Monaghan U20s reach Ulster quarter-final and deny Fermanagh with hungry second half at Tempo on Wednesday evening.
The Farney side will travel to face Cavan for a place in the semi-finals.
By Jack Madden, Irish News.
Dalata Hotel Group Ulster U20 Championship Group A, round five
Fermanagh 1-16 Monaghan 3-23
A barnstorming second-half performance from Monaghan saw them set up a quarter-final with neighbours Cavan in the Dalata Hotel Group Ulster U20 Football Championship.
At half-time they led Fermanagh by six. Paul O’Connor’s men hit the net via Shane O’Connor’s palms with their very first score, Luke Hughie McKenna peeled off Mark McCaffrey and slipped it across goal for an easy finish to kick-start a mightily enthralling affair.
They hit the net immediately in the second half too with a skilful side-footed volley from Canice Murphy. That was a spirit sapping blow to the hosts at Tempo.
When Matthew Finn spun his man, barged in on goal and tucked away the Farney’s third, any lingering doubts were gone. Because Fermanagh had given them plenty of those early doors.
But Monaghan won the latter half 2-10 to 0-9 playing into the breeze. In the final stages they hunted in packs. The hunger was manic and they looked the team so many within the county’s boundaries knew they had the potential to be.
Jamie Mooney misplaced just two kick-outs all game. His team-mates combined for just three wides. Matthew Carolan kicked two scores but crucially, and more often than not, he had his pawprints on opposition throats in the midfield dogfight.
Perhaps above all, Scotstown star Max Maguire entered the fray with 20-odd minutes to go. That felt somewhat seismic as this side’s formline continues to drift upward.
So, as Mattie McDermott continued to launch frees over Mooney’s posts in a game laden with breaches, the Ernemen faded after the early heroics of the impressive Conor Mulligan.
Murphy and Finn landed a confidence boosting 1-3 apiece from play. One of Finn’s came when he stripped his man, cut hard off the sideline and curled it, combining attitude, workrate, desire and all the necessary skill.
In the first half, Monaghan didn’t register a single wide with the breeze, though they did hit the woodwork three times with efforts for points.
Particularly in the opening quarter, Carolan was a dominant force at midfield in a way he was at times as Carrickmacross claimed the intermediate championship last autumn. He added a wonder point from the narrowest of angles to boot, Monaghan’s last of the half.
But for everything they did well in that first half, still they led by just six at the interval. Conor Mulligan was a force time and again, but most certainly and most critically so when galloping onto captain Rory Smyth’s perfect hand-pass and lashing hard and low into the bottom corner 16 minutes deep.
Soon afterwards, McDermott launched a free from 50 metres against the breeze, before a Mulligan intercept off Donnacha Connolly’s hand-pass really got the home support roaring.
A Mulligan score in added time had them just five behind, though fellow midfielder Carolan responded before the whistle.
Their second-half display was confident and assured. The attitude was ravenous from the minute Maggie Farrelly threw the ball in. They never looked back.
That’s an attitude they’ll carry through to the business end at Kingspan Breffni. Derry meet Tyrone in the other mouth-watering quarter-final affair. Donegal and Armagh await as the table-toppers in what has been a brilliant Ulster championship already.
Derry warmed up for that clash with a 6-23 to 0-12 win over Antrim in their final group game in Dunsilly.
Fermanagh P O’Sullivan; C McGoldrick, E Óg Magee, M Maguire; C Casey, O Swift, D McGovern; C Donohoe 0-2, C Mulligan 1-1; D Treacy, D Chapman, R Smyth (captain) 0-2; N Beattie 0-2f, M McDermott 0-9 (4tpf, 0-1f), M Burns
Subs O Donohoe for C McGoldrick (HT), B Beattie for M Maguire (47), B Caughey for D McGovern (54)
Monaghan J Mooney; A Stewart, C Clerkin, M Quinn; M McCaffrey, D Connolly, L H McKenna 0-1; S O’Connor 1-0 M Carolan 0-2; L E McKenna 0-2, T Doherty 0-2f, C Jones; M McGinnity 0-8 (1tp, 1tpf, 0-2f), M Finn 1-3, C Murphy 1-3
By Mary McEneaney Thu 9th Apr
