ULSTER MINOR HURLING SHIELD SEMI FINAL.
Monaghan 1-11, Cavan 0-12.
Monaghan kept on course for an Ulster minor hurling double and they gained a modicum of revenge for an earlier reverse in the league when they dumped Cavan out of the minor hurling championship Shield in this hugely entertaining and at times very exciting game that built to an exhilarating finish in Kingspan Breffni Park 3G on Friday evening last. Cavan enjoyed the better of the exchanges in the opening half as Monaghan struggled to get into their stride and the 3G surface again caused them a few problems but once they got their game together in the final minutes of the opening half they built in momentum in the second half and had that little bit more in reserve although some poor finishing repeatedly kept the door ajar for the home side. Cavan made at least seven changes from the team that had defeated Monaghan in the league a few weeks back and they certainly were the hungrier side in the first half with Stephen Harten dominating in midfield and Neasan Neary and Aden McFarlane causing the Monaghan defence repeated problems. A purple patch between the 13th and 25th minutes saw the home side rattle off five unanswered points to open a six points lead at that stage and it could well have been more but for a couple of near misses and some sterling defensive work by Noel Flood, Cormac McNally and Colm Meegan in particular. An opportunist goal by Tony Forde in the 26th minute kick started a late Monaghan revival and by the halfway stage they had reduced Cavan's lead to the minimum, Cavan 0-8, Monaghan 1-4 at the break. Within a minute of the restart Monaghan were level and went on to take the lead for the second time in the game with a point from a '65 by Niall Garland in the 2nd minute. Thereafter Cavan were playing catch up and they did come back to level the game twice in the final 20 minutes but Monaghan always had the capacity to respond and they sealed victory with two late points from Donal Meegan and a Niall Garland free.
Teams and Scorers: Monaghan: Niall Butler, Noel Flood, Cormac McNally, Cathal McAnespie, Colm Meegan, Raymond McNally, Conor Boyle, Jamie Guinan, Niall Garland 0-3 (1f, '65), Donal Meegan 0-4, Brian Greenan 0-1, Tony Forde 1-1, Brendan McQuaid, Kevin Duffy, Kevin Crawley 0-2. Subs: Aodh Curran for K Duffy, Ciaran McQuaid for B McQuaid.
Cavan: Alex Hamilton, Oidhrinn Reilly, Niall Farrell, Gary Cronin, Shane McCann, Sean McKeogh, Bart Nannery, Ryan Rogers, Stephen Harten 0-6 (3f), Aaron Cosgrove, Neasan Neary 0-3, John Carney 0-1, Caoimhin Carney, Aden McFarlane 0-1, Killian Galligan. Subs: Ryan Smith 0-1 for A Cosgrove, Killian McGoldrick for B Nannery, Patrick Bannon for C Carney, Liam Galligan for S McKeogh, Daniel Reilly for O Reilly. Referee: John Devlin (Tyrone).
REACTION.
Frank Brady was a happy man following his side's victory over Cavan last Wednesday night as he had seen them put in a very spirited effort to book their place in the final. He was also pleased that they had as it were broken the Cavan duck as Cavan had defeated them on their last visit to Breffni Park and also in the minor championship last year. "Yes it is good to break the Cavan duck and it's also good to win here on this pitch because it makes life difficult for players in that in my opinion this 3G surface is not suitable for hurling, I don't care what anyone says. Basically our boys can't hurl to the best of their ability because they cannot lift the ball properly from this surface and they can't strike it properly on the ground the way they are used to and you could be forgiven for thinking that some of those lads had never played hurling before the way they were doing certain things there tonight. But they stuck at it, they dug deep and won the game when it was there to be won coming to the end". Tweet

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