All-Ireland SFC Qualifying round four: Laois 1-11 Monaghan 0-19
MONAGHAN are now where they’d always intended to be, yet for every question Jekyll posed yesterday, Hyde had an answer.
They couldn’t have been any better in the first half, and they couldn’t have been any worse in the second.
Which do you give more credence?
Judging by Malachy O’Rourke’s full-time demeanour and the Monaghan management team’s rush to get their players off the pitch in double-quick time, leaving their supporters looking around like lost pups, they only had eyes for the second period.
They kicked 0-14 from 21 shots in the first period, three of which were repelled by Graham Brody in the Laois goal. He’d produce another hat-trick of saves in the second half, a couple of them absolutely superb.
He was quickly out to smother Fintan Kelly with an early effort, and then stood up well to deny Ryan McAnespie at the near post. The Monaghan forward could have gone around him, but even when Karl O’Connell tried that in the second half, the Portlaoise man still managed to go full length for the best of his six stops.
On the whole, Laois couldn’t handle Monaghan’s attack man-for-man, but they didn’t help themselves by giving Shane Carey the keys to their front door and saying ‘on you go’.
Colm Begley dropped off him to go and sweep in the first 20 minutes, but Brian Glynn, who seemed to be detailed to drop back and fulfil the marking job on Carey, was nowhere near him.
The Scotstown man couldn’t have believed his luck, sweeping up three points from play and an assist inside 20 minutes before Laois abandoned the pretence of a sweeper and tried their hand at one-on-one.
Monaghan were sharp across the ground in that respect, just as they have been all summer barring that one afternoon in Omagh.
It was like watching their early season stuff, with three men inside for most of the day. Conor McManus couldn’t be controlled at all, Conor McCarthy buzzed about and was a handful all afternoon, while Jack McCarron’s work on the loop was better than his scoring return suggested, even if his decision-making was erratic.
Karl O’Connell was another offered a generous acreage when he strode into attack, hitting two identical strikes off the outside of the right boot. The second of them made it 0-10 to 0-2, a scoreline which absolutely reflected the tenor of the first 22 minutes.
Drew Wylie kept the noose tight on Donie Kingston, Darren Hughes was effective in a deep position, Niall Kearns was in his element at midfield while Colin Walshe was on plenty of ball as well.
He was also the victim of one of the worst tackles you’ll see when Brian Glynn drew full whack on the ball as the Doohamlet man put his hands to it to pick it up. It was a clear red card, yet he escaped with yellow to a cacophony of annoyance from the sizeable Farney army in the stands.
Evan O’Carroll provided the only real life for Laois, hitting three points from play to add to a superb 45-yard effort off the ground, but even when Paul Kingston fashioned a superbly taken goal out of a rare moment when Laois got a one-on-one inside, there seemed little danger of, well, anything.
Monaghan led by 0-14 to 1-4 at the interval, but that team stayed inside and was replaced by a rag-tag bunch that still had plenty of ball, but kicked just five points as attack after attack broke down.
They were guilty in the early moments of the second half of trying to force a goal, twice passing up easy point-scoring chances to try and raise a green flag. That seemed like the catalyst for a malaise that raged through them like a forest fire.
Nothing was happening but nothing mattered until one, two, three, four Laois scores on the bounce. They’d long since gone man-for-man, with John Sugrue admitting afterwards the sweeper system had hindered rather than helped.
“Maybe it’s a lack of bravery on our behalf as a management team to not go orthodox and play toe-to-toe,” said the Kerry native.
“We decided to be a small bit conservative and add a sweeper, but it just didn’t add to our intensity on the day.”
He was unhappy at some pundits ranking his side 12th out of the 12 sides that made it to the weekend, and lashed out at some “verbal diarrhoea” directed at his team, but given where they came from, it’s hard to know where else you would have ranked them.
Monaghan did respond with a couple of scores to move seven clear again, but when Donie Kingston, Ross Munnelly (free) and Colm Begley kicked scores to bring Laois within four with as many minutes to go, there was an air of excitement among Laois supporters that couldn’t have looked further away for most of the day.
It transpired that it was unfounded, one long ball towards Paul Kingston their best chance but it slipped off his fingertips when he was in behind if he’d gathered.
In everything they did before half-time, Monaghan showed like a side that is far better prepared for Croke Park than they’ve ever been. Despite the second half blip, and the Fermanagh disaster, that still does look like the case.
“If we made the mistakes we made out there next week, we’d be severely punished for them,” was Malachy O’Rourke’s note of caution.
“Everything will have to be a lot better. Kildare showed a lot of pace and power, and Croke Park will suit them.”
Everything Monaghan have done this year has been geared towards Croke Park suiting them a bit better. If it does, then the mental
switch-offs might be all that stand between them and getting out of their group.
Laois: G Brody; D O’Connor, M Timmons, G Dillon; T Collins, C Begley (0-1), D Strong; J O’Loughlin, K Lillis; A Farrell, P Kingston (1-0), B Glynn; R Munnelly (0-3 frees), D Kingston (0-3, 0-2 frees), E O’Carroll (0-4, 0-1 frees)
Subs: B Carroll for A Farrell (h-t), F Crowley for O’Loughlin (42), N Donoher for Glynn (46), E Lowry for P Kingston (50), S Nerny for Strong (61), G Walsh for Munnelly (68)
Blood sub: J Farrell for O’Loughlin (8-12)
Yellow cards: B Glynn (29), E O’Carroll (44)
Monaghan: R Beggan (0-2, 0-1 free, 0-1 45); K Duffy, D Wylie, R Wylie; C Walshe, V Corey, F Kelly (0-1); N Kearns (0-1), D Hughes; R McAnespie (0-2), S Carey (0-3), K O’Connell (0-2); C McCarthy (0-1), J McCarron (0-1), C McManus (0-5, 0-2 frees)
Subs: D Mone for Corey (48), P McKenna (0-1) for Kelly (48), K Hughes for McCarron (52), C Boyle for Walshe (63), N McAdam for D Hughes (63), D Malone for Carey (69)
Blood sub: D Ward for Walshe (31-32)
Yellow cards: C Walshe (9), R McAnespie (69)
Referee: D O’Mahoney (Tipperary)
