Footballers deny Tyrone
ALLIANZ FOOTBALL LEAGUE DIVISION 1.
Monaghan 1-14
Tyrone 0-16
Monaghan picked up their first points of the current league campaign when they staged a magnificent finish in Inniskeen to deny Tyrone by the minimum margin and thereby consign them to the basement, pointless after three outings and now facing a real battle to avoid relegation. The victory is also Monaghan's first over Tyrone in official competition since their Dr McKenna Cup final victory of 2003 and it gives Seamus McEnaney and his team a little breathing space but in truth at times in the first half it looked a most unlikely result. Played in front of an almost capacity crowd of 3, 654 patrons at the excellently appointed Pairc Grattan, Inniskeen, this was a game where fortunes changed hands on a number of occasions and the play at times was decidedly scrappy. Tyrone had much the better of things in the first half but some sloppy finishing and a touch of over elaboration at times saw them squander chances that were to prove so crucial later on. Monaghan on the other hand recovered from that indifferent first half to steal a march on the opposition in the run in to half-time with a brilliantly opportunistic goal by Tomas Freeman bringing them level and then a point from a free by Paul Finlay in stoppage time giving them a one point lead and the best Tyrone could manage thereafter was being level on three occasions as Monaghan consolidated.
Seamus McEnaney gave two more players their national football league debuts on Sunday last and the match also saw the return of Dessie Mone and Rory Woods, who came on a substitute. Mone return was a bonus and his experience was vital on a number of occasions particularly the first half as Tyrone enjoyed too much freedom of movement at times. The unavailability of Gary McQuaid and Damien Freeman saw a completely new look halfback line with Colin Walshe and Kieran Hughes flanking Neil McAdam. Dick Clerkin partnered Francis Caulfield in midfield in the early stages and Clerkin was one of the key players whose contribution went a long way to Monaghan securing victory as his pace, power and passion lifted Monaghan repeatedly. Paul Finlay too had an immense impact and his tally of seven points was also a vital contribution. Up-front Vinnie Corey led the line with good effect, winning vital ball and unfortunate not to a earn a couple more frees as he was very closely policed by Justin McMahon. Connor McManus and Tomas Freeman always posed a threat while McManus and Finlay also shared the free taking duties. Monaghan were forced to re-jig their formation in the relatively early stages with Colm Greenan introduced in place of Francis Caulfield and taking up the full back position as Darren Hughes was switched to midfield to try and limit the influence of Aidan Cassidy and Kevin Hughes. It was a move that he made to telling effect as Monaghan became increasingly dominant in that sector and with that dominance Tyrone's earlier flowing play was more restricted. For Tyrone it was one of those days when they could have been much further ahead at half-time and they then went on to pay dearly for those missed chances as the Monaghan resurgence saw them forced to play catch up throughout the second-half. The game saw the return of the Cookstown Fr. Rocks players Raymond Mulgrew and Owen Mulligan as well as the three players who had their yellow cards from the Derry game upgraded to red with the result that, with the exception of Stephen O'Neill and Sean Cavanagh the Tyrone line out had a very familiar look about it. Martin Penrose and Tommy McGuigan shared the free taking duties and between them they contributed eight points from frees with Penrose also notching a couple from play and it was that particular line of McGuigan, Penrose and Mulligan that caused the greatest threat.
Tyrone were first on the attack but were off target twice before Monaghan took the lead twice in the opening minutes with points by Tomas Freeman and a Paul Finlay free either side of Tommy McGuigan's opener for Tyrone in the sixth minute. The scoring to a certain degree was something of a shoot out between Paul Finlay and Martin Penrose as frees proliferated and some 33 minutes of the second half had elapsed before the first score from play in that period. Martin Penrose equalised for Tyrone when he converted a 10th minute free after a Monaghan player had fouled the ball. Penrose was on target a minute later to put Tyrone in the lead for the first time but Monaghan were soon back tom parity when Dick Clerkin powered his way through to fist over. Tyrone now enjoyed a strong five minute spell of at the end of the first quarter and in the opening minutes of the second quarter when they upped the pace to hit four points without reply for a lead of four with Raymond Mulgrew, Kevin Hughes, Owen Mulligan and another Martin Penrose free giving the O'Neill men a decided edge and Monaghan struggling particularly in their halfback line. Tyrone though were to lose the services of Kevin Hughes through injury at half-time and they struggled in that middle third of the field in his absence in the second-half as Monaghan came more into the match with the switching of Darren Hughes to that sector. Paul Finlay lifted the siege with a point from a free for a foul on Connor McManus with Owen Mulligan then punishing slight hesitation in the Monaghan defence to restore Tyrone to a four points lead in the 23rd minute. Monaghan still found themselves four points in arrears approaching the half hour mark but a goal and two points in the final minutes of the opening period saw them dramatically hit the front and thereafter they were never headed. Tomas Freeman struck for the goal when he dispossessed Conor Gormley, who had taken possession from a short kick out, to race through and give Jonathan Curran no chance from close range. Paul Finlay hit both points, the first when he was well placed by Tomas Freeman and the second from a free after yet another foul on Conor McManus to send Monaghan in 1-7 to 0-9 ahead at the break and that lead could have been greater as they were off target from two reasonable chances going into stoppage time. Connor McManus extended Monaghan's lead on the resumption and McManus and Penrose exchanged points again in the 6th and 8th minutes to leave two between the sides at that stage. Two points from frees, the first by Martin Penrose after he himself had been fouled and the second by Tommy McGuigan after Monaghan keeper Shane Duffy was adjudged to have over carried brought Tyrone level in the 11th minute and all the indications of a close, attritional contest from there to the finish. Twelve further minutes elapsed though before Monaghan regained the lead with a point from a free by Paul Finlay but in that time Tyrone had a reasonable goal chance when Colm Cavanagh was through but blasted wide and another effort by Tommy McGuigan came off the upright. Another Finlay special from a difficult free put Monaghan two in front on 27 minutes with Tyrone fighting back to parity on the half hour with points from frees by Martin Penrose and Tommy McGuigan and the game building to a frenetic finish. Connor McManus and Tyrone substitute Eoin McCusker exchanged points, McManus from a free for a foul on Tomas Freeman, to leave the sides deadlocked with two minutes of normal time remaining and a draw looking a likely result and would not have been an unreasonable outcome. Connor McManus restored Monaghan to the lead with a point in the 34th minute and when substitute Rory Woods then put them two up two minutes into stoppage time when he fisted over from close range it left Tyrone needing a goal to salvage the points. Monaghan had now been reduced to 14 players with a second yellow card dismissal of Stephen Gollogly and Tyrone now threw everything into attack to try and engineer the goal they needed but Monaghan held out with the referee blowing the full-time whistle much to the annoyance of Tyrone after Dermot Carlin had pulled back a point 4 minutes into stoppage time and after Monaghan had been reduced to 13 players as Tomas Freeman picked up a second yellow card in the 38th minute. However all that was forgotten in the post match euphoria as Monaghan were applauded off the pitch and the smiles on the players' faces said it all.
Teams and Scorers: Monaghan: Shane Duffy, Dermot McArdle, Darren Hughes, Dessie Mone, Colin Walshe, Neil McAdam, Kieran Hughes, Francis Caulfield, Paul Finlay 0-7 (5f), Dick Clerkin 0-1, Stephen Gollogly, Martin McElroy, Conor McManus 0-5 (2f), Vincent Corey, Tomas Freeman 1-1. Subs: Colm Greenan for F Caulfield, Donal Morgan for C Greenan, Rory Woods 0-1 for K Hughes, Dermot Malone for M McElroy.
Tyrone: Jonathan Curran, Dermot Carlin 0-2, Justin McMahon, Sean O'Neill, David Harte, Conor Gormley, Ryan McMenamin, Aidan Cassidy, Kevin Hughes 0-1, Colm Cavanagh, Brian McGuigan, Raymond Mulgrew 0-1, Tommy McGuigan 0-3 (3f), Martin Penrose 0-6 (5f), Owen Mulligan 0-2. Subs: Enda McGinley for K Hughes, Eoin McCusker 0-1 for R Mulgrew, Colm McCullagh for B McGuigan. Referee: Martin Higgins (Fermanagh).
REACTION.
There were obviously contrasting reactions in both camps and by both managers in the immediate aftermath of the last Sunday's game in the picturesque setting of Grattan Park. Monaghan were elated having achieved a first victory while Tyrone's disappointment was compounded by their disagreement over the timing of the final whistle by Fermanagh referee Martin Higgins and their thoughts on that possibly tended to overshadow the more important fact that Tyrone were now alone in the basement of division 1, two points adrift of Monaghan, Kerry and Galway. Despite that Mickey Harte refused to admit that it would be a dogfight from here on or that his team faced anything akin to a crisis. When it was suggested to him that his side faced something of a dogfight to avoid relegation he replied instantly "no, no, had we don't believe in dogfights, we believe in playing good football and we will play enough good football to serve us well this year". Pressed further as to whether "serving Tyrone well this year" meant staying up in division 1 Mickey Harte responded with just one single word "absolutely". Mickey Harte did agree that he was disappointed with the outcome on Sunday last but felt that his side had done enough to at least take something out of the match. "No the only thing we would be disappointed with is the result, that we didn't get at least one point today. I think we played enough football today to deserve at least one point but the scoreboard tells a different story, so that's the only thing I can say really because I think we played lots of good football. We created some great scores and we created some good chances but Monaghan just did that little bit more on the day". Looking at the game overall Mickey Harte agreed that his side had been the more dominant team for most of the first half and probably should have gone in with a lead as opposed to going in a point down."It probably was not a good place for us to be with the football we played in the first half. I think it was a bit of an injustice to the effort put in by the players to be going in behind at half-time but sometimes that happens in games and that was one of them today". Mickey Harte then turned his attention to the timekeeping stating quite clearly that he had an issue with it. "I had an issue with that. First though I have to say that I have no complaints with the referee's general overall game, I was more than happy with that but he said to Dermot Carlin before that last free "there are 30 seconds left in this game and then on the kick out it'll be all over when the game concludes after that. So Dermot rightfully thought the 30 seconds haven't gone here and he kicked the ball over the bar and the next thing the whistle blew". The referee may have misled Dermot Carlin as the whistle could not go on the kick out because under the Experimental Rules when additional time has elapsed the game is over when the ball goes out of play which it did when Carlin scored the point. Mickey Harte though felt that "if the referee had not said it to him we could have gone and tried to get the goal. We might never have got it but at least we could have tried for it. I am quite confident that from the time he told us that there were 30 seconds left he went in and talked to his umpire about something and that should not have come out of the 30 seconds. There were 30 seconds from the time we took the free but I don't think 30 seconds had elapsed before we put the ball over the bar. That was what I had a problem with, the fact that he said to our players this is what's happening and then did something different".
MONAGHAN MANAGER SEAMUS MC ENANEY.
Monaghan manager Seamus McEnaney had something of a spring in his step as he skipped back across Pairc Grattan from television interviews to address the assembled media pack. He agreed straight away that it was a great victory and that he was delighted with the result but he was not in the least surprised that his team had taken the result on Sunday last as everyone was in a very positive frame of mind before the match. "Yes it's a great one to win but I don't think it would have made any difference who we were playing here in Inniskeen today we were up for the fight. It was a very important win to get our first points because we are going to need six points to stay in division 1 and we are hopeful now that we will grind out four more points along the way. We played some decent football today and this team will best be served in division 1 and we will fight tooth and nail to stay there". Seamus McEnaney gave National league debuts to two more players in last Sunday's match and he was pleased with the overall performance but agreed that there were times when Monaghan were not dominating play. "Absolutely, and that it is very important because there are periods when you don't dominate the game but you have to hold your nerve. I think Monaghan showed great character in this game. With 12 minutes to go we were two points up and with two or three minutes to go, and this is my memory of it, the sides were level and it wasn't looking that good for us and we still grinded out the result with two further points to push the game beyond Tyrone. I think that character has been in this team all along, it doesn't just happen on the day. These fellows arrived here today meaning business. We didn't care who we were playing, it made absolutely no difference, we just wanted the two points and great credit to the nineteen players who played in this match". One journalist put it to Seamus McEnaney that had Monaghan lost it would have ended their season but the Monaghan manager did not agree. "No I wouldn't agree with that because this Monaghan team has had ups and downs, they have shown great character several times in all their matches. This team has really come on the scene since 2005. We've had some decent setbacks on the way but we haven't gone away. I wouldn't say that defeat today would not have finished our season but I can certainly say now that victory has started our season". McEnaney also agreed that the goal before half-time even though it was somewhat against the run of play was a major factor in the outcome. "Yes it was and it came at a vital time but there were a few things we looked at in our other games that we didn't turn the opposition over enough in their own half of the field and today we turned Tyrone over several times and we got that goal and maybe two or three points from that. Great credit to Tommy he took the score well. I know Tommy is not playing as well as he would like to be playing coming into today's game but he's a fantastic player and he just keeps working away and when he got the opportunity he took it extremely well. He also worked very hard out the field today and I am delighted for him with that goal".
