Monaghan 2-16 Kildare 2-14 (after extra time)
They waited 84 years and 90-plus hectic minutes for this result – and now Monaghan hardly get one second to enjoy it. Not with All-Ireland champions Dublin ready and waiting for them back in Croke Park this Saturday.
No one realises this more than Monaghan manager Malachy O’Rourke. After coming in from the soaking rain on Saturday night he was just beginning to recount Monaghan’s first championship victory in Croke Park since 1930 when the subject of Dublin came up.
“Aye, look it, we all know Dublin are the top team in Ireland,” said O’Rourke, “no doubt about that. If you give them any time or space on the ball they’ll run right through you.
‘Week to recover’
“We’ve only the week to recover, but an All-Ireland quarter-final is where we wanted to be, so there’s no point in crying about the opposition now. We’ll face up to it, and I think this experience will stand to the lads. This was an emotional game, for sure, but there’s no time to pat ourselves on the back.”
Indeed it’s hard to imagine a more emotionally draining game than this, as both Monaghan and Kildare juggled with winning and losing positions throughout, before Monaghan – after forcing extra-time at the death, thanks to a free from Conor McManus – outscored Kildare 1-2 to a point in the first period of extra-time, that being the critical difference.
“A goal in extra-time will always be a big score, and Chris McGuinness took it really well,” said O’Rourke. “We’d two big blocks by the Hughes brothers at the end as well, and that showed the hunger the boys had.
“I’m not sure it was the performance we were looking for. But it was enough to get us over the line, and the boys just kept going until the end, as we knew they would. I think in extra-time we were the better team, were able to turn them over, and get our own scores.
“We lost a quarter-final here last year, and were very determined to get back there again, because we really did want to progress again this year, showed last year’s Ulster title wasn’t a once-off. And it’s great for our confidence to be able to win in extra-time, to be able to dug deep like that.”
It was an equally emotional night for Kildare, who were in a winning position towards the end of normal time, having rocked Monaghan with two first-half goals too, from Emmet Bolton. They later lost Bolton to a black card, and Monaghan’s equalising free at the end of normal time was certainly harsh, and yet manager Jason Ryan was nothing but gracious in defeat.
“We were fairly well written off coming into this, but we were determined to be competitive, and I’m very, very proud of this team, as amateur players, for the effort they put in there,” said Ryan.
‘Winning position’
“We had ourselves in a winning position, in the 69 minute, before that free at end of normal time, and sure, I’d be biased, and say every free we concede I don’t think is a free. But the referee has a job to do.
“We had chances to close out the game in normal time, so it’s definitely a game of ifs, buts and maybes, and we’ve a lot time to reflect on it, with no more games in 2014.”
There’s no doubt Monaghan required an enormous effort to win this game. Defender Vinny Corey’s stunning goal, midway through the second half, providing a crucial boast to confidence. McGuinness’s goal in extra-time was perhaps the defining score but substitute Jack McCarron chipped in with a crucial point too.
Still they had to withstand the brave and determined efforts of Kildare right until the end, who, with a little more luck, could have finished off Monaghan in normal time.
Bolton’s two first half-half goals had helped Kildare into a three-point advantage at half-time his first effort was on 19 minutes and his second, on 24 minutes, came off a Monaghan mistake, when Fintan Kelly dropped the ball.
Even at the close of extra-time Kildare were hunting around an equaliser, Eoin Doyle forcing one important save, and while the last flashing point fell to Alan Smith, it was not enough to deny Monaghan their momentous victory in Croke Park, and now their return trip this Saturday.
