Donegal and Monaghan played out an absorbing 1-11 to 0-14 draw tonight in a punishing contest at Breffni Park.

Despite having been reduced to 14 men with 15 minutes of normal time left, the Tir Chonail men seemed to have dethroned the Farney County when veteran substitute Christy Toye fisted them ahead in the third minute of added time, but six additional minutes had been announced and All Star attacker Conor McManus's eighth point right at the death ensured his team of another bite at the cherry.

Leading by ten points to seven twelve minutes into the second half, Monaghan were shell-shocked when they trailed by 1-10 to 0-11 with six left, with Odhran MacNiallais netting in the 56th mnute, moments after Martin McElhinney had been dismissed. But they dug deep to salvage a draw in this repeat of the last three Ulster finals. Next weekend's replay will therefore be the fifth championship meeting of these teams in four seasons.

The sides shared twelve points during the course of a hard-fought opening period where no quarter was given or asked. McManus notched four frees for the holders before the break but was kept quiet from open play by Paddy McGrath.

Fintan Kelly and Owen Duffy replaced Dessie Mone and Dermot Malone in the Monaghan starting XV and Donegal started as selected. It was Rory Gallagher's men who got the best start with Karl Lacey fisting the ball over the bar in a matter of seconds.

Michael Murphy pointed either side of one from Shane Carey and the Farney moved two clear thanks to three McManus strikes and one from Conor McCarthy. Amid some major hits, Patrick McBrearty restored Donegal's lead with three successive points - two frees either side of a score created by excellent play from Eoin McHugh.

McManus had the last say of the first half following a foul on McCarthy to leave us 'as we were' at the short whistle.

Mchael Murphy (free) and Duffy swapped the first two points of the second half and Rory Beggan produced a wondersave to deny debutant full back Ciaran Gillespie a Donegal goal. Murphy missed the resultant '45' and McManus then edged the holders ahead with a sensational strike after Ryan McAnespie had blown a glorious Monaghan goal chance, failing to gather possession after being picked out by the high fielding Kieran Hughes.

Midfielder Karl O'Connell smashed over the ninth Monaghan point at the end of a terrific team move, with Murphy uncharacteristically fluffing a couple of scoreable frees either side of that score, 0-9 to 0-7.

The strong-running then O'Connell took a pass from Kieran Hughes to put three between the teams for the first and only time after 47 minutes. After surprisingly missing another Donegal free, McBrearty flashed a goal chance over the bar to reduce the arrears. Monaghan had registered seven wides before the break and now it was their opponents' turn to fluff their lines, McBrearty and Lacey guilty of further misses with the game hanging precariously in the balance.

With 15 minutes remaining, the challengers were reduced to 14 men when McElhinney received a black card to go with his earlier yellow, resulting in a red. But, as so often happens, it was the 14 men who stepped up to the plate as MacNiallais - who netted twice against Fermanagh - got in behind the creaking Monaghan defence to stick the lead goal low to the back of their net, 1-8 to 0-10!

A McCarthy free had the holders level a minute later but a mix-up in the Monaghan defence culminated in a Colin Walshe black card and the lead point from McBrearty (free) nine minutes from time. Substitute Daniel McKenna spurned an opportunity to equalise again and the impressive Eoin McHugh broke clear at the other end to double Donegal's lead on 64 minutes.

A long-range pressure free from Monaghan goalkeeper Rory Beggan drifted to the right and wide and McManus also missed a chance before tying up the scores with a brace of brilliant late frees. Toye appeared to have given Donegal victory when he pointed in the third added minute but in the sixth minute of stoppage time McManus clipped over the score which ensures that these two sides will meet again next weekend.

Tempers flared towards the end and there was a heated exchange between Malachy O'Rourke and Gallagher after the final whistle, with the Farney camp appearing to be incensed by an alleged piece of play-acting from Donegal custodian Mark Anthony McGinley.

So, after a series of one-sided games in the province, both of this year's Ulster semi-finals will be replayed next weekend and we are no closer to knowing who will contest the decider on July 17^th. What a rivalry this one has developed into!

Donegal - M A McGinley; P McGrath, C Gillespie, E McGee; A Thompson, K Lacey (0-1), E McHugh (0-1); R Kavanagh, M McElhinney; R McHugh, O MacNiallais (1-0), F McGlynn; P McBrearty (0-5, 4f), M Murphy (0-3, 2f), M O'Reilly. Subs: M McHugh for F McGlynn, C Toye (0-1) for R Kavanagh, E Ban Gallagher for M O'Reilly.

Monaghan - R Beggan; C Walshe, D Wylie, R Wylie; F Kelly, V Corey, K Duffy; K O'Connell (0-2), D Hughes; S Carey (0-1), O Duffy (0-1), R McAnespie; C McCarthy (0-2, 1f), K Hughes, C McManus (0-8, 7f). Subs: D Mone for D Wylie, D McKenna for C McCarthy, C Boyle for C Walshe (BC), J McCarron for S Carey, D Clerkin for R McAnespie.

Referee - J McQuillan.

Tweet

Most Read Stories