Allianz Football League Division One round five
Galway 1-13 Monaghan 0-10
ANOTHER topsy-turvy afternoon in the snakes and ladders world of Division One football left Galway on the up and Monaghan dragged back into the relegation drop zone.
Johnny Heaney’s goal seven minutes from the end of normal time proved defining after the Tribesmen steadied the ship and turned in a dominant second half despite losing Peter Cooke to a straight red card.
Further positives for the winners arrived in Shane Walsh’s first appearance of the League campaign plus an ability to see out a tight finish, a charge so often levelled against Padraic Joyce’s side over the past year.
Back-to-back wins over Donegal and Roscommon sent Monaghan shooting up the table, but a sub-par showing in Salthill, allied to results elsewhere, leaves them seventh in the standings and fighting for their top-flight status with two rounds to go.
Rory Beggan’s dead ball accuracy was their chief source of scores on a forgettable day in front of the posts. Though an 0-8 to 0-7 interval lead was improved upon after the restart, their accuracy deserted them thereafter and a solitary point, Beggan’s fourth, was all that followed in the closing 40 or so minutes.
“Second half just wasn’t good enough,” Monaghan manager Vinny Corey said.
“We knew the second half was going to be difficult because the wind was picking up all the time, but we did have a spare man to help balance that out.
“We had eight or nine wides, with three or four dropped short. The longer that went on, the more deflating it was. Then we gave away a real bad goal. There was two points in it at that stage. Once Galway went five clear with that breeze at their backs, it was going to be difficult after that.”
Monaghan’s first-half tally came courtesy of two early Sean Jones scores, a couple of distance frees from Beggan, Conor McCarthy, Killian Lavalle, Michael Bannigan and a beauty from Dessie Ward.
The ageless Paul Conroy, Rob Finnerty and Matthew Tierney all notched three points apiece on the day, and along with Cooke accounted for Galway’s return into the wind in the opening 35 minutes.
The hosts would have been in the box seat had they a full complement. Instead, it
was back in the melting pot after Cooke’s first-half injury-time dismissal for his involvement in an off-the-ball incident with Bannigan – a decision his manager didn’t contest.
“I’d no issue,” Padraic Joyce said. “I spoke to Conor [Lane] after the game, it was one those entanglements where ‘who pulled who down?’
“They should have got up and got away from it. He (Bannigan) was nearly away and Peter fell on him again with his knees. It probably looked worse than what it was, it was a bit innocuous. It happened, there’s nothing we can do about it.”
Despite playing the entire second half with 14 men, Galway would outscore the visitors by 1-6 to 0-2 from there to the finish.
Walsh and fellow Allstar Cillian McDaid came off the bench and leaders stepped up with defenders John Daly and Sean Kelly both breaking forward for key scores.
Johnny Heaney added another and though Beggan’s fourth of the day levelled matters for the sixth and final time, a far more efficient Galway soon pulled clear.
Back-to-back Finnerty points opened daylight before the match-winning moment came on 63 minutes when Cathal Sweeney latched onto a break inside the Monaghan square and supplied the in-rushing Heaney to finish and seal victory.
Galway: C Gleeson; J McGrath, E Kelly, S Kelly (0-1); D McHugh, J Daly (0-1),
D O’Flaherty; P Conroy (0-3, 0-2 frees), M Tierney (0-3, 0-2 frees); Paul Kelly,
J Heaney (1-1), P Cooke (0-1); Patrick Kelly, R Finnerty (0-3), C Sweeney.
Subs S Walsh for Patrick Kelly (42); C McDaid for Paul Kelly (53), J Maher for O’Flaherty (64), C Hernon for Sweeney (70+3), R Monaghan for Finnerty (70+5).
Monaghan: R Beggan (0-4, 0-4 frees); R Wylie, R O’Toole, T McPhillips; C Boyle,
D Ward (0-1), K Duffy; D Hughes, K Lavelle (0-1); S O’Hanlon, M Bannigan (0-1), C McCarthy (0-1, free); K Gallagher, S Jones (0-2), F Kelly
Subs: S Carey for Kelly (h-t), K O’Connell for Wylie (41), C McManus for Jones (48), K Hughes for Gallagher (66), C Lennon for D Hughes (70+3).
Referee: C Lane (Cork)
