Armagh 0-12 Monaghan 0-13 (AET – 0-10 to 0-10 after normal time):RARELY HAS a first-round qualifier stirred up a manager as much as this did Séamus McEneaney, but then rarely has the result been more significant.
If, as McEneaney quietly predicted, Monaghan take a few more scalps along the way, then maybe that will go some way towards proving their detractors wrong – because there was no mistaking it; Monaghan were out to prove something in Clones on Saturday.
Forget Independence Day. This was more like Judgement Day – the dark, gloomy clouds only adding to such an atmosphere. You do have to wonder sometimes what it is that motivates some teams come the championship, but for Monaghan, the fallout from their abysmal Ulster quarter-final against Derry back in May ultimately proved the platform in this ugly, stormy victory, complete with a painful period of extra-time. If they felt like they were up on trial they just about got the verdict they wanted.
For Armagh it was a trial of a different sort as they attempted to prove they weren’t simply a team in transition, but a team that could still have a say in the destination of the championship. That verdict was unanimous. Armagh looked so far removed from their All-Ireland-winning heights of seven years ago that transition is too nice a word for it. Instead they’re in serous decline, the players some felt were irreplaceable proving just that.
Indeed the quality of football produced on the night would suggest both teams should to go back to square one, relearn the basic skills of the game all over again. Of course Monaghan won’t be bothered by that. McEneaney celebrated the win as if his life depended on it, and in some ways it did. Had Monaghan lost, his term as manager was almost certainly over.
“It was a very important one for this team, a fantastic win,” he said. “There is serious spirit in this camp. It’s a nice scalp, because Armagh are always so difficult to beat. But the boys were really up for the challenge. We’ve got a lot of stick over the last few weeks. Unwarranted stick . . .”
We all knew where that was directed. McEneaney hasn’t hidden his disgust at certain comments about the eight-week suspension handed down to Tommy Freeman after the Derry game, which ruled him out of Saturday’s game, despite a late appeal to the DRA – and is set to keep him sidelined until after round three of the qualifiers, should Monaghan make it that far.
“A lot of people in the country felt we’re a one-man team, that Tommy Freeman is the only forward Monaghan have,” added McEneaney. “We were hurt, certainly. But we’re delighted now, despite what some pundits in RTÉ might say, to be still in the championship. At the end of the day we’re just in the draw for the second round, that’s all we wanted to be. But in ways we feel like we’re only starting.”
Damien Freeman, who produced a man-of-the-match performance at wing back, was even more outspoken about the absence of his brother: “That was for Tommy,” he admitted, “who we all felt got hard done by. I spoke to him this morning, and he was fierce disappointed. I’ve never seen him so down. I think they whole thing is a farce, bad form, treating him like this. Hopefully we’ll have him back on the playing field soon.
“But there is great character is the team, and I think that’s what got us over the line. It’s bad enough playing Armagh for 70 minutes without going into extra-time. But I think our fitness counted as well in the end. We got off to a good start, then just fell asleep, and started doing silly things. We actually felt we left it behind us in normal time.”
Truth is neither team looked capable of winning it in normal time. The quality of football went from bad to worse, revealed in a few damning statistics; like Armagh failing to score from play for over 70 minutes, from the 20th minute of normal time, to the very end of extra time – their horrible evening underlined by the sending off of Steven McDonnell for elbowing Dessie Mone on 67 minutes.
Or the final free count of 81 – perhaps even more, because in the end the lights had to be turned on in the press box so we could see our notes, and chances are a couple of frees went amiss. Either way it’s a shameful measure of the shortcomings of both teams; Armagh’s lazy, stupid tackling; and Monaghan’s limited, questionable tactics. Or the nine yellow cards that on any other day could have been turned to red. McDonnell was the only player sent off but he only had himself to blame for falling for the silly confrontational.
McDonnell only managed two frees all evening, and if that looks bad, Ronan Clarke and Brian Mallon were their only other forwards to score, with one each from play.
The only bit of half decent football Armagh played was in the opening 15 minutes, when they went three points clear. But their midfield advantage was soon lost as Monaghan’s Eoin Lennon and substitute Brendan McKenna found their feet, aided, it has to be said, by Armagh’s shockingly poor use of possession.
In such a tight game, with the teams level on five different occasions in the second half, morale and will-to-win was always going to be the deciding factor. Monaghan sure had that. Paul Finlay recovered from some horrendous wides to convert three crucial frees, with Conor McManus similarly stepping up his game.
Armagh were fortunate to see extra-time when Vincent Corey gifted Stafan Forker with the equalising free, but then Finlay and McManus set Monaghan apart in the end with a couple of cool, steady kicks.
Armagh were stunned in the end, leaving manager Peter McDonnell without any excuses: “I supposed what happened in relation to Tommy Freeman galvanised them. But then they certainly weren’t short of motivation, especially in Clones as well, their home town.”
MONAGHAN: 1 P McBennett; 2 D Mone, 3 V Corey, 4 D McArdle; 5 D Freeman (0-1), 6 G McQuiad, 7 D Hughes; 20 E Lennon, 9 D Clerkin; 10 S Golloghy, 11 P Finlay (0-6, four frees), 12 C McManus (0-4, three frees); 23 M Downey, 14 R Ronaghan (0-1), 15 R Woods (0-1). Subs: 21 B McKenna for Downey (34 mins), 27 P Meegan for Gollogly (49 mins), 25 K Hughes for Clerkin, 18 P McGuigan for Ronaghan (both 57 mins), 10 S Gollogly for Hughes (extra-time), 22 D Morgan for McArdle (80 mins), 13 C Hanratty for Meegan (84 mins). Yellow cards: D Freeman (24 mins), D Mone (62 mins), G McQuaid (72 mins), S Golloghy (75 mins).
ARMAGH: 1 P McEvoy; 2 A Mallon, 3 B Donaghy, 4 B Shannon; 5 A O’Rourke, 6 C McKeever, 7 A Kernan (0-5, four frees); 8 K Toner, 9 J Lavery; 10 P Duffy, 11 M O’Rourke, 12 B Mallon (0-1); 13 S McDonnell (0-2, both frees), 14 R Clarke (0-1), 23 C Vernon. Subs: 27 T Kernan for Lavery (21 mins), 19 P Kernan for A O’Rourke (42 mins), 26 S Forker (0-2, both frees) for Duffy (43 mins), 15 K O’Rourke for T Kernan (63 mins), 28 R Henderson (extra time, restored as 15th man), 25 D McKenna for Vernon (79 mins, inj), 22 G O’Neill (0-1) for M O’Rourke (84 mins). Yellow cards: R Clarke (20 mins), T Kernan (23 mins), C McKeever (24 mins), A O’Rourke (39 mins), K Toner (63 mins).
Referee: D Fahy (Longford).
