Electric Ireland Ulster Minor Football Championship Semi-Final

Monaghan  2-11 Cavan 1-12                        29/6/13

 

Monaghan qualified for their second consecutive Ulster MFC Final when they held off a strong late challenge from Cavan in Saturday’s semi-final in Clones. Monaghan recovered from a slow start to deservedly lead by six points at half-time, helped by goals from Ryan McAnespie and Conor McCarthy, but Cavan rallied in the second half, leaving Monaghan holding on in the closing stages. Monaghan had McCarthy, McAnespie, Fearghal McMahon, Kevin Loughran and Dessie Ward to thank for their victory, while Conor Bradley, Ben Kiernan and substitutes Liam Galligan and Greg McGovern led the Cavan comeback.

Cavan started brightly, with Tom Hayes setting up Harry O’Neill to kick a point within half a minute. O’Neill turned provider for Conor Bradley to double their lead, before Ryan Connolly tapped over a 20-metre free for a foul on Hayes, but Fearghal McMahon won and scored a free to get Monaghan up and running. Connolly replied after a high ball from Pierce Smith broke into his path, but Monaghan replied through Conor McCarthy, who had raced onto a David McAlister free. Monaghan edged ahead for the first time when McCarthy did well to win an O’Dowd pass and lay it off for Ryan McAnespie to cut through and fire home a superb goal, although Ben Kiernan replied with a brace of points, one from a free after a foul on David Brady.

Points by Adam Treanor and Fearghal McMahon kept Monaghan in charge and they also had a penalty appeal turned down when McCarthy appeared to be fouled. An interception by the hard-working Dessie Ward started a counter-attack which ended with Michael O’Dowd linking up with Adam Treanor to split the posts. Hayes kicked a good score for Cavan, but McCarthy replied with a fine score after a pass from McMahon. Niall Clerkin brought Cavan within four after a strong run by Kiernan, but 30-metre frees by McAlister and McMahon, after fouls on O’Dowd and McAnespie, moved Monaghan 2-8 to 0-8 ahead by half-time.

McAlister got the first point from a 30-metre free after a foul on McCarthy, before McMahon linked up with McCarthy to open up an eight-point gap. Darragh Gannon linked up with fellow substitute Matthew McKenna to get one back for Cavan, who got another point from a Connolly free, but despite getting on top around midfield, they were unable to make any further inroads into their deficit in the following 15 minutes, with McKenna driving one goal-attempt wide and seeing another saved by Monaghan keeper Shane Grimes.

Cavan’s subs continued to make an impact, with Greg McGovern kicking a point and Liam Galligan firing in a great goal, but Monaghan replacement Dónal Meegan hit a much-needed point at the end of a well-worked move involving Micheál McCarville, McCarthy and McMahon. Cavan did close to within two once again late on when Hayes tapped over a close-range free after a foul on Galligan, but Monaghan held on to book their place in the final against Tyrone on July 21.

 

 

Monaghan: S Grimes; S Treanor, K Loughran (Capt.), C Martin; A Kieran, A Curran, M Murnaghan; N Loughman, D McAlister (0-2f); D Ward, R McAnespie (1-0), A Treanor (0-1); C McCarthy (1-2), F McMahon (0-4, 2f), M O’Dowd (0-1).

Subs: S McMahon for Loughman (15 mins), M McCarville for Kieran (42), D Meegan (0-1) for Treanor (43), P McArdle for Murnaghan (47), M Brown for F McMahon (59).

 

Cavan: S McDermott; B Fortune, B Kelly, N Clerkin (0-1); C Bradley (0-1), B O’Connell, M Magee; K Monahan, B Kiernan (0-2, 1f); P Smith, H O’Neill (0-1), A O’Reilly; R Connolly (0-3, 1f), T Hayes (Capt., 0-2, 1f), D Brady.

Subs: M McKenna for Brady (25), D Gannon (0-1) for O’Neill (H-T), G McGovern (0-1) for O’Reilly (35), L Galligan (1-0) for Magee (37), T Galligan for Connolly (49).

 

Referee: S McLaughlin (Donegal).

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