Greenfield Foods Monaghan Senior Football Championship final: Pearse Brothers, Ballybay 0-13 Scotstown 1-13
ELECTION fever hit Clones yesterday, with all the would-be president’s men and women handing out flyers on the walk down to St Tiernach’s Park – but there was no doubting who was number one in Monaghan by the close of play.
For the fourth year in-a-row Scotstown pulled out of the car park with the Mick Duffy Cup in their grasp, but they had to withstand a late Ballybay onslaught before eventually getting past the post.
Conor McCarthy’s goal seven minutes after half-time put An Bhoth firmly in the box seat as they moved into a six point lead, with the imperious Rory Beggan typically combining the roles of goalkeeper and quarterback with effortless brilliance.
Yet there was almost a sting in the tail when Ballybay sent Paul Finlay up into the square for the final 15 minutes, the former county star rising superbly to pluck two balls from the sky and create chances for the goal his side so needed.
On both occasions the ball ended up in the hands of Christopher McGuinness. The first - in the 59th minute - went wide of the post, before another was brilliantly blocked by Beggan four minutes into added time.
Scotstown boss Kieran Donnelly may have breathed a sigh of relief after a fraught finish, but his men were good value for a victory that sends them into an Ulster preliminary clash with fellow four in-a-row champions Derrygonnelly Harps on October 21.
“They’re a very good team,” said Donnelly who, as a former Fermanagh player who also worked as a selector during Peter Canavan’s time, will be very familiar with the all-conquering Erne County kingpins.
“[Dessie] Ward and [Christopher] MGuinness inside are excellent players, especially with Finlay pulling the strings - at times the delivery can be excellent to them so we were aware of their threat.
“I thought at times we controlled the game in key areas, in the first half in terms of our style of play and defensive structure, we were pretty solid.
“We have been in tight games all year but they don’t panic and at key times they step up and demand the ball. That was key today.”
Despite a huge breeze blowing into the Roslea end of the ground and slippery conditions underfoot after a drop of rain before throw-in, yesterday’s game was easy on the eye.
Both sides set up without sweepers and looked to use the boot as much as possible to carve out openings. Referee Anthony Marron let things flow where he could. It was thoroughly enjoyable fare.
The defending champions settled first as points from Francis Maguire, Shane Carey and Jamie McCarey helped them into an early 0-3 to 0-1 lead, before Ballybay passed up the first major goal chance of the afternoon 10 minutes in.
A trademark knife-through-butter pass from Finlay found Mark McArdle who quickly off-loaded to Dessie Ward, but the pacy forward slid the ball wide of Beggan’s near post after being forced close to the endline.
Scotstown were also guilty of squandering a gilt-edged goalscoring opportunity too minutes later, with McCarey foolishly attempting to dink the ball over Ballybay ’keeper Brian McCabe after intercepting an attempted pass from Thomas O’Neill.
Having initially started on Darren Hughes, Drew Wylie soon followed brother Kieran out the field and the younger Hughes sibling produced the outstanding moment of the first half to give Scotstown a 0-7 to 0-3 lead five minutes before the break.
From a standing start, he burst past Wylie on the outside and successfully held him off – no mean feat in itself – before arrowing his shot between the posts from an improbable angle. Strength, pace and precision, all in one glorious move.
Trailing by four, Ballybay came flying out of the blocks upon the restart, Shane McGuinness scoring within 30 seconds, minutes before Aaron Toner slotted over when a goal looked on.
And they might have rued passing on that opportunity when, three minutes later, McCarthy bagged the only goal of the day – albeit he needed two bites at the cherry to do so.
With a familiar drop of the shoulder, the Monaghan forward soloed through the heart of the Ballybay defence and, when his initial shot was saved by McCabe, McCarthy managed to adjust himself, despite losing his footing, to slide the ball into the empty net.
That put Scotstown 1-9 to 0-6 ahead with 23 minutes left, and when Shane McGuinness sent a stunning low driven wide of the post on 40 minutes, you sensed it wasn’t to be Ballybay’s day.
But when they went more direct after stationing Finlay on the edge of the square, chances came. Yet, despite laying siege and camping bodies in front of Beggan, the goal they needed didn’t.
And when the final whistle blew, it was a familiar scene as the Clones pitch gave way to a flood of blue and white.
Storm Ophelia forced a rethink of their celebrations last year, but this was a party destined to go on until the early hours of this morning. And when the fog clears Scotstown will survey an Ulster landscape that is so open, anything is possible.
MATCH STATS
Ballybay: B McCabe; E McKearney, R Wylie, B Wylie (0-1); M McArdle (0-1), D Wylie, C Lennon; C Galligan, T Kerr (0-1); D Ward (0-4), S McGuinness (0-2), T O’Neill; P Finlay (0-3, 0-2 frees), C McGuinness, A Toner (0-1); Subs: M Hannon for Galligan (39), S McQuillan for O’Neill (39), A Dixon for McArdle (53); Yellow cards: T O’Neill (23), D Ward (34), S McGuinness (56); Red cards: D Wylie (68)
Scotstown: R Beggan (0-3, frees); P Sherlock, R O’Toole, D McArdle; J McDevitt, D Morgan (0-1), E Caulfield; F Caulfield, K Hughes (0-1); F Maguire (0-2), C McCarthy (1-3, 0-2 frees), J McCarey; S Carey (0-3, 0-1 free), D Hughes, O Heaphey; Subs: R McKenna for F Caulfield (47), F McPhillips for E Caulfield (49), M McCarville for F Maguire (52), B Boylan for Sherlock (64); Yellow cards: K Hughes (13), C McCarthy (26), S Carey (40), E Caulfield (48)
Referee: A Marron (Corduff)
Att: 4,496
