Monaghan 2-20, Antrim 0-9.

Monaghan made it 2 wins from 2 outings when they cantered to a comprehensive victory over Antrim in this fairly low-key affair that was played in the fairly confined spaces of the St Josephs Club grounds in Glenavy on Sunday last. Malachy O'Rourke made 7 changes from the team that started against Fermanagh a week previous but Monaghan still proved too strong in every department and in all aspects of play for a fairly beleaguered Antrim side in what was overall a fairly one sided affair particularly in the second-half. Monaghan were never headed in the entire contest after Micheal Bannigan opened the scoring after just a minute, then going on to lead by 9 points at half-time, 1-9 to 0-3. Antrim put in an industrious start to the second-half and reeled off 3 quick fire points but that was as good as it was to get as Monaghan took an increasing grip on proceedings and despite using the second-half to empty their bench they never looked like being overtaken as the one sided nature of the game continued. It was encouraging though that 7 points of Monaghan's total came from their substitutes, Conor McCarthy and Barry McGinn with 5 points between them, both underlining their burgeoning potential. A 2nd goal from a penalty entering the final 10 minutes was the icing on the cake and Monaghan might well have had at least another goal in the final minutes but in the final analysis 17 points separated the sides at the final whistle. As happened on Sunday last against Fermanagh Monaghan finished the game with 14 players when corner back Niall McKeown was dismissed for a 2nd bookable offence. Teams and Scorers: Monaghan: Conor Forde, Owen Coyle, Drew Wylie, Niall McKeown,  Kieran Duffy, Neil McAdam 0-1, Colin Walshe 1-1, Brian Greenan, Kieran Hughes 0-5 (4f), Karl O'Connell, Karl McQuaid 0-1, Shane Carey 1-3 (1-0pen, 0-1f), Dermot Malone, Thomas Kerr 0-1, Micheal Bannigan 0-1. Subs: Subs: Barry McGinn 0-2 for M Bannigan, Niall Kearns 0-1 for B Greenan, Conor McCarthy 0-3 for T Kerr, Ryan Wylie 0-1 for D Wylie, Stephen McCabe for K O'Connell, Aaron Lynch for K Hughes.  

Antrim: Chris Kerr, Conor Hamill, Patrick Gallagher, Niall DeLargy, Eunan  Walsh, James Laverty, Paddy McBride, Stephen Beatty, Kevin Niblock, Declan Lynch, Ruairi Scott 0-3, Ryan Murray 0-1 (f), Seamus McGarry 0-3, Stephen Tully, Conor Small 0-1. Subs: Pat Brannigan for N DeLargy, Conor Murray for K Niblock, Tomas McCann 0-2 (1f) for S Tully,Oisin Lenahan for E Walsh, Ruairi McCann for S Beatty.

Referee: Ciaran Brannigan (Down). 

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