Ulster Senior Football Championship semi-final: Down 1-14 Monaghan 0-15
A FEAST for the soul.
For the soul of Down football that looked to have been buried in Clones, the graveyard of many a dream last June, when 19 points separated them from Monaghan.
For the soul of every red and black clad supporter that let it all spill out of them as Donal O’Hare clipped them into a first Ulster final since 2012 in the most dramatic and deserved of circumstances.
And a feast for the neutral. If last week’s Tyrone performance was the ultimate in style and grace, then this Down display was its equal in heart and passion and guts.
As Monaghan tried to pick a 75th minute equaliser, the entire body of red shirts weaved one way then the other in following the ball. The legs were hanging together but there would be no stopping. One last turnover, a counter-attack into an ocean of space and a cool head from O’Hare while all else around lost theirs.
It was everything they deserved. No-one gave them a chance. Absolutely no-one.
But it was clear from the very beginning that they were a team on a mission. Monaghan’s physicality was talked up but it was the Down tackling that was strong and relentless.
The Monaghan attacking plan was heralded but it was Caolan Mooney and Darragh O’Hanlon and Niall Donnelly and Peter Turley that were punching all the holes.
Down were criticised for not winning ball inside against Armagh, so Connaire Harrison fixed that alone by giving Drew Wylie as tough a 53 minutes as he’s had in a long time.
Monaghan will be sorely disappointed by their own contribution to a classic. There was a lack of bounce in the legs, the lack of punch that had been opening teams up since the first weeks of the season.
A flat first half had them in bother and the little things that were going Down’s way were evident when the teams re-emerged to find the wind had turned around and was backing Éamonn Burns’ team again.
And whatever Malachy O’Rourke might have said was laid to waste inside minutes as Down added 1-2 to their half-time tally to carve out a seven-point lead.
Credit the 2013 and 2015 provincial champions from there. They made the last half hour an absorbing, edge-of-the-seat spectacle by finding their gear and chipping patiently at the lead.
Six, five, four, three, two, down to one point in stoppage time. Drew Wylie has a chance, but it’s off to the right. Jack McCarron has a free but doesn’t bring it in and it’s off to the left.
There can be no complaints, either. On the whole of it, the local constabulary could have done them all for theft had they left the Athletic Grounds with a draw.
Monaghan did end up rueing a wasteful start. Kieran Hughes was plucking ball like a minor at an under-14 game. His influence built a platform for nine scoring chances in the first 12 minutes, but they took just two.
Conor McManus was excellent and angered by Down’s physicality. Niall McParland and Darren O’Hagan both got first half yellow cards for leaving the knees in late when the sanction could have been more severe.
But it was a marker too. Down were not to be outmuscled, not to be bullied this day. And they weren’t to lose heart. For 22 minutes they pegged Monaghan back and then they hit a run of four unanswered scores.
Shay Millar, Connaire Harrison, Darragh O’Hanlon (free) and the inspirational Kevin McKernan kicked Down 0-9 to 0-5 ahead and from that moment, you knew this was not going to be like last year.
Conor McManus kicked one of the scores of the year just before half-time, borne of that anger, to leave it 0-10 to 0-8 in Down’s favour at the half-time break.
David Coldrick’s injury had gotten the better of him and he was replaced by Paddy Neilan at the break. Had Monaghan escaped with a draw, the Roscommon man would have left with the heckles glued to the inside of his ears, for he was sore on Down and generous in front of goal to Monaghan.
But his first real action was to award a match-defining penalty. Kevin McKernan had just landed a wonder score when Rory Beggan’s short kickout went wrong and Niall Donnelly fed on to Ryan Johnston’s pass and bobbled his way close enough to goal to be fouled.
O’Hanlon had the composure to slot his penalty straight down the middle and the scoreboard now read 1-12 to 0-8. It looked like game over.
But Monaghan did genuinely display a mark of their quality in that last half hour. They were patient and probing in tandem, using their road-tested methods of using the pitch’s width to try and find gaps.
Down, though, had an edge at midfield in terms of 50-50 ball all afternoon. Anything that broke was won by Caolan Mooney and Peter Turley, who won nine kickouts between them.
It took Monaghan until the 53rd minute to effectively press Down’s kickout and force the wave of pressure under which the resurgent Mournemen almost drowned.
A McManus free started a run of five successive scores, the final of them a wonderful effort from Kieran Hughes that cut the gap to a single point. Six added minutes went up on the board and there almost looked a measure of control about Monaghan.
But the wave of defenders clogged the middle of the goal and try as they might, Monaghan simply couldn’t get a runner on the loop. They were restricted to those two efforts from Wylie and McCarron, both from out wide, as the time ticked away.
And then Ryan McAnespie’s hands went straight to his head as he handed away Monaghan’s final possession. Ryan Wylie cut a lonely figure in his own half as the one defender against six Down players streaming at him. They couldn’t fail to score and O’Hare didn’t, coolly dropping it where Rory Beggan couldn’t reach to send a county into rapture.
Monaghan despaired, another semi-final defeat. The Qualifiers again. You’d think Longford last year will have hardened them but time will tell.
But this was Down’s day. Tyrone now. Beware the swagger.
MATCH STATS
Monaghan: R Beggan; F Kelly, D Wylie, R Wylie (0-1); C Walshe, V Corey, N McAdam; K Hughes (0-1), K O’Connell; D Hughes (0-2), K Duffy, O Duffy (0-1); C McCarthy (0-1), J McCarron (0-3, 0-2f), C McManus (0-6, 0-3f)
Subs: R McAnespie for McAdam (40), D Mone for K Duffy (46), D Ward for O Duffy (46), D Malone for McCarthy (57)
Blood replacements: S Carey for D Hughes (61-62), C Forde for Beggan (70-71)
Yellow card: K Duffy (42)
Down: M Cunningham (0-1 45’); C McGovern, G McGovern, D O’Hagan; D O’Hanlon (1-5, 1-0pen, 0-5f), C Mooney, N McParland; N Donnelly, P Turley; K McKernan (0-2), C Maginn (0-1), S Millar (0-1); J Johnston, C Harrison (0-3), R Johnston
Subs: D O’Hare (0-1) for Harrison (53), J Murphy for C McGovern (58), D McKibben for Mooney (65), A Carr for Turley (68), M Poland for R Johnston (68)
Yellow cards: N McParland (3), D O’Hagan (31), C Harrison (34), J Johnston (42), C McGovern (52)
Referees: D Coldrick / P Neilan
Attendance: 13,396
