Minor hurlers complete double
May 11, 2012Monaghan 2-11, Fermanagh 2-5.
Monaghan completed an Ulster minor hurling double when they added the minor championship Shield at the expense of a battling Fermanagh in Clones on Wednesday night last to the league division 2 title that they won a couple of weeks back.
Played in ideal conditions this was a game where Monaghan led from the start after Brian Greenan got them on their way with a goal after just three minutes and but for a couple of brief periods they dominated play throughout. Monaghan went on to lead at half-time by 2-4 to 1-3, Monaghan's second goal from the stick of Niall Garland in the 15th minute with Matthew Martin pulling a goal back for Fermanagh a minute into stoppage time. Monaghan started the second half with renewed purpose and four unanswered points in the opening 10 minutes from Brendan McQuaid, Brian Greenan, Kevin Crawley and man of the match Niall Garland had them eight points in front and looking like winners. A second goal for Fermanagh by Tommy Cleary though threw the visitors a life line and brought the margin down to five points. Monaghan replied with a point from a Niall Garland free but Fermanagh now mounted a period of strong pressure that saw them reduce the deficit to four points by the 23rd minute with two points, both from frees by Ciaran Corrigan, but Monaghan rallied in the closing stages for two points from Niall Garland to clinch a thoroughly deserved victory.
Teams and Scorers: Monaghan: Niall Butler, Noel Flood, Cormac McNally, Cathal McAnespie, Colm Meegan, Kevin Crawley 0-1, Conor Boyle, Jamie Guinan, Raymond McNally, Donal Meegan, Brian Greenan 1-1, Niall Garland 1-8 (0-4f), Tony Forde, Kevin Duffy, Brendan McQuaid 0-1. Subs: Aodh Curran for K Duffy, Conor Treanor for T Forde, Shane Mooney for B McQuaid, Michael O'Dowd for R McNally.
Fermanagh: Colm McPhillips, Liam Mullarkey, Cathal Caulfield, Joseph Gavin, David Teague, Barrai Duffy. Matthew Martin 1-1, Tommy Cleary 1-1, Ryan Maguire, Michael O' Hara, Ciaran Corrigan 0-3 (2f), Chris Corry, Vincent Woods, Conor Durnien, Michael Williamson. Subs: Martin Beagan for M Williamson, Finbar Delea for L Mullarkey, Daniel Goodwin for V Woods. Referee: Brendan Sweeney (Cavan).
REACTION.
Monaghan manager Frank Brady immediately agreed that with the double of league and championship completed it was something that gave everyone concerned a lot of satisfaction. He also paid the highest tribute to his players who he said had performed admirably despite a busy schedule that saw them being involved in club football games as well as team training while their opponents had been given two weeks free of fixtures by the Fermanagh County board to help them prepare for the decider.
"Yes it's very satisfying but these are great lads, great hurlers and they showed great commitment and great passion there tonight. It's a great achievement for them because we have now beaten all of the teams in this competition some of them on a couple of occasions so the plan now is to go on and try and build on this and do well in the All Ireland Minor "C" championship".
TEAM CAPTAIN Jamie Guinan said it was "brilliant and it is a great achievement to win the Ulster Shield and I want to thanks the lads because we only achieved this working together as a team and it's great to be in this position. It was such a great feeling when we won the league but after winning the league it is an even greater achievement to win the double. That was our goal at the start of the year and hopefully we can progress from now and after the break for the Leaving Certificate we can go on to the All Ireland "C" and make further progress there". Tweet
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