All-Ireland Football Qualifiers Round One: Monaghan 0-14 Westmeath 1-9 Following their disappointing defeat by Down just six days earlier Monaghan answered some of the questions being asked of them with a hard-earned victory in Clones on Saturday.
The game somewhat resembled their match against Down. They were dominant in the first half and were put on the back foot in the second, but this time they dug deep to salvage the win in a frenetic finish.
Monaghan got off to a flying start and had opened a five-point gap by the seventh minute with scores from Tom Freeman (0-3), Paul Findlay and Eoin Lennon. Westmeath looked bewildered by the sheer pace of it all and were showing signs that their two games against Meath had hit them hard psychologically.
Martin Flanagan opened Westmeath's account in the eighth minute, and Dessie Dolan, for whom this season has been a bittersweet experience, got their second point in the 22nd minute, but Monaghan finished the half as they had started with Paul Finlay popping over two points, both from frees, to leave the half-time score 0-9 to 0-2.
Monaghan were seven points up but should have been more - they had missed eight decent chances of scores.
Right from the throw-in for the start of the second half Westmeath launched a series of attacks that had Monaghan back-pedalling and having to rely on some excellent defending by James Coyle and Dermot Duffy.
A point by Flanagan in the fourth minute reduced the deficit to six but Monaghan still led by seven at the end of the third quarter, although fortune had smiled on them at least once when Dessie Dolan was put through with a deft flick-on by Flanagan only to see his left-foot shot dribble wide of Glen Murphy's left-hand post.
Dolan hit three points from frees, to Monaghan's single point, between the 20th and 26th minutes to leave five points between the sides.
Westmeath eventually got the breakthrough they wanted when substitute Gary Dolan rifled to the Monaghan net after good work by Alan Mangan and JP Casey. Two points from 45s by Joe Fallon reduced the deficit to the minimum twice but on each occasion Monaghan struck back for scores that kept the game just beyond Westmeath.
MONAGHAN: G Murphy; J P Mone, D McKenna, P McKenna; D Duffy, J Coyle, A Rooney; E Lennon (0-1), J Hughes; N Corrigan (0-2), T Freeman (0-4), P Finlay (0-6); M Slowey, R Ronaghan (0-1), D Freeman. Subs: R Woods for D Freeman, D Larkin for N Corrigan.
WESTMEATH: A Lennon; P Rouse, D Gavin, F Murray; M Ennis, D O'Donoghue, B Morley; R O'Connell, D O'Shaughnessy; A Mangan, P Conway, S Colleary; JP Casey (0-1), M Flanagan (0-2), D Dolan (0-4). Subs: K Henson for F Murray, G Dolan (1-0) for P Conway, J Fallon (0-2) for S Colleary.
Referee: P Russell (Tipperary).
