Ulster SFC semi-final
Monaghan v Down (Saturday, Athletic Grounds, 7pm, live on RTÉ2 and BBC2NI)
WHEN there were 19 points to separate them from Monaghan last year, it was the very bottom of the well for Down.
Absolutely drained of confidence, they put up a spirited first half but folded in the second half when the legs gave out. When that happens, Clones can be the most unforgiving territory.
Twelve months on, there are no delusions of the grandeur of old but the chests have been stuck out that bit more since they put manners on Armagh.
The demons of last year’s 2-22 to 0-9 loss to Monaghan will not have been far from the surface the past few weeks. If Down can harness the pain and leave down the hurt, it’s perhaps no harm.
They need to keep them away. A good start, an early lead even, anything at all that will push the thoughts of “here we go again” right to the back of their minds.
Last year they were without the Johnston brothers and Caolan Mooney.
Those absences effectively robbed them of the tools with which to really trouble Monaghan. Pace and legs are everything in the modern game and to be shorn three of their quickest players left Éamonn Burns with no real hope.
Mooney has returned to the fold and the Kilcoo pair are both back after missing most of this year’s League as well through injury.
Niall Donnelly’s introduction to the team for the Armagh game seemed to solve a lot of their problems all at once.
Right throughout the League, Down had an issue winning primary possession. It was a huge part of their undoing in games.
Opposition teams were squeezing up quickly on the restart and Down lacked the aerial presence in the middle to win 50-50 ball. Donnelly changed that with a dominant display against Armagh.
The sight of him crumpling to the ground midway through the second half that day was a real concern but his injury wasn’t as bad as feared and he looks set to be fit for tonight’s game.
With Donnelly fit, Burns has made just one change – Joe Murphy for Peter Turley. It’s funny how one game can throw a completely different light on to a team.
Suddenly there are reports of players putting their hands up for selection at every turn. Donal O’Hare scored 1-4 in a challenge game last week. Mark Poland is reported to be going well. David McKibben kicked 0-11 from midfield in a superb display for Bryansford against Kilcoo recently.
They are, however, likely to be without Barry O’Hagan after he suffered a shoulder injury in a recent club game. That is a dent to their resources in an area that will be crucial against Monaghan.
Down’s transitional play on the counter against Armagh was at times impressive but it was often let down in the final third.
In the second half when they were dictating the game, Armagh left James Morgan and Aaron McKay all on their own with 60 yards of space to defend.
The quality of service going in wasn’t perfect but it was winnable. Not enough of it stuck.
Down’s forward line enjoyed much more joy in the first half but it was before Armagh sorted out the defensive match-ups that caused them so much strife.
Monaghan will not leave their full-back line anywhere near as exposed as Armagh did and in the Wylie brothers, they have specialists in disruption.
Assuming that Darren Hughes does start (even though he is not named to), they will set up with a wall of three sweepers when they are defending.
After struggling with Conor Maginn last year, Malachy O’Rourke will ensure Vinny Corey has a free role. Hughes will drop off and Gavin Doogan, whose contribution to Monaghan’s defensive work is huge, will create the barrier.
Drew Wylie is most likely to face Connaire Harrison, with Ryan Wylie on Jerome Johnston. Darren Hughes could play as a free man if Neil McAdam again goes to midfield to try and limit Niall Donnelly’s aerial influence.
That David Coldrick is the referee does not appear to suit Down. Monaghan are renowned for the power in their tackling inside their own 45.
Coldrick, like David Gough last weekend, is a referee whose tendency is to allow the contact and come down on the side of the defender.
If Down try to run down the middle, they will be reliant on the same thing that kept Cavan in the game against Monaghan – a succession of scoreable frees. Coldrick will probably not give them.
After conceding just eight frees in the whole game last weekend, Tyrone set the bar very high in terms of defensive discipline. You can be sure it was one of the central tenets of Malachy O’Rourke’s work since the win in Breffni Park.
That they emerged victorious was largely down to Conor McManus, whose goal finally muscled his side into some clear daylight after a claustrophobic 59 minutes. He also hit four points.
Gerard McGovern kept him scoreless and frustrated for 43 minutes in last year’s meeting before Monaghan cut loose. Even still, McManus got just two scores from play.
And it has been a feature of Monaghan games of late that he can cut a frustrated figure until they build a lead and open up some space for him.
Jack McCarron has been straining to get to Championship pace after a headlining National League, and was off-key with a few efforts last time out.
After a robust display against Jamie Clarke, the tight-marking Darren O’Hagan – scorer of the winning point when these sides met in a remarkable 2012 semi-final – will have no fear of going toe-to-toe.
Even without Benny McArdle and Ryan McAleenan, Down will carry a degree of defensive confidence. They closed up the middle well in the second half against Armagh, but they were fortunate too that their opponents’ shooting was woeful.
Down have enough individual quality that they can cause Monaghan trouble in certain areas. They are a massively improved unit over the last three months.
But it’s still unlikely to be enough. You can carve the game up 100 different ways and still the result that’s spat back is a Monaghan victory.
It won’t be by the same margin or with the comfort of last year, but they are simply too let a July shot at Tyrone slip.
MAN OF THE MOMENT
Owen Duffy (Monaghan)
WHEN Monaghan met Down last summer, Owen Duffy suffered a fate that has befallen him all too often. Named to start, Conor McCarthy replaced him before throw-in and nobody really batted an eyelid. That will not happen this evening. This will be only the third time since his debut season of 2011 that the Latton man will have started consecutive Championship games. This will be just his eighth start, yet in the last two years he has contributed 1-15 – some 1-8 of it from the bench. His displays against Fermanagh, where he kicked 0-3 as a second half sub, and Cavan, where he scored 0-4 in a man of the match performance, have made it absolutely impossible for O’Rourke to leave him out.
TEAM TALK
Monaghan: R Beggan; F Kelly, D Wylie, R Wylie; C Walshe, V Corey, N McAdam; K Hughes, K O’Connell; G Doogan, K Duffy, O Duffy; D Malone, J McCarron, C McManus; Subs: C Forde, D Mone, J Mealiff, B Greenan, D Ward, R McAnespie, D Hughes, T Kerr, S Carey, C McCarthy, D Freeman
MALACHY O’Rourke has named the same 15 that actually started against Cavan as opposed to the team named before the game. It remains likely that he will find a home for a fit-again Darren Hughes in his starting line-up, with Kieran Duffy or Dermot Malone most likely to find their position under threat. Conor McCarthy and Ryan McAnespie both have to be content with a spot on the bench again, while Dessie Mone has also been able to force his way back in – a healthy sign of the growing depth of their squad.
Down: M Cunningham; A Doherty, G McGovern, D O’Hagan; D O’Hanlon, C McGovern, C Mooney; K McKernan, N Donnelly; J Murphy, C Maginn, S Millar; J Johnston, R Johnston, C Harrison
THERE’S one change to Eamonn Burns’ side, with Joe Murphy replacing midfielder Peter Turley. Murphy comes into the half-forward line with Kevin McKernan moving to midfield, though whether he plays there is another matter. It’s quite possible that Anthony Doherty, a midfielder by trade at club level, could go there and allow McKernan to resume his usual sweeping role. The news that McKernan and Niall Donnelly are both fit is a major plus but they have lost livewire Barry O’Hagan, potentially for the rest of the season, after he suffered a shoulder injury in a recent club game. Donal O’Hare put his hand up for selection with 1-4 in a challenge game last week, while Mark Poland is understood to have been going well in training. David McKibben also kicked 0-11 (0-9 frees) from midfield for Bryansford against Kilcoo recently.
TACTICAL TAKE
Monaghan
WITH all eyes taken by Tyrone’s dynamic display last weekend, there will be interest to see how Monaghan respond. They seldom deviate from their well-laid plans. Their half-forward line will come right back inside their own 45, where they set up an effective wall against Cavan that was only let down by some sloppy tackling. They will be keen not to hand Down soft frees by making that mistake again. If Down set up as they did in the second half against Armagh, Monaghan will have to revert to the tried and trusted method of circumventing the ranks by keeping the play wide and moving the ball quickly with the boot.
Down
ONE of the most impressive facets of their win over Armagh was their ability to adapt. They had been very open in the first half but completely shut up shop, and effectively so, in the second. The latter gameplan is likely to be the one they adopt from the opening minutes of this semi-final in a bid to shut out an exceptionally dangerous Monaghan full-forward line. Many elements of their counter-attacking game worked well against Armagh but a big letdown was how much ball stuck in the inside forward line. There is no shortage of pace but they will need a bit more panache and power to unpick Monaghan’s line of three sweepers across their own 45.
KEY BATTLE
Conor McManus (Monaghan( v Gerard McGovern (Down)
ONE cause for genuine optimism among the Down ranks is Gerard McGovern’s track record against Conor McManus. He managed to keep the game’s top forward scoreless from play for 43 minutes in Clones last year before the game completely got away from Down and the space became impossible for him to deal with. The Burren clubman has the agility to match McManus’s movement, but if the Clontibret forward picks up where he left off against Cavan then he could cause more trouble than last June. McGovern will have Kevin McKernan in front for support and his positioning will be crucial.
WEATHER WATCH
THE sun might even break out for a while just in time to bathe what’s sure to be a healthy crowd in the Athletic Grounds. The least it will be is dry and while temperatures might be slightly short of t-shirt and shorts weather for the spectators, the 13 degrees forecast should be pretty much perfect for football.
LAST CHAMPIONSHIP MEETING
2016 Ulster SFC quarter-final: Monaghan 0-22 Down 0-9
THIS game was over long before referee Conor Lane ended Down’s agony after five needless minutes of injury-time. On a dark day for the county, the routed Mournemen suffered the second biggest defeat in their Championship history.
In the first half Down had done as well as their fans could have expected, but by the finish they had been ripped to shreds like they must have feared.
Just before the final whistle, Dick Clerkin took his time to register Monaghan’s 13th point of a one-sided second half procession that also included well-taken goals from Kieran Hughes and Owen Duffy.
Down – outplayed and outmuscled – could muster just three points in the second half, all from substitute Donal O’Hare and the loss of midfielder Peter Turley to a deserved black card after a reckless tackle on Darren Hughes (inset) just after the break was a mortal blow to the side.
PREVIOUS CHAMPIONSHIP MEETINGS
2016 Ulster SFC quarter-final: Monaghan 0-22 Down 0-9
2012 Ulster SFC semi-final: Down 1-14 Monaghan 1-13
2007 Ulster SFC quarter-final: Down 1-15 Monaghan 2-15
2003 Ulster SFC semi-final: Down 1-12 Monaghan 0-13
1996 Ulster SFC quarter-final: Monaghan 0-9 Down 0-14
1994 Ulster SFC semi-final: Down 0-14 Monaghan 0-8
1990 Ulster SFC quarter-final: Down 3-11 Monaghan 1-12
1989 Ulster SFC quarter-final: Monaghan 0-9 Down 1-14
1988 Ulster SFC semi-final: Monaghan 1-11 Down 0-9
1986 Ulster SFC quarter-final replay: Down 2-11 Monaghan 0-11
WHO'S THE REF
David Coldrick (Meath)
THE most experienced member of the current inter-county referees’ panel, the Meath man has refereed three All-Ireland finals and is no stranger to big games in the Ulster Championship. He had been due to take charge of Tyrone’s win over Donegal last weekend but had to withdraw through injury. Has a similar attitude to the physical side of the game as the man that replaced him, David Gough, which may well play into Monaghan’s hands.
BETTING BOX
Match odds: Monaghan 1/4 v Down 4/1; Draw 10/1
Match Handicap: Monaghan (-5) 11/10 v Down (+5) 10/11; Draw (-5) 10/1
First goalscorer: No goalscorer 5/1; Conor McManus 11/2; Jack McCarron 7/1; Jerome Johnston 9/1
