opponents in the final are Tyrone who have showed to date that they are the team to beat. They have beaten all teams convincingly so far. They showed Monaghan a lesson in Emyvale earlier in the league, but we just have to look back to last year and see how our U16s after suffering a heavy defeat to Tyrone in the earlier round of the league, came back to beat them in the final. Hopefully the U14s can do likewise. They are a great bunch of girls, with a lot of potential. We wish them the very best in their Ulster final which is scheduled for Sunday 13th may. More details next week.

Finally on behalf of the county board well done to both teams last weekend.

Monaghan 2-9  Dublin 0-7

Cork 3-10  Meath 0-10

Monaghan 5-14   Donegal 5-7

Monaghan Harps 0-4  Donaghmoyne 1-14

Emyvale 7-8  Corduff 1-3

Truagh 0-7  Aghabog 0-6

Latton w/o Doohamlet

St Brigids 1-4  Seans 4-14

Carrickmacross 2-1  Monaghan Harps 11-4

Inniskeen 8-9  O Neills 5-12

Eire Og  0-8  Killanny 1-1

Latton 6-30  Sean Mc Dermotts 0-1

Magheracloone 9-28   Seans  4-3

O Neills 9-6  Truagh 1-3

 Tyholland  7-18   Killevan 0-0

Doohamlet 7-3  Corduff 5-9

Corduff 5-6  Aughnamullen 4-17

St Brigids 2-2  Tyholland 3-13

Donaghmoyne 6-16  Carrickmacross 0-6

Monaghan Harps 1-1  Scotstown 5-9

Eire Og 0-1  Tyholland 8-11

Latton 6-15  Seans 4-6

Aughnamullen 10-11  Inniskeen 2-0

Killevan 1-4  Doohamlet 4-10

Aghabog 4-10 Magheracloone 5-10

Emyvale B 3-12  Killevan 0-4

Div1
Donaghmoyne v Magheracloone sunday 6th may 3pm
Truagh v Emyvale  friday  4th may 7pm
Aghabog v Harps saturday 5 th may 7pm

Div 2
Doohamlet v o Neill frday 4th may 7pm
Killanny v Sean’s  friday 4th may  7pm
Carrick v st Brigids friday 4th may  7pm
Aughamullen v Latton  saturday 5th may 7pm

 U16s – tonight Thursday 3rd May @ 7pm 

Emyvale V Donaghmoyne

Monaghan Harps V Scotstown

Carrickmacross bye

Inniskeen V  Latton

Eire Og  V  Magheracloone

Sean Mc Dermotts  V  Truagh

Killanny V  O Neills

Aughnamullen V  Killevan

Doohamlet V St Brigids

Tyholland V Aghabog

Carrickmacross V  Monaghan Harps

Scotstown V Emyvale

Truagh V Donaghmoyne

Tyholland V Killanny

Inniskeen V Eire Og

Seans V Aughnamullen

O Neills V Latton

Emyvale B V St Brigids – Tuesday May 8th May

Magharacloone V Corduff

Doohamlet V Aghabog

Killevan bye 

Carrick Ladies Joey Gartlan Memorial Charity football match on Sunday 6th May at 3pm in Emmet Park. Monaghan Ladies of 92/95 against Carrick Ladies in aid of the Solas Unit Oliver Plunkett School for children with Autism. Please come and support this worthy cause.