Down minor footballers are out of this season's Ulster MFC when on Sunday evening, 20th of May at Plunkett Park, Crossmaglen they went under to a more determined Monaghan side in this quarter-final clash on a scoreline of 1-6 to 2-1. After their impressive defeat of Cavan in the preliminary round the previous week-end much was expected to this Down side but on this occasion they went under by two points in a low-scoring encounter. Down seemed to be on their way to success when they got in for two early goals in the opening five minutes. However, the Farney side regrouped well and for the remainder of the half they more than held their own to go in at the break trailing by 2-0 to 1-1. Monaghan started the second-half in determined fashion and within the opening six minutes they were on level terms. The start of the second-half also saw a change of referee with Antrim's Padraig Mullan coming in to replace Eugene McConnell who had picked up an injury in the opening half. Down tried to regain the initiative in the third quarter but they found the Monaghan defence hard to break with Colm Greenan and Conor Galligan to the fore. Monaghan equalised in the 14th minute, and when they took the lead for the first time in the game from Mark McBride the tide seemed to be going Monaghan's way. The closing minutes of the game were tense to say the least as both sides went in search of scores that could win the tie. In the end, Monaghan held their nerve and a late point from Ciaran Hughes in the 29th minute saw them through to the semi-final and deservedly so. A disappointing result for the Down side and their manager, Mark Turley. They got the perfect start with those two early goals but a lack of cutting edge thereafter in attack proved their downfall. Monaghan continued their improvement from the Ulster Minor League. They are a side who know how to battle, and some of their defensive play in that second-half was of the highest calibre. Monaghan - K. Boyce; D. Farren, C. Greenan, K. Hill; M. McBride 0-1, C. Galligan, K. Hughes; D. Hughes 0-2, E. McArdle; D. Hahessy, M. McDevitt 1-0, B. McArdle; D. Malone, G. White 0-2, D. McNally 0-1. Subs - W. Carroll for D. Hahessy, C. Callan for E. McArdle. Down - K. Gordon; C. Doyle, R. Mallon, N. Higgins; R. Boyle, M. Higgins, R. McGovern; R. Digney, E. Toner; P. Devlin 1-0, C. Poland, B. O'Reilly 0-1; C. Killen 1-0, S. Murdock, G. Trainor. Subs - O. Pyers for S. Murdock; D. Kavanagh for G. Trainor; D. Turley for B. O'Reilly. Referees - Eugene McConnell (Tyrone) and P. Mullan (Antrim). Tweet

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