Both teams content but Tyrone and Monaghan left with work to do

Gary Mohan of Monaghan, left, and Niall Sludden of Tyrone tussle during the Allianz Football League match. Picture: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

A point dropped, a point gained: Either side will feel they ride the two sides of that fence after a game that was virtually a throwback to a more helter-skelter time.

Despite not having scored since the 56th minute, All-Ireland champions Tyrone thought they had it won when substitute Paul Donaghy floated in a ball towards goal. It went over the bar alright, but referee Joe McQuillan felt that fellow replacement Brian Kennedy had barrelled into Monaghan goalkeeper Rory Beggan illegally at the same time.

“I was chatting to Paul there,” said Tyrone joint-manager Brian Dooher after the draw in Omagh, “and Paul thought the ball was over the bar before anything happened, or before Brian challenged Rory Beggan in goals.

“I saw it in the moment and it is very hard in the moment.”

It would have been somewhat harsh on Monaghan. They had nine second-half wides but their only effort to drop short came at the very last play. Darragh Canavan was adjudged to have picked the ball off the floor. The distance was 50m and while Beggan had a gale at his back that had decimated Niall Morgan’s kickouts, he was also winded from the collision.

Instead, Beggan went short to the unmarked Conor Boyle, but the full-back’s shot hadn’t enough on it to even bother the crossbar. Whistle blown, both teams will have some encouragement and a lot of work to get their teeth into.

It’s hard to say who got the most out of it. Tyrone were strangely passive in a first half that they still managed to finish it with a 0-6 to 0-4 lead. Monaghan had two goal chances from Kieran Duffy and a despairing dive from Gary Mohan that could have tipped the ball into Niall Morgan’s net.

A decent period of time prior to half-time showed how Monaghan struggled at this stage to convert their possession. First Kieran McGeary produced a brilliant block on Jack McCarron, Dessie Ward had an effort falling short and when McCarron got another sight of goal while coming on the loop, he hit it into Morgan’s chest.

The Monaghan wides in general were baffling, Michael Bannigan shooting across goal from what should have been a routine free in the first minute and another McCarron effort.

There were fascinations. You’ll know Gary Mohan by his bushy mullet and in his senior debut he came in to mark the All-Ireland-winning captain Padraig Hampsey and they served up an entertaining battle in themselves.

And here’s one for ya. It’s been done before, but Beggan collected a point from play here after he crept up the right wing unmarked. It’s not new, but it is still novel.

The conditions in the second half made it not quite awful, but more of a slugfest. Tyrone scored only three times in the second half. Conor McManus and Karl O’Connell came on and McManus kicked a worldie with five minutes to go, but that was the last score of the game.

Monaghan manager Seamus McEnaney wasn’t going to bemoan their final, squandered opportunity.

“No, the decision was to kick the quick free to Conor Boyle and, nine times out of 10, he puts it over the bar but he didn’t put it over. There’s not really disappointment. We’d be glad to come out of here with a point. I’m really happy with the character of the lads and how they applied themselves with a couple of new fellas.”

For Dooher, thoughts now turn to Armagh, the only team to win in Division 1 over the weekend.

“They are exceptional. I don’t think anyone can argue with that. I think they are phenomenal, they just demolished Dublin on all fronts,” he said. “That performance has been coming from Armagh and they put it together and showed what they are about. Be under no illusions, we have to raise our game a few notches from out there today to be able to compete with Armagh.”