Monaghan battled through to the second round of the Qualifiers with a 0-13 to 0-12 derby defeat of Armagh after extra time at Clones. Though closely-contested throughout, the match was generally of a poor quality but this one was always going to be a dogfight and Seamus McEnaney's charges will be delighted to be still in the championship. Dessie Mone was awesome at the back for Monaghan, who were also well served by Paul Finlay and Conor McManus, who between them kicked the two clinching points in the second period of added time. The critics will go to town on both teams after a game full of fouls, handling errors, poor decisions, misdirected passes and off-target shooting, but Monaghan won't care. The Qualifer draw in recent years has paired them with Tyrone, Donegal, Derry, Kerry and now Armagh - so they will rightly argue that the result is way more important than the performance. Especially with their attacking talisman Tommy Freeman ruled out by suspension. Armagh can have no complaints really as they failed to score from play between the 20th minute and injury time at the end of the second period of added time - over 70 minutes later. The first half was really poor stuff and Armagh shaded it not because they were the better team but more because they were the least bad one. Monaghan started brightly and tore into a 0-4 to 0-1 lead but then totally fell apart and produced some truly atrocious stuff in the second quarter as they allowed Armagh to reel off five consecutive scores to lead by 0-6 to 0-4 at the interval. Both counties made late changes to their teams announced during the week, with Eoin Lennon in at midfield for Monaghan in place of John Paul Mone and Mark Downey replacing Ciaran Hanratty at top of the right. For Armagh, Charlie Vernon was selected at left corner forward at Kevin O'Rourke's expense. Rory Woods registered the first wide of the evening in the second minute when his high, hopeful effort drifted well off target, but Ballybay clubman Paul Finlay fired the home side ahead with a free from the hands on three minutes after impatient defending by Andy Mallon. Woods took Monaghan's second point sixty seconds later after leading Aidan O'Rourke a merry dance. Conor McManus's foul on Ronan Clarke presented Armagh with a ninth-minute chance and Aaron Kernan opened the Orchard County's account with a trademark free from the hands from out wide on the right. Poor play from Downey saw a couple of Monaghan attacks come unstuck but Raymond Ronaghan took a nice point after good approach work from half backs Gary McQuaid and Darren Hughes: 0-3 to 0-1. Damien Freeman - who was playing in an advanced role early on - tapped over the next Monaghan point after a bout of tenacious tackling from Banty's side. In the 16th minute, Brian Mallon took Armagh's first point from play and the visitors could consider themselves somewhat fortunate to be only two points adrift at that stage: 0-4 to 0-2. Martin O'Rourke sliced an Armagh shot badly wide but Clarke dug out a lovely left-footed point in the 20th minute to close the gap to a single point. Kernan - finding himself in acres of space close to the Monaghan goal - effortlessly took the equaliser after some dreadfully sloppy play at the back from Dermot McArdle. Peter McDonnell's men should have went in front for the first time but Vernon dropped a tame shot short into Padraig McBennett's hands. Tony Kernan - who had just entered the fray as a sub for James Lavery - saw yellow for a late tackle on McBennett. Clarke had earlier gone into the book for something that happened off the ball. Damien Freeman joined them on yellow for a foul on Clarke and Steven McDonnell tapped over the resultant free to send the Orchard ahead with their fourth successive score. McManus sent a 45 wide as the Oriel County continued to flounder and McQuaid was guilty of an equally-disappointing wide for a Monaghan side who had completely lost their way since the 14th minute. A needless foul (or series of fouls) by Dick Clerkin on Vernon offered Kernan another free from the wing on the half hour and the dependable Crossmaglen man popped over his county's fifth consecutive point to make it 0-6 to 0-4. Lennon had the next terrible Monaghan wide after an industrious move up the field involving Dessie Mone and McQuaid. At the other end, the Orchard almost got in for a goal but couldn't find the killer pass. Monaghan introduced Emyvale clubman Brendan McKenna for the ineffective Downey in the final minute of first-half normal time and Clarke was allowed the freedom of St Tiernach's Park before hitting an upright with his shot on the stroke of the 35th minute. Two minutes of injury time were added to the first half, but there were no incidents of note during that time which meant that Monaghan went 22 minutes without a score in the first half. It was all Monaghan in the second half. Armagh were pitiful in that period and failed to score from play, relying on some soft frees to stay in the match. Monaghan weren't much better, knocking over one point from play and five frees. Paul Finlay mixed the sublime with the ridiculous and Monaghan could have been home and hosed if he'd had his shooting boots on. Finlay ended Monaghan's scoring drought by tapping over a brace of frees in the first three minutes of the second half to level the scores. Paul Kernan came in for the yellow-carded Aidan O'Rourke six minutes after the restart and Monaghan wasted two chances inside a few seconds when Finlay squandered a free from in front of the posts and then Stephen Gollogly hit a left-footed effort badly wide. Vernon also had a bad wide at the other end before - in the 45th minute - Aaron Kernan pointed a free from close range after Tony Kernan went to ground and was awarded a free. The match had descended into a niggly affair, with plenty of needle between the opposition players. Finlay registered Monaghan's sixth wide in the 46th minute as Armagh remained a point ahead, 0-7 to 0-6. In the 48th minute, Finlay again missed the target from an easy-looking free and one could sense the Monaghan confidence visibly draining away. However, the centre forward demonstrated great courage to arrow over a lovely point from play and level the scores again on 48 minutes. 'Banty' threw Paul Meegan in for Gollogly with 22 minutes left and Ciaran McKeever's foul on Finlay presented another relatively simple Monaghan free, which McManus tapped over to send his side in front on 50 minutes. Just as in the first half, Monaghan had registered four of the first five points of the half. Two very soft Armagh frees then saw the lead change hands: in the 52nd minute, the losers were awarded an innocuous free close to goal, which Aaron Kernan routinely tapped between the posts. A very poor decision by the over-worked referee to take the momentum away from the home team... Another harsh call against Vincent Corry (when he appeared to beat Clarke to the ball) resulted in a free, which McDonnell converted to make it 0-9 to 0-8 in Armagh's favour. On 57 minutes, McManus knocked over yet another soft free - this one given to Monaghan - to level the scores, 0-9 each. A double Monaghan substitution saw Kieran Hughes and Paul McGuigan replace Clerkin and Ronaghan. McManus drove a free wide, as did Finlay from distance. On the hour, the scores were still deadlocked on nine points apiece and both managers were emptying their benches. With seven minutes left, McKenna bought a Monaghan free and this time Finlay kept his nerve to point from long range. McManus kicked a bad Monaghan wide after Woods had ran into a cul-de-sac and fisted tamely short. Kernan had an Armagh wide from play and the Orchard men were momentarily reduced to 14 players when McDonnell got a straight red for striking three minutes from time. Finlay sent another free wide on 68 minutes as Monaghan refused to take control of a match that still hung in the balance. A minute from the end, Corry foolishly placed a hand on Clarke's back as the ball completely overshot both men. The free was awarded in front of the posts and substitute Stefan Forker obliged with the levelling point on the stroke of full time - 0-10 each. The full-time whistle sounded with the teams deadlocked and extra time would be required. Monaghan had taken just ten scores from 25 scoring chances in 70 minutes, while Armagh had failed to score from play in the second half. Monaghan would argue that at least half of the frees from which Armagh's four second-half points materialised were harsh - and it would be difficult to disagree with that contention. Only two points were taken in the first ten minutes of extra time. Two minutes into that period, Forker put Armagh back in front from a free after a Corry foul on Clarke. At the other end, McManus booted over a Monaghan free to level matters again in the fourth added minute. Brendan Donaghy and McArdle defended well at either end as both sides vied for superiority. There was a hold-up when Vernon shipped a strong shoulder from Freeman and the rain started in the eighth minute of extra time. Corner back Barry Shannon hit an Armagh wide as Monaghan invited trouble upon themselves by dropping further back the field. The first period of extra time ended with the scores still tied on 0-11 each. Armagh had now gone an hour without a score from play Ryan Henderson boomed wide after a good set-up from Clarke in the 81st of 90 minutes and McManus took a great left-footed Monaghan point from play on 82 minutes after good play from Finlay, Woods and Lennon. With seven minutes of extra time left, the Monaghan defence invited Ciaran McKeever to shoot from distance and the Armagh captain fired badly wide. Finlay curled over a fantastic point on the run off his trusty left peg six minutes from the end. With four minutes to go, the Monaghan No.11 kicked one high and wide. Monaghan still led by two with 20 seconds left and the board went up announcing that there would be one added minute. In that added minute, Gareth O'Neill took a point for Armagh, who ran out of time as Monaghan held on for a hard-fought and deserved victory. Monaghan - P McBennett, D Mone, V Corey, D McArdle, D Freeman (0-1), G McQuaid, D Hughes, O Lennon, D Clerkin, S Collogly, P Finlay (0-5, 3f), C McManus (0-4, 3f), M Downey, R Ronaghan (0-1), R Woods (0-1). Subs - B McKenna for Downey (34), P Meegan for Gollogly (49), K Hughes for Clerkin (56), P McGuigan for Ronaghan (56), S Gollogly for Hughes (70), D Morgan for McArdle (80), C Hanratty for Meegan (83). Armagh - P McEvoy, A Mallon, B Donaghy, B Shannon, A O'Rourke, C McKeever, A. Kernan (0-5, 4f), K Toner, J Lavery, P Duffy, M O'Rourke, B Mallon (0-1), S McDonnell (0-2, 2f), R Clarke (0-1), C Vernon. Subs - T Kernan for Lavery (20), P Kernan for A O'Rourke (50), S Forker (0-2, 2f) for Duffy (523), K O'Rourke for T Kernan (62), R Henderson (70, on as 15th man for extra time), D McKenna for Vernon (79), G O'Neill (0-1) for M O'Rourke (83). Ref - Derek Fahy (Longford). Tweet

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