Donegal 1-21 Monaghan 2-13

Monaghan suffered their first defeat of the league when a rampant Donegal in the second half turned the game around in O’Donnell Park, Letterkenny.

The visitors started brightly with top scorer Donal Meegan (5) and Sean Leonard (12) finding the net to give them a 2-1 to 0-2 lead. Meegan, Eanna MacSuibhne, Brian McGuigan and Tadhg Campbell all hit first half points to see them lead at the break 2-7 to 0-9 but were guilty of a number of missed opportunities.

On the resumption Monaghan had a big penalty shout waved away before Donegal struck for their goal through Ronan McDermott and from that score they really upped the tempo with the wind at their backs. Former Armagh player Declan Coulter was very much to the fore as he went on to finish with six points to his name and along with Lee Henderson and Davin Flynn the trio contributed 18 points. Donal Meegan was Monaghan’s sole second half scorer which saw him finish with 1-9 to his name.

Monaghan: P Bermingham; L McKenna, P Finnegan, B Flannagan; J Guinan, P Treanor, M Murphy; E MacSuibhne (0-2,f), C Meegan; F Rafter, T Campbell (0-1), C Boyle; D Meegan (1-09, 0-5f), S Leonard (1-0), B McGuigan (0-1).

Subs: N Garland for McKenna, B Connor for Guinan, E Leonard for Boyle, PJ Boyle for Leonard.

Donegal: P Burns; D Grant, J Donnelly, P Doherty; J Boyle (0-1), J O’Loughlin (0-1), R Kee; D Cullen, L Henderson (0-7,f); D Flynn (0-5), K Campbell, D Coulter (0-6, 1f); B Lafferty, R McDermott (1-0), E McDermott.

Subs: S Gillespie (0-1) for E McDermott, N Cleary for Lafferty.