Pipped in injury time
January 20, 2012Armagh 0-13, Monaghan 0-12.
Monaghan were the victims of a somewhat controversial injury time winner for the home side when they took on Armagh in the final round of the Power NI Dr McKenna Cup on Wednesday evening last in the Morgan Athletic Grounds. The score that clinched victory on this occasion for the home side was a point from a free by substitute Paul Carville in the fourth minute of stoppage time. By then Monaghan should have had the result wrapped up, Armagh had been reduced to 14 players with the second yellow card dismissal of James Lavery in the 17th minute of the second-half but missed opportunities and a couple of players taking the wrong option when in close-in scoring positions let the home side off the hook. Against that though this was a vastly improved performance on the game against Down in Clones the previous Sunday as Monaghan were full of running and inventive play and with a little bit more luck in front of the ports could have been out of sight by the time Armagh struck for their late winner.
The sides were level at 0-6 each at half time and level twice in the closing minutes before Armagh struck for the winner in the 39th minute.
Teams and Scorers: Armagh: Sean Hughes, Brendan Donaghy, Charlie Vernon, Declan McKenna, Paul Duffy, Ciaran McKeever, Finnian Moriarty 0-1, Malachy Mackin, James Lavery, David Lavery 0-1, Brian Mallon, Anto Duffy 0-2, Ryan Rafferty, Gareth Swift, Eugene McVerry 0-5 (3f). Subs: Peter Carragher for G Swift, Colm Watters 0-1 for B Mallon, Andy Mallon for D Lavery, Paul Carville 0-3 (3f) for R Rafferty.
Monaghan: Rory Beggan, Carl O'Connell, Darren Hughes, Dermot Malone, Ronan McNally, Vincent Corey, Donal Morgan, David Hughes, James Turley, Matthew McKenna, Owen Duffy 0-3, Stephen Gollogly 0-1 (f), Ciaran Hanratty, Paul Finlay 0-8 (3f), David Millar. Subs: Bernard O'Brien for M McKenna, Christopher McGuinness for C Hanratty, Shane Smyth for C O'Connell. Referee: Martin Higgins (Fermanagh). Tweet
