Ulster Minor Football Championship round two: Down 0-12 Monaghan 5-13

Monday 9th May 2022

Electric Ireland Ulster Minor Football Championship round two: Down 0-12 Monaghan 5-13

From Elaine Ingram at Pairc Esler for the irish News

THE old adage that goals win games proved true in Pairc Esler on Saturday afternoon, where Monaghan hit the net five times, to progress to the next round of the Ulster Minor Championship, at Down’s expense.

Monaghan were ruthless in front of goal and while Down had their fair share of the ball, certainly until the game was gone, it was the Farney boys who made the most of their chances throughout.

Monaghan full forwards Max McGinnity and Eoghan McFarland scored 4-8 between them and that in itself tells the tale of this match.

The Mourne County were reduced to 14 men, when Patrick Brady was sent off with a black card, 20 minutes into the first half. Although they trailed 1-4 to 0-4 at that stage,  Down were able to contain their opponents for the first eight of those 10 minutes. They kept the ball well until  McGinnity, who had scored the opening goal for Monaghan, found a gap and fired into the net. Seconds later it was 3-4 to 0-4 when Bobby McCaul picked out McFarland to the left of goal and he palmed home.

Down responded with a free from James Savage, his third point of the game, but with Monaghan leading by eight points 3-4 to 0-5 at the half-time whistle, Pat Cunningham’s players had a mountain to climb.

It was essentially game over at the start of the second half when, almost from throw-in Charlie McQuillan delivered a high ball into the small square for the unmarked McFarland who scored Monaghan’s fourth goal of the afternoon. Savage replied with a well-taken point, but the Mark Counihan’s boys hit three in a row to make it a 13-point game 4-7 to 0-6 , with six minutes of the half played.

Down kept the scoreboard ticking over, with five of the next seven points but during that spell DJ McElvaney ghosted in and scored goal number five, putting the game to bed with 15 minutes of normal time remaining.

That made it 5-9 to 0-11 and while both sides played right up to the final whistle, Monaghan fully deserved their 5-13 to 0-12 victory.

DOWN: N Howlett; P Brady, M McGuinness, S McEvoy; C Gribben (0-3, 0-2 free), B Christie (0-1 free), C McDevitt; C McLeod, D Murdock; L Green, L Fallon, Eoin Murray, ;Brian Grant, James Savage (0-7, 0-4 frees), Taidgh O’Hanlon

Subs: Dara Og McCoy for O’Hanlon (35mins), Callum Woods for Fallon (37mins), Niall Burden for Murdock (41mins), Odhran Donaldson (0-1) for Murray (41mins), Declan McArdle for McDevitt (48mins)

MONAGHAN: Oran Finnegan (0-1,’45); Conor Curran, Niall Meehan, Jake McDonnell; Johnny Lavelle, Charlie McQuillan, Packie Doogan-Burke; DJ McElvaney (1-0), Sahl Arya; Finlay Foye (0-1), Tommy Mallen (0-3, 1f), Shea Casey; Max McGinnity (2-6,all frees), Eoghan McFarland (2-2), Bobby McCaul

Subs: Canice Murphy for Casey (42mins), Sean O’Connell for Foy (45mins), Shane Freeman for Arya (48mins), Nathan McGeough for McFarland (55mins), Jack Lynch for Curran (59mins)

Referee:  Ryan Walshe (Donegal)