Monaghan 0-11
Donegal 0-10
MONAGHAN PRODUCED A dominant first-half display and then withstood a late Donegal comeback to win their 16th Ulster football championship crown amid a dramatic finish in Clones.
Patrick McBreatry thought he’d snatched a draw but saw his last-gasp effort sail narrowly wide of the upright to give Monaghan an one point victory in-front of a capacity crowd of 31,997 at St Tiernach’s Park.
After surrendering a four-point deficit at the break, Donegal rallied in the second period but they were far from their best, even lethargic at times, and ultimately left it too late.
Monaghan did all the hard work before the interval but could have paid the price as they failed to register a score during the final 23 minutes as Donegal looked to rescue a draw.
In the end, they did enough to spark scenes of unconfined joy as the home supporters invaded the pitch at full-time.
They can now look forward to an All-Ireland quarter-final date but Rory Gallagher’s men will have to pick themselves up for a Round 4B qualifier against Galway.
Donegal started purposely and looked to silence the home crowd as they raced into an early two point lead through McBrearty and Karl Lacey.
Throughout the championship, they’ve come out of the blocks quickly but, on this occasion, the Tír Conaill Men were unable to maintain that level of intensity.
Hard-fought wins over Tyrone, Armagh and Derry to get to this stage appeared to be taking their toll on Gallagher’s charges as they faltered under the Clones sun.
For their part, Monaghan were clinically brilliant. Karl O’Connell’s powerful run and score set the ball rolling for the hosts and they continued to exert their dominance throughout an entertaining first-half.
Owen Duffy gave Monaghan the lead just before the half hour mark and they never looked back with Conor McManus and Dessie Mone stretching the advantage to 0-8 to 0-4.
Gallagher made a bold move by taking off Lacey but Anthony Thompson’s introduction coincided with Donegal’s revival.
McBrearty was central to it and converted consecutive frees as the momentum shifted, although 10 wides didn’t help their cause.
With just minutes remaining on the clock, McBrearty reduced the arrears to a single point with a succession of scores but was unable to complete the comeback as his left-footed attempt in added time went agonisingly wide.
Scorers for Monaghan: C McManus 0-6 (3f), K O’Connell 0-1, O Duffy 0-1, K Duffy 0-1, D Mone 0-1, O Lennon 0-1.
Scorers for Donegal: P McBrearty 0-6 (4f), M Murphy 0-2 (2f), K Lacey 0-1, F McGlynn 0-1.
Donegal:
1. Paul Durcan (Ballyboden St-Enda’s, Dublin)
2. Paddy McGrath (Ardara)
3. Neil McGee (Gweedore)
4. Eamon McGee (Gweedore)
5. Ryan McHugh (Kilcar)
6. Karl Lacey (Four Masters)
7. Frank McGlynn (Glenfin)
8. Neil Gallagher (Glenswilly)
9. Martin McElhinney (St Michael’s)
10. Christy Toye (St Michael’s)
11. Odhrán MacNiallais (Gweedore)
19. Mark McHugh (Kilcar)
13. Patrick McBrearty (Kilcar)
14. Michael Murphy (captain) (Glenswilly)
15. Colm McFadden (St Michael’s)
Subs:
12. Marty O’Reilly (Sean MacCumhaills) for Toye (33)
17. Anthony Thompson (Naomh Conaill) for Lacey (40)
26. Darach O’Connor (Buncrana) for McFadden (52)
Monaghan:
1. Rory Beggan (Scotstown)
2. Dessie Mone (Clontibret)
3. Vinny Corey (Clontibret)
4. Ryan Wylie (Ballybay)
5. Colin Walshe (Doohamlet)
6. Fintan Kelly (Clones)
7. Karl O’Connell (Tyholland)
8. Neil Mc Adam (Monaghan Harps)
9. Darren Hughes (Scotstown)
10. Owen Duffy (Latton)
21. Owen Lennon (Latton)
17. Kieran Duffy (Latton)
13. Dermot Malone (Castleblayney)
14. Kieran Hughes (Scotstown)
15. Conor McManus (captain) (Clontibret)
Subs:
4. Ryan McAnespie (Emyvale) for Owen Duffy (50)
22. Dick Clerkin (Currin) for Lennon (69)
Referee: David Coldrick (Meath)
