Derry 1-21 2-10 Monaghan
Derry’s opening goal against Monaghan in the Ulster semi-final tells you everything you need to know about what went wrong for the Farney men.
The defending champions went to Omagh full of confidence after easily dispatching Fermanagh in the quarter finals, but Monaghan also had their tails up after their last-gap winner against Tyrone in the previous round.
The Oakleaf county didn’t take long to take the wind out of Monaghan’s sails as Conor Glass opened the scoring with a fine point from distance to get the ball rolling.
From there, Derry’s collection of scores was shared between their star forward Shane McGuigan who was in fine form, and their defiant defenders who loved to burst into the attack from deep.
Last year when these two teams met, Monaghan decided to keep two forwards up and not track the Derry backs who bombed forward which left them outnumbered when defending.
This time, Vinny Corey decided to mirror Rory Gallagher’s team, and bring everyone back behind the ball, but this suited those in red and white right to the ground.
With Conor mcManus and and Jack McCarron tracking back, the defensive frailties in their game were exposed, as the two forwards are more used to kicking points than stopping them.
Conor McCluskey’s goal typifies this best, as he runs through on goal, spots that it is McManus in his way and decides to drop the shoulder and take him on before burying it into the net.
Despite an excellent individual goal from Karl O’Connell, the first half belonged to Derry who had nine different scorers, including the goalkeeper Odhran Lynch who has now scored from play in consecutive championship games.
The second started much the same, and despite a goal from Karl Gallagher to make the scoreline respectable, it was very much a relatively comfortable win for the reigning champs.
Another key moment was the return of the Ciaran McFaul, who came off the bench in place of Niall Loughlin, making his first county appearance since Galway defeated them in the league last year.
McGuigan rounded off the match with eight points to signal a statement of intent and announce himself as the most dangerous forward on the pitch, which is saying something when you run through the names there.
Related links:
- Why Shane McGuigan is on the cusp of becoming one of the country’s best forwards
- Tyrone legend questions Derry’s squad depth and he raises some good points
- Goalkeeper’s ‘quarter back’ role proves pivotal as Derry dismantle Fermanagh
