NFL Division Two: Meath 1-20 Monaghan 1-29
A blistering second quarter from Monaghan left Meath to much ground to make up in Páirc Tailteann on Sunday. The home team staged a modest rally in the second half without actually getting to the point of threatening to overturn the outcome.
There was consolation after a comfortable win for the visitors when it became known that Roscommon had lost to Cavan, leaving Meath well in the promotion hunt heading into the last weekend.
Monaghan now have one foot back in Division One after an impressive campaign to date. They showcased their strengths in this victory, primarily the pace at which their forwards move – Stephen O’Hanlon at times looked to be operating in a different dimension so fast were his raiding runs – and the accuracy with which they shoot for scores.
There was also a continuing contribution from goalkeeper Rory Beggan, assisted by his team’s very disciplined observance of the 4 v 3 rule, who was undaunted by the amended rules which restrict the goalkeeper’s role a little. Beggan got forward on plenty of occasions to distract the defence – in the 19th minute drawing attention as he hovered around the 40-metre arc before slipping it to Jack McCarron and he launched the two-pointer.
McCarron had initially been left off the team but entered proceedings prematurely when replacing the injured Louis Kelly in the 18th minute. His arrival saw Ryan McAnespie drop to wing back.
The returning Gary Mohan also made an impact on his return to the Monaghan centrefield. His physicality asserted itself in the middle, as he broke plenty of ball for his alert colleagues.
The match was already slipping out of Meath’s grasp by the 24th minute when Eoghan Frayne converted a free to cut the margin to 0-6 to 1-11 – the 21st-minute goal a fine, sweeping move, nicely finished by Andrew Woods – but Monaghan in the space of two minutes rattled over three two-point scores from Gary Mohan, McCarron and Micheál Bannigan.
By the break the margin had reached 1-20 to 0-8 and despite the presence of a breeze, few specialist GAA meteorologists would have deemed it a ’15-point wind’.
You wouldn’t have projected the half-time score by the first-quarter mark. Meath were quicker out of the traps and their speedy attack carved out chances, largely taken by Jordan Morris and Frayne. Morris looked like he was going to slice Monaghan to death with his pace but as the match turned, he struggled to remain in the game at that level and was also guilty of some loose shooting, ending the afternoon with six wides.
Aaron Lynch made a good impact for the home team when brought on at half-time – teeing up Frayne for a goal within a minute of the resumption and adding a couple of scores of his own.
Monaghan were well able to keep the scoreboard moving even if they lost the second half by six.
“Yeah, there is pace there,” said manager Gabriel Bannigan. “The new rules suit more attacking football and we have plenty of good attacking players, and when we get them on the pitch at the same time, you’re seeing that cohesion as well. So pace, movement and plenty of cohesion and that’s probably the thing I was most pleased about today.”
He was asked about his season’s ambitions now that they had all but secured promotion.
“In my first year as manager, and I genuinely mean this, I didn’t set a target of going back up. My main objective was to get the panel fit and to get them playing well so that’s why we were focused on performances.
“We had a lot of injuries last year and a good few in the early part of the league this year. We went to Hyde Park, to play Roscommon and we had 10 men out injured. We’ve got those back over the last number of weeks, unfortunately we picked up another couple of injuries so my focus has been on just the next game.”
He said that Kieran Lavelle, who had to be replaced after six minutes, had dislocated his shoulder.
His Meath counterpart Robbie Brennan was also focused on next week, a rematch with last year’s championship tormentors, Louth.
“Yeah, I think so – look the bottom line is we came to win and we didn’t so that’s overall a disappointment there. Yeah, obviously the Roscommon result probably keeps things live heading up the road next week, but like win or lose today we had a massive challenge heading up to Inniskeen and a few lads in that dressingroom are not happy with how they went last year. So it’s a big challenge for us and we can’t wait to get up there.”
He was asked about his strong comments a fortnight ago, saying that the new rules “were not football”.
“There might have been a slight bit of deflection in some of the comments, in what I was saying. The rules are the rules and ironically some of them are really good, that’s the bottom line. My own personal one is that I don’t like the two-pointer [but] there’s a lot of good ones in it.
“Like, I love the three up, I loved the four [up amendment]. I hated that you could go short all the time, it was boring as hell from a kick-out perspective. So there’s a lot of good stuff in it but look it is what it is now, we just have to get on with it.”
MEATH: B Hogan; D Keogan, S Rafferty, S Lavin; E Harkin, S Ryan, C Caulfield; J Flynn (0-0-1), B Menton (0-0-1); K Curtis, J Kinlough (0-0-2), C Duke; J Morris (0-0-4, 1f), C McBride, E Frayne (capt) (1-1-4, 1 tpf, 3f).
Subs: B O’Halloran for Ryan, A Lynch (0-0-2, 1f) for McBride (both h-t), R Kinsella (0-2-0) for Curtis (47 mins); S Walsh for Harkin (64).
MONAGHAN: R Beggan (0-2-0, 2 tpf); D Byrne, K Lavelle, R O’Toole; L Kelly, R Wylie, C McCarthy (0-0-2); G Mohan (0-1-0), M McCarville; R McAnespie (0-0-1), M Bannigan (capt) (0-1-6, 3f), C McNulty (0-0-1); D Garland, A Woods (1-0-0), S O’Hanlon (0-0-4).
Subs: K Duffy for Lavelle (6 mins); J McCarron (0-2-3, 1 tpf, 2f) for Kelly (18); D Ward for McAnespie (52); J Wilson for Garland (62); D Hughes for Mohan (67 mins).
Referee: Anthony Nolan (Wicklow).
