Monaghan move into decider
Malachy O’Rourke’s side outscored Fermanagh 1-6 to 0-2 after McCluskey was sent off in the 58th minute for appearing to drop a knee on Owen Duffy. It was the pivotal moment in a forgettable Ulster semi-final in Kingspan Breffni Park.
However, to win when not at your best, as Monaghan have done in both championship victories so far, is a sign of big match-day experience and quality, and having led the county to a third provincial final in a row for the first time since the 1920s, Malachy O’Rourke wasn’t inclined to be too harsh.
“We are delighted to get through but there are a lot of aspects of our game that would not be at the level required to win an Ulster title,” he said.
“In a lot of championship matches you don’t expect to dominate and have everything your own way. We knew Fermanagh would set up defensively fairly sound and we knew we would take a while to break that down.
“Our play wasn’t as urgent as we would have liked, we didn’t use the ball as we would have liked, but it was a matter of more or less realising that’s how championship matches go.
“In some ways, that’s not a bad thing either, you want your best football in front of you.
“But we know what we produced the last two days wouldn’t be enough to win Ulster finals.”
The sides were level five times in a tentative first half but Monaghan led 0-7 to 0-5 at half-time and stretched that out to a six-point lead, 0-14 to 0-8, after 50 minutes.
Fermanagh have been in decent nick all year under Pete McGrath and they found another gear, Declan McCusker raking over two long-range scores as they drew to within three points before McCluskey went. Judging by the reaction of the player, he had few complaints.
Conor McManus hit the game’s only goal in the 65th minute, tapping home the rebound after his initial shot was saved by Thomas Treacy. It sealed Monaghan’s place in the decider against Donegal or Derry on July 19.
Fermanagh left the ground with a lot of regrets. They went toe-to-toe with the victors for long spells, but gave the ball away far too cheaply when coming up the field with a series of misplaced passes.
Their manager Pete McGrath pointed to a lack of experience, but made a bold prediction afterwards. “It is our objective now – and we took a pledge in there to this effect – we fully intend to be playing football in August.
“It was unforced errors and Monaghan being the experienced team that punished us.
“The red card gave us a mountain to climb and then when the goal came, you could have pulled the curtain down at that stage.
“But that (All-Ireland quarter-finals) is what we are going to be targeting and I know we can achieve that if we learn from today and keep promoting the things that we are very, very good at.”
In front of 16,572, the sides were level five times in the first half hour of a tight, tactical battle.
Monaghan drafted in Owen Lennon for his first appearance in 14 months after recovering from an ankle injury, while fit-again Fermanagh midfielder Eoin Donnelly also started.
With players rotating all over the field, both teams made a tentative start but there were some memorable points scored at either end by Ryan Jones and Kieran Hughes.
Jones’ second point had Fermanagh ahead 0-5 to 0-4 after 27 minutes, but Monaghan reeled off three points in a row to lead by 0-7 to 0-5 at the break.
Fermanagh scored two out of the first three points of the second half through Quigley and Eoin Donnelly to close the deficit to a single point again.
But Monaghan appeared to find another gear with half-time subs Owen Duffy and Chris McGuinness both pointing, along with Dessie Mone and Karl O’Connell.
Conor McManus’ free put the favourites 0-14 to 0-8 ahead after 50 minutes and the intensity dipped with Fermanagh visibly deflated.
However, Pete McGrath’s men dug deep and found another gear with wing-back Declan McCusker coming forward to hit two great points from distance.
Sean Quigley stroked over a monster free from 55m to bring Fermanagh right back into the game at three points down, but missed a simple effort when the game was in the melting pot.
The momentum shifted again when McCluskey went off.
Conor McManus pointed the free to put Monaghan four points up and then hit a point which looked suspiciously wide of the near post.
There was no doubt about his goal five minutes from the end and with Monaghan streaming forward looking for another goal, Stephen Gallogly was awarded a penalty for a trip but Treacy saved Gallogly’s effort.
Monaghan’s Darren Hughes was dismissed for a second yellow card two minutes from the end but it made no impact on the result.
C McManus (1-6, 5f); O Duffy, K Hughes (1 free) (0-3 each); K Duffy, K O’Connell, N McAdam, D Mone, D Hughes, C McGuinness, S Gallogly, R Beggan (‘45’)
S Quigley (0-5, 4f); D McCusker, R Jones, T Corrigan (0-2 each); A Breen and E Donnelly (0-1 each)
R Beggan; K Duffy, V Corey, R Wylie; K O’Connell, F Kelly, C Walshe; N McAdam, O Lennon; D Mone, D Hughes, S Carey; K Hughes, D Malone, C McManus
O Duffy for Carey (HT), C McGuinness for Malone (HT), D Clerkin for Lennon (40), S Gallogly for Kelly (59), P Finlay for K Hughes (65), C Boyle for Mone (68)
T Treacy; M Jones, N Cassidy, M O’Brien; D McCusker, R McCluskey, T Daly; E Donnelly, R O’Callaghan; B Mulrone, R Jones, C Flaherty; T Corrigan, S Quigley, P McCusker
R Corrigan for Flaherty (41), C Jones for O’Callaghan (59), D Kille for P McCusker (65), A Breen (0-1) for M Jones (69)
Padraig O’Sullivan (Kerry)
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