ULSTER SFC FIRST ROUND/Fermanagh 2-8 Monaghan 0-10: ULSTER CUSTOM reasserted itself in emphatic fashion yesterday in Enniskillen. In the recent years of Armagh's and Tyrone's stable grip on the championship something of the old iconoclasm passed out of the game in the province. But here we had the big story from last year's All-Ireland series reaching the end of this season's new chapter before the end of May.
There was foreboding from Monaghan's point of view in the lead-up to this match. They had played a full deck through the National League and fallen away in the critical closing hands.
Then they had to come to Brewster Park on the day of its reopening to face a home team that had closed the deal in its own division and under the meticulous management of Malachy O'Rourke were confident and well stacked after a league campaign shuffling together a strong squad.
Monaghan needed to show all the tenacity of last year in harrying the will to win out of their opponents and play to the strengths of their full forwards. But in the end they only managed such prescriptions for about 10 minutes in the second half after which the concession of a second, messy goal re-orientated the match onto Fermanagh's axis.
The home side were the ones who demonstrated the ferocious commitment never to allow their opponents settle into the game and their zeal upset Monaghan in every sector of the field. Referee Derek Fahy was punctilious in punishing fouls and this militated against the visitors rather than the more disciplined home team.
Both sides switched around their line-ups before the start albeit to no great surprise. Gary McQuaid came in at centre back and Donal Morgan in the corner in place of Darren Hughes and Paul McGuigan whereas Fermanagh replaced Shane McDermott with Liam McBarron, threw the Kilmacud man in at full forward and repositioned captain Martin McGrath at centrefield.
McGrath and Mark Murphy definitely had the better of Eoin Lennon and Dick Clerkin at centrefield but it wasn't a decisive superiority because there wasn't a great deal of clean possession. Where the match turned was on Monaghan's decreasing percentages on breaking ball.
They had started reasonably well in terms of possession but the distribution into the forwards wasn't good. Build-up was too often laboured and when ball did get through Fermanagh's defence was alert and tight.
The winners were also unexpectedly economical in attack for the periods in which the match was open. Towards the end there was a good deal of wild shooting but the match was over by then.
Fermanagh got off to a good start. In the third minute McBarron, whose awkward, physical style disrupted Monaghan throughout took advantage of a bouncing ball that the defence failed to clear to bustle home a goal. That score established a pattern of Monaghan trying to reduce the deficit but never actually closing it. From the time McBarron's goal rippled the net, the home side were always in front.
Ryan Keenan, who with Eamon Maguire in the corners of the attack showed well for ball and posed constant problems, kicked a couple of frees while Maguire and Ciarán McElroy scored from play to keep the scores climbing.
Monaghan's All Star attacker Tommy Freeman had been injured in an accident at work during the week and his participation was touch and go but although he was undoubtedly subdued, he wasn't getting a decent supply to work with in the first place.
Both teams were also coping with a blustery wind that appeared, judging by the wides count, to hinder Monaghan in the first half - for instance Paul Finlay's close-range miss from a free - and their opponents in the second. At half-time Fermanagh were four clear, 1-5 to 0-4.
The one period of the match in which Monaghan seriously threatened was the third quarter. Three unanswered points got the margin down to the bare minimum until another Keenan free stretched it back to two, 1-6 to 0-7.
The match might have turned in the 40th minute had Shane Goan not scrambled back to clear the ball off the line after Vincent Corey had knocked the ball out of Ronan Gallagher's hands.
Two was the margin when disaster befell Monaghan in the 55th minute. Keenan shot for a point and his kick drifted across the goal. It wasn't cleared and Ciarán McElroy pounced for Fermanagh's second goal and all Monaghan's hard work at reviving the contest had just gone down the drain.
Fermanagh opened the throttle and dominated the rest of the match. McGrath was the dominant figure in the middle but his half lines swarmed all over the sector and Monaghan could hardly buy a serviceable ball.
When the ball was worked forward, Fermanagh's defence was more than equal to the increasingly dispirited challenge. Manager Séamus McEnaney tried his various bench options but his team's familiar pressure play and high-energy game had never really got going.
Fermanagh will play the winners of next week's Donegal-Derry showdown. Ulster moves on without Monaghan.
FERMANAGH: 1. R Gallagher; 2. S Goan, 3. H Brady, 4. P Sherry; 5. D Kelly, 6. R McCloskey, 7. T McElroy; 8. M Murphy, 14. M McGrath; 15. C McElroy (1-1), 11. J Sherry, 12. M Little (0-1); 13. E Maguire (0-1), 24. L McBarron (1-0), 10. R Keenan (0-3, frees). Subs: 22. S McCabe (0-1) for J Sherry (47 mins), 26. M Keenan (0-1) for C McElroy (61 mins), 9. S McDermott for Brady (70 mins).
MONAGHAN: 1. S Duffy; 24. D Morgan, 3. JP Mone, 2. D Mone, 5. D Freeman (capt), 20. G McQuaid, 4. N Farrell, 5. D McArdle; 8. E Lennon (0-1), 10. D Clerkin; 9. P Finlay (0-3, one free), 13. R Woods, 11. S Gallogly; 12.C McManus (0-1), 14. V Corey (0-1), 15. T Freeman (0-3, two frees). Subs: 28. C Hanratty (0-1) for Woods (half-time), 19. R Ronaghan for McManus (55 mins), 6. D Hughes for Morgan (60 mins), 13. R Woods for Gallogly (67 mins).
Referee: Derek Fahy (Monaghan).
