Farney men show their mettle

A SIMPLY astonishing scoreline and one made all the more so given the fact that few in the crowd of 11,675 would have given tuppence for Monaghan’s chances at ten past two yesterday afternoon.

By then, Seamus McEnaney’s side had conceded four points, three of them to Steven McDonnell, who seemed determined to win the game on his own by way of repayment for his troubles against the same opposition last year.

Watching those balls fly over his crossbar was not Monaghan’s regular goalkeeper Shane Duffy. Nor was it his deputy Sean Gorman.

No, it was full-back Darren Hughes wearing the custodian’s jersey.

The pre-match controversy that resulted in such an unusual state of affairs is dealt with in some detail elsewhere on these pages but the fact of the matter was that Monaghan appeared to be in rag order.

The murmur that accompanied the team’s announcement prior to throw-in seemed to last forever and county legend ‘Nudie’ Hughes was openly questioning the management on local radio.

He wasn’t alone. Monaghan took an age to acquaint themselves to the job at hand and it doesn’t take a genius to surmise that the overnight controversy surrounding their goalkeepers played its part.

Making matters worse was the fact that McDonnell was simply destroying Dessie Mone. Time and again, the man from Killeavy was out in front of the marker who had made his life a misery in a qualifier game last summer.

The turnaround started shortly before McDonnell popped over a fourth from play when Monaghan moved the ball at pace – for a change – and were rewarded when an unmarked Tommy Freeman found the net.

It was around that point that Monaghan began to dominate the midfield bearpit and the momentum swung decisively when McEnaney finally took the scissors to his shredded back line.

In came Dermot McArdle for Dessie Mone, whose brother JP moved over onto McDonnell. The Armagh target again after the 17th minute. Indeed, his score at that point was his side’s last for a full half an hour.

The highlights reel from then on was dominated by Tommy Freeman who claimed 1-5 from play and Paul Finlay who managed seven points from sidelines, 45s, frees… you name it, he scored from it.

Both tallies were built on the back of Trojan work further down the field. Rory Woods made a huge contribution when introduced after 21 minutes. So too did Dick Clerkin and Eoin Lennon in the midfield.

Monaghan claimed almost two-thirds of the kick-outs on the day but, as Clerkin pointed out afterwards, that was down to the efforts of eight men rather than two. Put simply, Monaghan were the hungrier.

Having trailed through the 21st minute, they turned around five points in front and Paddy O’Rourke and the rest of the Armagh management team was deep in conclave on the sideline long before they reached the dressing-room.

By then, they were a man down as well.

Brian Mallon was the culprit and, though O’Rourke attempted to dress it up later, there was no disputing Martin Sludden’s decision to show the red after the corner-forward’s hit on Woods.

It got much worse. Freeman raised another white flag within 30 seconds of the restart. Three more followed from his supporting cast within the next three minutes and, startling as it was at the time, that appeared to be that.

So it was. Monaghan, understandably, sat back on their laurels for a spell to admire their handiwork. Armagh? They were simply too punch-drunk to launch a credible comeback though there was still half an hour to go.

Jamie Clarke and Paul Duffy did manage a pair of points in reply after a scoreless ten-minute spell when the game’s intensity levels deflated like a spent balloon but it was merely the faintest of rages against the dying light.

By then, their midfield had long gone AWOL, their forwards were starved of serviceable ball and their hard-pressed defence was doing all it could simply to limit the damage.

One soul-destroying miss – from McDonnell of all people – put the tin hat on it and was followed by a similar sin from the boot of Gareth Swift before Monaghan stirred themselves for the triumphant run-in.

Seven of the last eight points flew over the Armagh crossbar, each more ambitious than the last. And this from a team and manager that many said had seen their best days.

Scorers for Armagh: S McDonnell 0-4, J Clarke 0-2, P Duffy 0-1, A Kernan 0-1f, G Swift 0-1.

Scorers for Monaghan: T Freeman 1-5, P Finlay 0-7 (3f, 1 ‘45’, 1 sideline), D Clerkin 0-2, V Corey 0-1, C Hanratty 0-1, C McManus 0-1f, H McElroy 0-1.

Substitutes for Armagh: J Lavery for Mackin 35, K Dyas for Martin 35.

Substitutes for Monaghan: R Woods for Gollogly 21, D McArdle for D Mone 25, H McElroy for Hanratty 51, F Caulfield for Hughes 57, N McAdam for D Freeman 67.

Referee: M Sludden (Tyrone).