Cavan 1-10
Monaghan 1-9

by Shane Corrigan
at Brewster Park

Fourteen-man Cavan staged a dramatic finish to book their place into this year's Cadbury's Ulster Under 21 Football Championship final at the expense of neighbours Monaghan this afternoon at Enniskillen.

After shooting an unanswered 1-5 in the opening quarter, the Breffni men looked done for after they surrendered their lead at the same stage of the second-half when David Miller found the net for Monaghan moments after James McEnroe had been sent off for the Blues.

However, no-one at Brewster Park was left in doubt about the spirit of this Cavan team as they finished with a flurry which saw the awesome David Givney sail over a brilliant winner a minute from time to set-up a provincial final date with Donegal this Wednesday night at the same venue.

Terry Hyland's team had raced out of the traps for this derby, opening the scoring 30 seconds in through a Niall McDermott free before Conor McClarey collected Declan McKiernan's pass and found the corner of the Farney net in the next attack.

Points from McKiernan (2), McDermott and Brendan Fitzpatrick saw the winners move eight clear after 13 minutes of play, as Monaghan got their first accurate response when county senior Kieran Hughes sent one over from the left wing. Two Donal Hahessy frees quickly followed and when Christopher McGuinness ripped through the centre to tap over the difference was suddenly down to four with eight minutes left in the half.

While Cavan squandered chances, Monaghan worked on getting back into touch and only a score stood between the teams at the interval when a McGuinness free closed the half at 1-5 to 0-5.

A minute into the restart and Monaghan looked set to pick up where they left off when half-time substitute Peter O'Hara cut in to raise a white flag, before Dermot Malone made it a one-point game when he obliged Darren Daly's brave run from full-back with his team's seventh point.

Cavan grabbed two crucial scores afterwards through McKiernan (free) and Barry Reilly to stem the tide, but allowed Hahessy yards of space in behind moments later to leave Seamus McEnaney's side within two points.

Daniel McNally - a replacement at full-forward for Patrick Tavey - landed an uplifting score soon after taking his position on the field. Then on 45 minutes, Cavan were dealt a massive double blow when McEnroe saw red for dragging down Malone and from the resultant free Monaghan carried possession forward as far as Miller, who found the corner of Martin Smith's net from close range.

Crucially, Cavan never panicked and regained their foothold at centre-field through Gearoid McKiernan and Givney, with the latter breaking possession for Brendan Fitzpatrick to race on to and the Belturbet ace smashed over, before substitute Robert Maloney-Derham drew level with a drilled effort 40 metres out.

In a nervy finish, it was 'Man of the Match' Givney who came up trumps in the end after Darragh Tighe, who was superb throughout, bravely carried possession out of defence and offloaded to Killeshandra club-mate Declan McKiernan, who in turn found the midfielder through the centre where there was only one result once he got his shot away.

Cavan - M Smith; P Carroll, R Dunne, D Tighe; D Graham, J McEnroe, T O'Reilly, G McKiernan, D Givney (0-1); N Smith, N McDermott (0-2, 1f), B Reilly (0-1); B Fitzpatrick (0-2), D McKiernan (0-3, 2f), C McClarey (1-0). Subs: O Minagh for P Carroll, R Maloney-Derham (0-1) for N Smith, N Smith for C McClarey.

Monaghan - E McArdle; M Reilly, D Daly, C Galligan; C Walshe, K Duffy, D Hughes; G McArdle, K Hughes (0-1); D Hahessy (0-3, 2f), D Malone (0-1), B McArdle; C McGuinness (0-2, 1f), P Tavey, D Miller (1-0). Subs: P O'Hara (0-1) for G McArdle, D McNally (0-1) for P Tavey, G McArdle for D Hahessy, K Hill for D Miller.

Ref: E McConnell (Tyrone) Tweet

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