Determined Donegal comeback misses by inches as Monaghan win Dr McKenna Cup

Half empty or half full? Either way, it was a frenetic conclusion to the Dr McKenna Cup, with Donegal throwing the kitchen sink at Monaghan, but still ended up mopping the floor.

Monaghan 1-11
Donegal 0-13

Monaghan certainly wiped the floor with Donegal in the first half, coming out on top in every aspect of the contest. The later it went on, though, the better Donegal got and the closer it got. Last year when the leagues were spliced, Division 1 North as it was known, saw Donegal scrape a point from nine down against Monaghan with Conor McCarthy grabbing three first half goals.

Tonight in Omagh, Seamus McEnaney’s team were 1-10 to 0-4 up 13 minutes into the second half, with Ulster Council officials thinking of placing the blue and white ribbons on the Dr McKenna Cup. The joke that the stewards going to end of match positions ‘should’ve happened at half-time’ was heard muttered here and there.

Declan Bonner, whose side were 1-7 to 0-4 down at the break, started to load his team. Substitute Michael Murphy kicked six second half points, and somehow we got a grandstand finish with Donegal scoring all but one of the night’s last 10 points. Five of Murphy’s scores may have been frees, but his presence provides a focal point with the likes of Michael Langan and Caolan McGonagle bolstering things.

However, Monaghan held on to win the Ulster curtain-raiser for the first time since 2003. They maintained a well-organised shell, with Donegal only really coming close to cracking them when they played with abandon.

Monaghan are back at Healy Park next Sunday to open their Allianz League campaign, while Donegal face Mayo in Sligo. If the aim for management is to get competitive outings before things get more serious, then the McKenna Cup has served its purpose for both. 

Donegal mixed the good and the bad, but as Bonner and his players have frequently mentioned over the last fortnight, they're glad to get the games.

Lynch starts in goal - Donegal go with this team for the McKenna Cup final

Michael Lynch will start for only the third time for Donegal, this evening in the McKenna Cup final

When Ciaran Thompson gave away a ball deep in the Monaghan half in the fourth minute, the breakaway was still only at the draft stage. But it developed through the stages, with Shane Carey the carrier. Dessie Ward opened his body to place it past Michael Lynch with Jack McCarron’s pass - even having lost his footing - essential.

That goal was the differential between the teams by the water-break, 1-3 to 0-3, with Patrick McBrearty scoring twice for Donegal and Michéal Bannigan doing the same for Monaghan. He’d score five in all.

Monaghan were on top and in the 21st minute really should’ve added a second goal but for a Carey swing at a loose ball to somehow end up over the crossbar instead of under it.

Donegal were living off scraps and not showing basic cohesiveness, and a Monaghan point of the nonchalant variety from the outside of Andrew Woods’ boot, confirmed the difference at that juncture. That difference was as stark as living in lockdown compared to the night the restrictions were lifted. 

On only his third senior start, Lynch, moments later, had to backpedal and clutch a dropping ball from under his own crossbar when McCarthy - him again - tried the lob after Bannigan had easily picked off the goalkeeper’s kick-out. Each Monaghan attack was laced in threat, while at the back, the sight of three defenders gobbling up Thompson just before the break showed the intensity.

Bonner, perhaps tossing the script aside, started to work his bench. But further Monaghan points, through Bannigan, twice, and Colin Walshe, made for a nine-point, 1-10 to 0-4 lead.

Even though Murphy popped over two frees, Ryan McHugh’s point on 54 minutes was Donegal’s first from play since the fifth. They trailed 1-10 to 0-7 three-quarters the way in.

Two more would follow, one from the right foot of McBrearty, after Rory Beggan had denied substitute McGonagle, a close-in slap from Langan and Murphy's conveyor belt, to bring Donegal’s arrears down to one as time wore thin. Somewhere punched in there though, McCarron had pointed a free amid the Donegal deluge and because of it, Monaghan went home with the cup.

Scorers for Monaghan: Micheál Bannigan (4f) 0-5, Dessie Ward 1-0, Jack McCarron (2f), Shane Carey 0-2 each Colin Walsh, Colin Walsh 0-1 each

Scorers for Donegal: Michael Murphy (5f) 0-6, Patrick McBrearty (1f) 0-3, Ciaran Thompson, Charles McGuinness (f), Ryan McHugh, Michael Langan 0-1 each

Monaghan: Rory Beggan; Shane Hanratty, Kieran Duffy, Ryan Wylie; Ryan McAnespie, Dessie Ward, Conor McCarthy; Darren Hughes, Killian Lavelle; Shane Carey, Micheál Bannigan, Colin Walsh; Aaron Mulligan, Jack McCarron, Andrew Woods. Subs: Niall Kearns for Lavelle, David Garland for Carey (both half-time), Karl O’Connell for McCarthy, Fintan Kelly for Walsh (both 44), Conor Boyle for R.Wylie, Drew Wylie for Hughes (both 54), Gary Mohan for Woods (58), James Mealiff for Mulligan (70).

Donegal: Michael Lynch; Caolan Ward, Brendan McCole, Eoghan Bán Gallagher; Ryan McHugh, Paul Brennan, Tony McClenaghan; Jason McGee, Ciaran Thompson; Odhrán McFadden-Ferry, Peadar Mogan, Shane O’Donnell; Patrick McBrearty, Charles McGuinness, Conor O’Donnell. Subs: Michael Murphy for McGuinness, Ethan O’Donnell for S.O’Donnell, Caolan McGonagle for P.Brennan (all half-time), Niall O’Donnell for C.O’Donnell (48), Michael Langan for McGee (51), Jeaic Mac Ceallabhuí for McClenaghan (53), Eunan Doherty for McFadden-Ferry (58), Odhran Doherty for McHugh (67).

Referee: Padraig Hughes (Armagh)