Ulster Club Senior Football Championship quarter-final: Burren (Down) 0-10 Scotstown (Monaghan) 0-13
IT’S hard to know whether it would have been a travesty had Scotstown lost in Newry yesterday or that they deserved nothing else.
For large swathes of yesterday’s provincial quarter-final, the Monaghan champions were in a different league to their hosts Burren – but somehow the result was still in the melting pot deep into stoppage-time.
A combination of erratic shooting from the visitors and Burren throwing caution to the wind in the final 15 minutes would help explain a manic encounter in Pairc Esler.
As it turned out, Scotstown held their nerve to set up an intriguing semi-final clash with Eoghan Rua, Coleraine in 13 days’ time.
At half-time, Kieran Donnelly’s men should have been a speck in the distance but 13 first-half wides kept Burren on life-support.
Despite their profligacy, Scotstown still carved out a 0-6 to 0-3 interval lead as the Down men struggled with the movement of their visitors and their own kick-outs.
But, fast forward to the last couple of minutes, a now rampant Burren were denied a stonewall penalty that could have put Paddy O’Rourke’s men two points up.
Substitute Ryan Treanor appeared to be hauled to the ground in the area but referee Sean Hurson waved play on.
After 43 minutes of play, Scotstown led 0-11 to 0-4 but saw their advantage whittled down to just one point when Sean Murdock fired over in the 57th minute [0-11 to 0-10].
But Shane Carey and former county ace Donal Morgan hit two killer scores in the 62nd and 66th minutes to finally slay their hosts and advance to the last four.
In a frantic conclusion, Burren substitute David McEntee was red-carded for aiming a head-butt at Scotstown’s Jamie McCarey.
Afterwards, O’Rourke felt Burren’s fate hinged on the penalty claim with a minute of normal time to play.
“To me, it was absolutely blatant,” he said.
“I don't want to be hard on a referee because they have a hard job but if it had have been outside the square it would have been a free in. But because it was in the box, he didn't make the call.
“That's disappointing because I think had we scored that penalty I think we would have been really on top then and we might have went on to win the game.”
Scotstown’s wheels started to buckle when the hugely influential Kieran Hughes was black-carded for an innocuous block on 44 minutes.
“I felt we had a really good first half,” said Scotstown boss Kieran Donnelly.
“I couldn't fault the players because we were keeping the ball well and were getting pockets of space and getting into the scoring zone. Our shot-to-score ratio was poor but our wides were coming from straight in front of the goals.
“So we focused on that and having a big start at the start of the second half, but we knew Burren are a good team and were going to have their period of dominance and when Kieran got the black card that gave them that bit of heart to go at us again and they got a few scores on the board.
"But I felt our lads responded well in the last few minutes and the big players stepped up and demanded the ball which is what you want on these days.”
In the opening half hour, Scotstown looked like world-beaters and Burren sorely out of their depth.
Kieran Hughes, Darren Hughes and Frank Caulfield were virtually impassable at midfield.
Ryan O’Toole was perpetual motion, Conor McCarthy and Shane Carey looked lively in attack, while Allstar goalkeeper Rory Beggan ventured up field on a couple of occasions and actually scored a brilliant point from play after lending the ball to Frank Caulfield.
Kieran Hughes thundered over a trademark score with the outside of his left foot and his county team-mate Shane Carey hit three points in the opening half.
Even allowing for some terrible wides by the Scotstown attack, it didn’t look as though Burren had the quality to test their opponents and looked unsure of themselves on the provincial stage.
But the tide started to turn after Kieran Hughes’ black card while the Burren management team made some decisive tactical changes.
Crucially, Kevin McKernan was freed from his full-back duties and was worth the might of two men to Burren in the second half.
Ryan Treanor was sprung from the bench and his direct running caused the Scotstown defence all sorts of problems.
Donal O’Hare may have dropped one free short in the first half but his heart never skipped a beat when he converted three placed balls in a row between the 46th and 50th minutes to reduce Scotstown’s lead to 0-11 to 0-7.
After a superbly won turnover by McKernan on his own 13-metre line, Burren went down the other end of the field and almost bagged a goal.
The non-stop Ardan McAvoy got on the end of a flowing Burren move but his low shot was turned away by the ever-alert Beggan in Scotstown’s goal.
Cathal Foy, the Burren captain, scored his second point of the day after capitalising on an error by Brendan Boylan before Murdock made this quarter-final a one-point game.
But that's as good as it got for Burren as Scotstown chiselled out a couple of vital scores in stoppage-time to progress.
Burren (Down): C Murdock; S Fegan, K McKernan, A McAvoy; S McArdle, C Cox, C McGovern; D Rooney, C Toner; C Foy (0-2), P Poland, R McGrath; L Kerr, E Toner (0-1), D O’Hare (0-5 frees)
Substitutes: C Burns for C Murdock (h/t), D McEntee for C Cox (h/t), R Treanor (0-1) for P Poland (39), M McAvoy for L Kerr (39), S Murdock (0-1) for R McGrath (45), P Fegan for C Toner (62)
Yellow cards: S Murdock (53), R Treanor (59), S McArdle (60)
Red cards: D McEntee (63)
Scotstown (Monaghan): R Beggan (0-2, 0-1 free); B Boylan, R O’Toole, D McArdle; J McDevitt, D Morgan (0-1), E Caulfield; F Caulfield, K Hughes (0-2); F Maguire (0-2), C McCarthy (0-1 free), J McCarey; S Carey (0-5, 0-2 frees), D Hughes, O Heaphey
Substitutes: R McKenna for O Heaphey (h/t), D McCrudden for F Maguire (56), M McCarville for B Boylan (62)
Yellow cards: D Hughes (34), S Carey (66)
Black cards: K Hughes replaced by P Sherlock (44-45)
Referee: S Hurson (Tyrone)
STAR MAN: Shane Carey (Scotstown)
Kieran Hughes was on his way to a man-of-the-match performance but his black card in the 44th minute cost his side dear. Across the two halves, Shane Carey was the pick of the bunch. He foraged deep and never wasted many possessions and the county star was also on hand to confidently strike the ball over the bar in stoppage-time that virtually sealed the win for his side.
