Bank of Ireland Dr McKenna Cup Section C: Monaghan 2-13 Queen's 0-7
MONAGHAN got their first win of the competition when they proved too strong overall for Queens University in what was a fairly low-key affair in Castleblayney last night.
This was to have been Monaghan’s final game in the round-robin system but they still have their postponed game against Donegal to come on Sunday.
There were fears up until about 7.30pm that the fog might cause the game to be postponed but at that stage the fog began to clear and the referee declared the game on, although there was something of a surreal atmosphere in St Mary’s Park.
Monaghan, who showed a number of changes from the team announced for the game again Donegal that saw Colm Lennon make his debut, got off to a flying start as David Garland rifled to the Queen’s net after just 20 seconds after he was set up by Karl O’Connell who burst through from the throw-in.
That gave Monaghan a foothold and they went on to dominate the remainder of the half, defending well, particularly Ryan Wylie and Karl O’Connell, while hitting the students on telling counter-attacks to lead by nine after half-an-hour.
In the final minutes they tagged on 1-2, Jack McCarron with the second goal to leave the half-time score Monaghan 2-8 Queen’s 0-2.
Owen Coyle extended Monaghan’s lead within three minutes of the resumption. The students were then starting to make a fight of it, but they lacked the penetration to turn it around.
They did enjoy their best period midway through the second half with three unanswered points before normal service was restored as Monaghan closed it out with four late points to win by 12 at the finish.
Monaghan: R Beggan; C Lennon, C Boyle, R Wylie; K O’Connell (0-1), F Kelly, O Coyle (0-2); A Lynch (0-1), N Kearns (0-1); T Kerr, J McCarron (1-1), P McKenna (0-1); D Garland (1-4, 0-2 frees), D Hughes 0-1, D Connolly
Subs: S Garland for R Beggan, D Ward for J McCarron, J Mealiff (0-1) for O Coyle, D McArdle for R Wylie, F Connolly for D Hughes, S Finnegan for F Kelly.
Queen’s University: J Deeney; N Keenan, P Murdock, K McDonnell; C Murphy (0-2) J McMahon, A Fegan (0-1): S Heffron, L Oliver; C O’Neill, C Donaghy, D McKeever, T Rushe, R Burns (0-2, 0-1 free), C Harney (0-1).
Subs: E Fyfe for T Rushe, A Hasson for J Deeney, P O’Hagan for C Donaghy, E Deane for P Murdock, B Heavron for N Keenan, E Mallon (0-1) for R Burns.
Referee: P Clarke (Cavan)
