Allianz National Football League Division One: Monaghan 1-10 Donegal 1-9
WHEN you're in a hole, the advice is to stop digging, but Monaghan dug themselves away from the relegation trap-door in dramatic fashion.
Trailing by seven points to no score with only 20 minutes played, the Ulster champions battled back to defeat Donegal again, with corner-back Colin Walshe popping up as the unlikely match-winner in the third minute of added time.
The hosts knew they'd have to win, with at least a point required even if Mayo had slipped to an unlikely home loss to already-relegated Down. However, for a long time it looked like Malachy O'Rourke's men wouldn't even secure a draw. Indeed they didn't even pull level until the 65th minute, when captain Conor McManus kicked his sixth score, his fifth from a free.
It seemed that their chance of victory might have gone just before the end of normal time when Kieran Hughes kicked a free narrowly wide of the far post. Manager Malachy O'Rourke queried that call, commenting: "From where I was standing, and even the crowd seemed to think, that Kieran's free was over the bar, but it wasn't given."
Yet win they did thanks to Walshe, improbably taking a pass from full-back Drew Wylie after substitute Owen Duffy had turned over possession in the Donegal half, and racing forward before coolly clipping the ball over the bar.
"We knew at that stage that Cork had lost," said O'Rourke… "It was just great that we had the character and composure to win the game, that was very pleasing."
The Fermanagh native quibbled about a few other refereeing decisions, but then said with a smile: "As long as we won, we'll not complain that much."
While Monaghan ended a four-game losing streak, Donegal moved onto that unwanted tally, but go into the semi-finals - against Dublin - despite their slump. Their boss Rory Gallagher insisted he wasn't too worried about that, pointing to the close nature of their recent defeats: "We'd have liked to win again but going into the stretch in the last few rounds there's only been a couple of points in it with two or three minutes to go."
However, he acknowledged that only scoring two second points was a poor return: "We'd be disappointed in that, we missed long range frees that we'd normally get and points from play."
Even before the break there were signs that Donegal were starting to mis-fire, albeit after their flying start: "I was disappointed at the goal we gave away and we'd missed a lot of chances, we should have been more than three up, for sure.
"We came out and I thought we were very positive, created a lot of chances…The game swung very much in the second-half. Monaghan upped the ante a lot in the second half. They looked hungrier, their need was greater, and I suppose that was marginally it."
Probably, the key score of this contest was Monaghan's first, not only because it did not come until the 21st minute but also because it was a goal and a very rapid response to Donegal's own major score.
There were shades of Donegal's bookies-bashing destruction of Dublin in the 2014 All-Ireland semi-final, as Martin McElhinney raced onto to a broken ball around midfield, from a Monaghan kick-out, exchanged hand-passes with Leo McLoone, and fired to the net to put his side 1-4 to 0-0 ahead.
Monaghan had been unable to deal with Donegal's defenders, neither finding a way through their multi-sweeper system nor coping with their backs' forward forays, not only from the likes of Ryan McHugh and Anthony Thompson but also Paddy McGrath and Neil McGee on occasions.
Rory Beggan was also struggling to find colleagues, or even keep the ball in, as Donegal pressurised his kick-outs. The Farney men seemed in serious trouble but Neil McAdam then embarked on a powerful burst and, after a 1-2 with Dermot Malone, found Daniel McKenna. His first effort was weak, but when the ball came back to him from goalkeeper Mark Anthony McGinley's parry he calmly guided it into the net.
It was nip and tuck after that, with Monaghan unable to reduce their deficit by much, with McGinley tipping over a shot from Darren Hughes, and despite a great catch, turn, and score by McManus.
Michael Murphy, briefly escaping the attentions of Vinny Corey, dinked a low shot inches wide for Donegal but Paddy McBrearty did put them 1-7 to 1-4 up at the break.
Monaghan continued to find it hard to narrow the gap, and indeed needed diving blocks from Ryan Wylie and Walshe to prevent Donegal pulling further clear. The visitors weren't helped by the loss of the deep-lying Eoin McHugh to a hamstring pull midway through the second half and Thompson's fine score moments later proved to be Donegal's last.
Monaghan gradually chipped away at their lead, with two of their half-backs, Fintan Kelly and Karl O'Connell, combining to set up Ryan McAnespie for a point, and McManus then converted frees for fouls on Corey and sub Thomas Kerr to level matters. Kieran Hughes just failed to put them in front but Walshe got forward to seal victory, just as he had done in the Championship against Cavan last year.
Monaghan remain in the top flight, where they will meet the Breffni men next year, along with Tyrone and Donegal, and O'Rourke admitted that was important: "There's no doubt it means an awful lot.
"We've tried different fellas during the league, different style of play - you have to make most out of playing in the first division. You're playing against quality teams every day you go out.
"There's a lot of young fellas coming through, and a lot who worked seriously hard to get into the first division, so we didn't want to give it up without a fight – just delighted to stay in it."
Donegal must now lift themselves to take on runaway divisional winners Dublin, but with a long wait until their Ulster SFC bow Gallagher is ready for the challenge: "We'd figured even with a win it would be the Dubs, so we'll deal with that."
MATCH STATS
Monaghan: R Beggan; C Walshe (0-1), D Wylie, R Wylie; D Mone, F Kelly, K O'Connell; N McAdam, V Corey; D Hughes (0-1), D Malone, K Hughes; R McAnespie (0-1), D McKenna (1-1), C McManus (capt.) (0-6, 0-5 frees); Substitutes: T Kerr for Mone (48); O Duffy for Malone (53); C McCarthy for McKenna (60); Yellow cards: R Wylie (36, first half); Malone (49).
Donegal: MA McGinley; P McGrath, N McGee, H McFadden; R McHugh (0-1), A Thompson (0-1), F McGlynn; M Murphy (capt.) (0-3, 0-2 frees, 0-1 '45'), O Mac Niallais (0-1); R Kavanagh, L McLoone, M O'Reilly; P McBrearty (0-2, 0-1 free), M McElhinney (1-0), E McHugh (0-1). Substitutes: C McFadden for E McHugh (inj,, 53); E McGee for O'Reilly (60); C Toye for McLoone (64); S McBrearty for McElhinney (66); E Doherty for N McGee (black card, 69); M McHugh for H McFadden (black card, 74); Black cards: N McGee (69); H McFadden (74).
Referee: R Hickey (Clare).
