Mayo 0-13
Monaghan 0-12

Colm Gannon reports from Clones

A POINT FROM Paddy Durcan deep in injury time saw Mayo overcome a Monaghan side who finished up with 12 men in Clones on Sunday.

In a hard fought encounter that got fractious near the end, referee David Gough sent off Ryan Wylie with a straight red card and Barry Kerr for a second yellow in a three minute period from the 68th to 71st minute.

Three minutes later Darren Freeman was also sent to the line for a black card with no replacements left. Mayo also saw a man sent to the line when Diarmuid O’Connor was shown a black card on 58 minutes.

Mayo started with seven of the 15 that started last year’s All Ireland final defeat at the hands of Dublin – but they still fielded an experienced team with Eoin O’Donoghue the only one making his first league start for the westerners. The Belmullet man put in a big shift in defence for his side.

David Clarke, Brendan Harrison, Colm Boyle, Paddy Durcan, Kevin McLoughlin, Aidan O’Shea and Andy Moran all started the September showpiece, while Ger Cafferkey, Stephen Coen and Diarmuid O’Connor all saw action in that one point loss.

Monaghan also had seven starters from their last championship outing last summer, with Rory Beggan, Ryan Wylie, Fintan Kelly, Kieran Duff, Karl O’Connell, Darren Hughes and Ryan McAnespie all named in Malachy O’Rourke’s starting 15.

The sides were level at the break on seven points each, but Mayo were the better side in the early stages of the second half finding themselves leading 0-12 to 0-9 after 56 minutes with Neil Douglas kicking two 45s and a free along with points from Paddy Durcan and Evan Regan. Monaghan’s two scores in that run came from points from David Garland and Jack McCarron.

John McVitty / INPHO John McVitty / INPHO / INPHO

The home-side kept plugging away and pulled themselves level by the end of normal time thanks two points from Conor McCarthy and one from Niall Kearns to leave everything up for grabs in the closing stages. Despite having the numerical advantage it looked like Mayo were only going to get a point after Adam Gallagher saw his effort drop short with three minutes of the four additional minutes gone, however Durcan stepped up to hammer over a point from out on the right hand side to send them home with the points in the bag,

The sides went in all square at the half time break at seven points each. The home side got off to the better start with Karl O’Connell and Conor McManus sweeping over early points to give the home faithful plenty to cheer about.

Mayo missed their first chance to register a score when Neil Douglas pulled an effort from a free wide on the near side after just a minute. Mayo did get the scoreboard moving nine minutes in through an Andy Moran effort that needed the aid of the post on its way. David Garland pushed the gap back out to two points with a well taken effort two minutes later. Evan Regan slung over a point for Mayo on 12 minutes as the game started to find it’s groove.

Jack McCarron’s brace of points was responded to by scores from Regan and corner back Eoin O’Donoghe who finished off a slick Mayo move to keep the scoreboard ticking over. Niall Kearns put Monaghan into a two point lead 12 minutes before they short whistle with a shot that just creeped over the hands of David Clarke to leave the score at 0-6 to 0-4 for the home-side.

Mayo had the contest level with nine minutes left in the half thanks to a brace of Regan frees, before Karl O’Connell hit his second fine point of the day to edge Monaghan back in front once more. The final score of the half went to Mayo through Castlebar Mitchels’ man Neil Douglas who converted a free after he was upended himself.

John McVitty / INPHO John McVitty / INPHO / INPHO

Scorers for Mayo: Evan Regan (0-5, 4f), Neil Douglas (0-4, 0-2 ’45, 0-2f), Paddy Durcan (0-2), Andy Moran (0-1), Eoin O’Donoghue (0-1).

Scorers for Monaghan: Jack McCarron (0-3, 2f), Conor McCarthy (0-3, 3f), David Garland (0-2), Karl O’Connell (0-2), Niall Kearns (0-2).

Monaghan

1. Rory Beggan (Scotstown)

4. Barry Kerr (Cremartin)
2. Ryan Wylie (Ballybay)
3. Conor Boyle (Clontibret)

6. Kieran Duffy (Latton)
11. Paraic McGuirk (Sean McDermotts)
7. Karl O’Connell (Tyholland)

8. Darren Hughes (Scotstown)
9. Niall Kearns (Sean McDermotts)

10. Owen Duffy (Latton)
5. Fintan Kelly (Clones)
12. Ryan Mc Anespie (Emyvale)

13. Conor McCarthy (Scotstown)
14. Jack McCarron (Currin)
15. David Garland (Donmoyne)

Subs

23. Paudie McKenna (Truagh) for Owen Duffy
24. Dermot Malone (Castleblayney) for McCarron
25. Darren Freeman (St Brigid’s, Dublin) for Garland
18. Colin Walshe (Doohamlet) for Duffy
17. Drew Wylie (Ballybay) for McGuirk
22. Desie Ward (Ballybay) for McAnespie

Mayo

David Clarke (Ballina Stephenites)

2. Brendan Harrison (Aghamrore)
3. Ger Cafferkey (Ballina Stephenites)
4. Eoin O’Donoghue (Belmullet)

5. Colm Boyle (Davitts)
9. Stephen Coen (Hollymount-Carramore
7. Paddy Durcan (Castlebar Mitchels)

8. Jason Gibbons (Ballintubber)
22. Shane Nally (Garrymore)

10. Kevin McLoughlin (Knockmore)
11. Aidan O’Shea (Breaffy)
12. Diarmuid O’Connor (Ballintubber)

25. Neil Douglas (Castlebar Mitchels)
14. Evan Regan (Ballina Stephenites)
23. Andy Moran (Ballaghaderreen)

Subs: 13. Cillian O’Connor (Ballintubber) for Douglas, 21. Adam Gallagher (Mayo Gaels) for Diarmuid O’Connor (BC), 15. Conor Loftus (Crossmolina Deel Rovers) for Moran, 20. Sharoize Akram (Ballaghderreen) for Nally, 18. Ger McDonagh (Castlebar Mitchels) for Boyle

Referee: David Gough (Meath)

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