Farney Men easily beat Armagh

Ulster Senior Football Championship Quarter Final:
Monaghan 1-18  Armagh 0-09

Monaghan overcame a nervy start to destroy Armagh by 1-18 to 0-9 in a one-sided Ulster GAA Football Senior Championship quarter-final at Casement Park on Sunday afternoon.

The Farney men will now face either Cavan or Fermanagh in the semi-finals and hopes will be high that they can go on and win their first Ulster title since 1988.

The plaudits will go to Monaghan boss Seamus McEnaney, who made two game changing first-half substitutions after Armagh captain Steven McDonnell had caused serious problems to his defence in the opening quarter.

Monaghan gradually came back into the game and a Tommy Freeman goal in the 13th minute levelled the game after McDonnell had sent Armagh into an early 0-4 to 0-1 lead.

Armagh were reduced to 14 men just before the break when Brian Mallon was sent off on a straight red card. Monaghan produced remarkable scoring bursts either side of the break to take complete control of a game that was over as a contest midway through the second half.

Armagh started brightly and, almost inevitably, it was their danger man, McDonnell, who registered their first two scores of the game, the veteran attacker kicking points off his left and right to demonstrate his ability. Dessie Mone tracked the former All-Ireland winning captain in the opening minutes, but he was shown an early yellow card and Seamus McEnaney, the Monaghan boss, opted to move Mone’s brother, JP, on to him.

Paul Finlay responded for a clearly nervous Monaghan in the eighth minute, his 100th point in Championship action for the Farney men. However, Monaghan’s problems were in defence and Jamie Clarke, in the Armagh team in place of Ryan Henderson, put his side into a 0-4 to 0-1 lead with just 12 minutes gone.

Monaghan were struggling to win any primary possession, but when they finally managed to mount an attack of note, in the 13th minute, they broke with pace up the right hand flank and after a free-flowing move, Tommy Freeman punched the ball to the back of the net for his eighth goal in championship football. The goal appeared to have a settling effect on Monaghan and they levelled the game when Finlay landed his second score of the afternoon.

Despite restoring parity, McEnaney was forced to perform major surgery on his defence, as Dermot McArdle came in for Dessie Mone – who had already been shown a yellow card – and Rory Woods came in for Stephen Gollogly. McDonnell – who scored four points from play in the first 20 minutes – now had two defenders tracking his every move.

The gambit worked and Monaghan took the lead for the first time in the 26th minute, when Conor McManus sent them into the lead for the first time. Finlay and Tommy Freeman tagged on a pair of scores inside a minute and the Farney men had turned an earlier three-point deficit into a three-point lead.

Things got better for them just before the break, as Armagh’s corner forward, Brian Mallon, was sent off on a straight red card for a late challenge. Finlay knocked over his fourth score of the game on the stroke of half-time just to emphasise the about turn in his side’s fortunes in the second quarter.

Paddy O’Rourke, the Armagh manager, made two changes at the break: James Lavery came in for Malachy Mackin and Kevin Dyas was drafted in to their defence. However, the expected reaction from Armagh never arrived, and it was Monaghan who kicked four successive points in a blistering start to the second start. Tommy Freeman brought his tally to 1-3 thirty seconds after the restart, before Finlay, Ciaran Hanratty and Vinny Corey all contributes scores to send Monaghan seven points clear.

Armagh were struggling badly to gain any foothold in the game, as McDonnell’s influence was neutralised by JP Mone and the rest of their forward line completely failed to pick up the slack. Indeed, Armagh – who have won seven Ulster titles since 1999 – went over half an hour without a score before Jamie Clarke finally ended that dismal spell with his second point of the game. Paul Duffy gave Armagh a little more hope when he kicked their second without reply 18 minutes into the second half.

But Armagh’s resistance was stamped out with ease and Monaghan powered home with five points on the bounce to end the game as a contest. Finlay kicked his fifth and sixth scores, while the older of the Freeman brothers, Damian, got his name on the scoreboard as the Farney man coasted into a 1-16 to 0-8 lead. Dick Clerkin added a couple of late scores for Monaghan as the orange clad supporters drained out of Casement Park facing into an All-Ireland Qualifiers campaign on the back of a dispiriting 12-point defeat.