Derry ... 4-15 Monaghan ... 0-7 Derry destroyed a weakened Monaghan side a Ballinascreen yesterday, a victory that moved them into second place in the table. Mickey Moran's side were in charge in every facet of play with Paddy Bradley providing a cutting edge up front and Fergal Doherty proving a willing provider from his centrefield base.
Monaghan offered little in the way of an attacking threat and Derry never looked back after Benny Murray registered their first point after only 20 seconds.
Monaghan got off the mark after 11 minutes with the first free from their only scorer Paul Finlay, but Derry were playing with real swagger and Bradley scored his first goal on 15 minutes, converting a penalty after Gavin Diamond had been pushed over in the square. Finlay got his and Monaghan's second from a free in the 19th minute.
Dermot Dougan and Conleth Gilligan added two more Derry points before Finlay tacked on three consecutive points for Monaghan from two 45s and a free. However, Derry went in with a five-point interval advantage as a free from Bradley and a point from Muldoon made the half-time score 1-7 to 0-5.
After the break Derry continued where they left off with Padraig O'Kane bursting forward and pointing from wide on the right. Finaly kept Monaghan hanging in with another free before Derry went through an eight minute purple patch which killed off the game. First Diamond pointed after good work from O'Kane before Bradley got his second goal, fisting home Enda Muldoon pass on 45 minutes. It didn't take the Glenullin man long to register his hat-trick as he swivelled neatly to finish low to the net after 51 minutes.
With 57 minutes gone Monaghan finally registered their first score from play when Finlay fisted the ball over the bar, but that was the last time the visitors raised the white flag before Dougan's goal added insult to injury.
DERRY: M Conlan; SM Lockhart, N McCusker; K Doherty; P O'Kane (0-1), K McCloy, G Doherty; E Muldoon (0-1), F Dohety (0-1); R Rocks (0-1, free), C. Gilligan (0-3), B Murray (0-1); P. Brdaley (3-2, 2 frees), D Dougan (1-2), G Diamond (0-1). Subs: M Harney for Rocks, D Crozier for K Doherty, J Conway (0-2) for Diamond, G McGonigle for Bradley.
MONAGHAN: G. Murphy; D. McDermott, J Coyle, P McKenna; J O'Brien, R Ronaghan, D McArdle; E Lennon, D Duffy; D Freeman, P Finlay (0-7, 2 45s, four frees), V Corey; K Tavey, R Woods, M Slowey. Subs: T Freeman for Tavey, R Traynor for O'Brien, D Clerkin for Lennon, A Callan for Slowey, N Corrigan for Woods.
Referee: Brian Crowe (Cavan).
