Ryan O’Toole last-minute goal rounds off stunning Monaghan comeback against Tyrone

Monaghan 2-17 Tyrone 1-18

The Ulster championship remains undefeated. We’ll sneer at the provincials forever and we know in our bones that they make no logical sense. But try telling that to the Monaghan crowd on the pitch in Omagh, bubbling with the lifeforce of a famous win over Tyrone. None of them care about competition structures, few of them could draw you a sketch of what it all means. Fewer still care.

All they know is that their young wing back Ryan O’Toole, making his championship debut, skated in behind the cover deep into injury-time. Monaghan were just a point behind but he didn’t do the sensible thing and fist a point to push the game into extra-time. Instead, he nailed his finish low past Niall Morgan and sent the travelling support into orbit.

“I’ve had that said to me already a couple of times,” O’Toole said afterwards when we joked with him that he obviously should have taken his point. “But here, thankfully it went low and over the line. You never know what to think in those situations. You kind of have to live in the moment a wee bit and I just said, ‘I’m going to go for this.’

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It rounded off a stunning second-half fightback from Vinny Corey’s side. They were five points down at half-time but they stormed into matters after the break, constantly running at Tyrone and reeling them in. A Stephen O’Hanlon goal on 54 minutes pushed them into the lead for the first time in the game and everything was to-and-fro from that point on. To come out ahead will stand to Monaghan, wherever they end up this summer.

Few would have given them a hope of it at the break. Tyrone were a far slicker outfit in the first half, moving the ball through the hands with minimal punctuation. Their midfield pair of Brian Kennedy and Conn Kilpatrick offered safe passage for their own kick-out and was a constant nuisance to the Monaghan one. The home side extracted full value out of their advantage around the middle, regularly parlaying one score into another by punishing the ensuing Rory Beggan kick-out.

Given that, it was no surprise that the first Tyrone goal came from exactly that scenario. After a booming Mattie Donnelly point that began with a soaring Kilpatrick catch in the 10th minute, Tyrone squeezed right up and left Beggan trapped in his own uncertainty for the kick-out.

The Monaghan keeper all but took out an ad on the scoreboard to say he wanted to play the ball to Darren Hughes, regardless of the fact that Kilpatrick was stuck to him. Beggan went for it anyway and all it took was for Kilpatrick to make it messy and Tyrone were away. The ball squirted clear, Canavan played a one-two with Darren McCurry, jinked inside on to his right and roofed his finish. Only 11 minutes on the clock and Tyrone already had a five-point cushion.

[ Tyrone v Monaghan as it happened: Monaghan win Ulster Championship classic at the death ]

For the rest of the half, they essentially kept Monaghan where they could see them. Conor McManus curled over a trademark point from the right-hand side soon after to keep Monaghan interested but Tyrone answered with well-worked points from Conor Meyler and the excellent Canavan.

Where Monaghan were having to chisel their scores from granite, Tyrone’s work was far less arduous. Canavan had 1-4 on the board inside the opening 20 minutes and had his marker Thomas McPhillips substituted before the break. McManus kept Monaghan in touch with occasional frees but by half-time, the margin was still five points. One stat summed up the first half – Tyrone had taken 16 shots from play, Monaghan had taken just three.

So a half-time score of 1-10 to 0-8 – and nobody could quibble. Had Tyrone come out and stitched the first few points of the second half, that would most likely have been that. But Corey’s young side kept at it. Kieran Duffy came forward to stroke the first point after the restart, Michael Bannigan found his range as well. The stiff breeze allowed Monaghan to keep Tyrone penned in at their end and it took the home side until the 50th minute to register their first point of the second half.

By now, Monaghan had all the momentum. Bannigan, O’Hanlon and Conor McCarthy all made hay running at the Tyrone defence. O’Hanlon’s goal came after a defence-splitting pass from Beggan managed to get him one-on-one with Meyler. All of Tyrone’s totems from the first half were shrivelling.

McCurry and Canavan can’t be contained for long, however. The sides traded points all the way to the end and as the game sailed on into injury-time, it was McCurry who popped up with the go-ahead score. Everyone presumed Monaghan would get another chance and it was only a matter of whether they’d be able to take it and send the game into extra-time. But O’Toole had other ideas.

Youth remains undefeated, too.

Tyrone: Niall Morgan (0-1, 45); Michael McKernan, Ronan McNamee, Pádraig Hampsey; Conor Meyler (0-2), Peter Harte, Cormac Quinn; Brian Kennedy, Conn Kilpatrick (0-1); Frank Burns, Mickey O’Neill, Kieran McGeary; Darren McCurry (0-6, 0-4 frees), Mattie Donnelly (0-2), Darragh Canavan (1-5, 0-1 free). Subs: Joe Oguz for O’Neill, 44 mins; Niall Sludden (0-1) for McGeary, 59 mins; Ruairí Canavan for Donnelly, 60 mins; Michael McGleenan for Burns, 61 mins; Cormac Monroe for McKernan, 74 mins

Monaghan: Rory Beggan; Thomas McPhillips, Kieran Duffy (0-1), Ryan Wylie; Conor Boyle, Karl O’Connell, Ryan O’Toole (1-1); Darren Hughes, Killian Lavelle; Stephen O’Hanlon (1-0), Michael Bannigan (0-1), Conor McCarthy (0-2); Jack McCarron (0-2, 0-2 frees), Karl Gallagher, Conor McManus (0-9, 0-8 frees). Subs: Shane Carey (0-1) for McPhillips, 33 mins; Kieran Hughes for D Hughes, 29 mins; Sean Jones for McCarron, 53 mins; Dessie Ward for O’Connell, 76 mins; Fintan Kelly for O’Toole, 76 mins

Referee: Niall Cullen (Fermanagh)

Stats

Monaghan - Tyrone

Score 2-17 1-18

First half 0-8 1-10

Second half 2-9 0-8

From play 2-7 1-12

Wides 3 9

Frees conceded 12 21

Yellow cards 1 1

Black cards 0 0

Red cards 0 0