Rewarding League campaign
April 07, 2014Monaghan 0-13
Galway 0-12
by John Graham
A draw would have been sufficient to ensure Monaghan's promotion to division 1 and a place in the division 2 final for the third time in nine years but Paul Finlay put the icing on the cake for what has been a very rewarding league campaign when he clinched victory with a point two minutes into stoppage time, after Galway, who had been reduced to 14 men with the dismissal of goalkeeper, Thomas Healy had fought back to parity having been behind from the opening minutes of the match. Galway came to Clones with five points from their six outings and everything to play for to ensure their survival in division 2 and to their credit they felt they did enough to have at least taken something out of the game but to the victor the spoils and Monaghan now march on to a date with Donegal in Croke Park on April 27th.
Monaghan started brightly and had four points on the board in the opening nine minutes with Galway not registering their first score until the 13th minute with a point from Michael Lundy. Cathal Mulryan added a second when he capitalised on a poor kick out and the sides exchanged points on a number of occasions in the second quarter but Galway could only close the gap to two points twice and Monaghan were well worth their three points half-time lead, Monaghan 0-8, Galway 0-5, with the wind making life difficult for the forwards on both sides.
On the resumption Gary O'Donnell reduced the deficit to two with Michael Martin then finishing off a good counter attack in the seventh minute to leave just one between the sides. Monaghan responded for points by Fintan Kelly and Conor McManus to forge three ahead but by the 15th minute Galway had the margin down to the mini mum again thanks to Michael Martin and Paul Varley. In the early minutes of the final quarter substitute Paul Finlay restored Monaghan to a two points lead with Galway then dealt something of a body blow when keeper Thomas Healy was red carded following an off the ball incident with Conor McManus. Kieran Hughes restored Monaghan to a three points lead in the 22nd minute with an opportunist score but by the end of normal time Galway had drawn level with points by substitutes Adrian Varley and Shane Walsh as well as a point from a free by Paul Conroy. Conroy in fact that two chances from long-range frees to put Galway in front but was off target from both as Monaghan soaked up the pressure in the closing minutes before coming on a counter attack for Paul Finlay to snatch the winner. "Paul was the perfect man to have in that position at that stage as Galway had made life difficult for us but it is nice for the boys to be going to Croke Park now and to have kept our home record intact" said Monaghan manager Malachy O'Rourke.
Teams and Scorers: Monaghan: R Beggan, C Walshe 0-1, D Wylie, F Kelly 0-1, D Mone 0-1, V Corey, K O'Connell, D Clerkin 0-1, P O'Hanlon, G Doogan, S Gollogly 0-1, K Hughes 0-2 (1f), D Malone 0-1, C McGuinness, C McManus 0-3 (2f). Subs: D Hughes for D Clerkin, P Finlay 0-2 for P O'Hanlon, J McCarron for C McGuinness, P Donaghy for S Gollogly, C Galligan for D Mone.
Galway: T Healy, D O'Neill, F Hanley, J Moore, G Bradshaw, G O'Donnell 0-1, P Varley 0-1, J Kavanagh, T Flynn, M Lundy 0-1, E Hoare, C Mulryan 0-1, M Martin 0-3 (1f), P Conroy 0-1 (f), S Armstrong 0-2 (1f). Subs: A Varley 0-1 for E Hoare, M Breathnach for M Martin, S Walsh 0-1 for C Mulryan, D Cummins for M Lundy, K Kelly for F Hanley, M Farragher for S Armstrong.
Referee: A Nolan (Wicklow). Tweet
