ULSTER MINOR FOOTBALL LEAGUE

Armagh 0-10
Monaghan 0-8

Monaghan were unsuccessful in their bid to get off to a winning start in this year's Ulster Minor football league when they came up short by two points against Armagh in their opening game in Cullyhanna on Saturday last. Monaghan were forced to play all but 12 minutes of the second-half with 14 players following the dismissal of Owen Coyle on a second yellow card approaching the end of the third quarter. For a time it was a handicap they made light of and catually carried the game to Armagh but ultimately the extra man proved crucial as Armagh held out for what was overall probably a deserved victory in a helter-skelter finish. Armagh had much the better of things in the opening half even though Monaghan were first to score and they maintained that dominance in the early stages of the second-half at which stage Monaghan were reduced numerically. As so often happens though the team that has a player sent off is galvanised into action and Monaghan did mount a strong period thereafter to bring the margin down to two but ultimately they were unable to make the vital breakthrough for the scores that could have salvaged a draw in the closing stages. Armagh's dominance was mostly as a result of their midfield superiority where Paul McGeown had an excellent match and as well as winning vital possession and always distributing to good effect he finished with a personal tally of six points, four from frees. Monaghan were only ahead once in this entire contest and that in the opening minutes when Anthony Mulligan opened the scoring with an excellent point. It took Armagh a little while to settle but when they did they began to dominate in midfield and from that dominance they fashioned three unanswered points, two from Paul McGeown, one from a free and the third by Kaelan Treanor. Monaghan were playing some good football at this stage and by the end of the third quarter they had fought back to parity with points from Liam Hahessy and Thomas Connolly. That however was as good as it was going to get as Armagh took increasing control in the second quarter and the Monaghan defence was repeatedly stretched. Armagh regained the lead with a point from Brendan Toner and they went on to add two further points by Paul McGeown and Aidan Forker to leave the home side three points in front of the break, Armagh 0-6, Monaghan 0-3. On the resumption Armagh picked up where they had left off at the break to maintain their dominance with Paul McGeown rattling over two points from frees to extend their lead to five. Anthony Mulligan pulled back a point for Monaghan but McGeown struck back for a good point from play to restore his side to a five points advantage. Monaghan were struggling to keep in touch with Armagh at this stage and their problems were exacerbated when Owen Coyle picked up a second yellow card in the 12th minute that saw Monaghan reduced to 14 players. To their credit they responded well to this setback and showed great character and now began to carry the game to Armagh and it was the home side who now how to soak up increasing pressure. That pressure paid dividends with Johnny McGuigan, Thomas Connolly and substitute Mel Boyce all picking off points to reduce the margin to two with two minutes of normal time remaining. Playing with the aid of the strong breeze Monaghan continued to pressurise the Armagh citadel but just on the half-hour Armagh lifted the siege to strike for a point on a quick counter attack to give them a little bit of breathing space as the seconds ticked away. Monaghan redoubled their efforts and were back of the attack almost immediately but they now needed a goal to salvage the situation and their only reward was as a point from Cillian Coleman that left two between the sides at the final whistle.
Teams and Scorers: Monaghan: Dean McDermott, Conor Boyle, Owen Coyle, Ciaran McCaffrey, Cillian Coleman (0-1), Patrick McGuigan, Cillian Cromwell, Anthony Mulligan (0-2), Steven Sherry, Johnny McGuigan (0-1), Pete Dooney, Shane Carey, Liam Hahessy (0-1), Thomas Connolly (0-2, 1f), Thomas Kerr. Subs: Darren Coleman for S Carey, Mark McGuigan for C McCaffrey, Mel Boyce (0-1) for L Hahessy, Brendan Woods for T Kerr,
Armagh: Paul McEntee, Lorcan Quinn, Daniel Mone, Ronan Finnegan, Dean Nugent, Mark Davidson, Daniel Rafferty, Peter Carragher, Paul McGeown (0-6, 4f), Aodan Forker (0-1), Brendan Toner (0-1), Micheál McKenna, Kaelan Treanor (0-1), Ryan Conlon (0-1), Eddie English. Subs: Ryan Lewis for A Forker.
Referee: Oliver Quinn (Antrim). Tweet

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