ALL-IRELAND SFC QUALIFIER Monaghan 1-13 Derry 1-12THERE WAS plenty of the wink-and-elbow language of delight sent in the direction of Monaghan manager Séamus "Banty" McEnaney after this Clones dogfight - more is the pity that so few came out to see it but the people of Kavanagh's county will surely return next Saturday.
"I have serious trust in this team. Serious trust," said a delighted McEnaney. "We didn't become a bad team overnight. We definitely didn't perform against Fermanagh and that was the hurt that was burning us to perform today."
Derry got their tactics badly wrong. When they did return to man-on-man football in a valiant attempt to save the summer they notched up 10 second-half wides.
Derry must now enter a long period of reflection and rehabilitation. They have been promising a lot but the three-year reign of Paddy Crozier has delivered little of substance in the championship.
The contest eventually developed into an enthralling battle but it took an 11-minute feeling-out period before Paddy Bradley activated the scoreboard with a simple free.
Maybe, Derry should have kept their distance and tried to finesse a route into the next round because Monaghan merely enhanced their status as calculating and tough opponents when it comes to the "white heat of championship" Crozier referred to afterwards.
With Paul Finlay and Gary McQuaid suspended and Tommy Freeman tied up by a heavyweight defence for long periods, it was left to less-heralded contributors to step forward.
Ciarán Hanratty and the livewire Stephen Gollogly both chipped in with valuable scores.
Despite the return of Derry's midfield warrior Fergal Doherty, Eoin Lennon seemed to gather the more important aerial balls, especially down the home stretch.
His partner in the bear-pit was Dick Clerkin. Clerkin has the ability to infuriate his marker and if not for a refreshing leniency when it came to yellow cards by referee David Coldrick, Doherty would have surely walked for two acts of retaliation. Coldrick only flashed two yellow cards over the 70 minutes, despite awarding 47 frees.
Clerkin popped up for the Monaghan goal after 29 minutes, during a purple patch that yielded 1-4 without reply. It came off a cleverly floated free by Rory Woods powerful Vincent Corey deflected into the midfielder's path.
At 1-7 to 0-4, Monaghan entered first-half injury-time in complete control - restricting Derry to long-range shooting and easily containing Paddy Bradley in his wasted role of centre forward.
Damien Freeman was making hay as the defensive sweeper, while corner back Dessie Mone is approaching hero status.
Still, Derry sprang to life, with Enda Muldoon posting a fine point from distance and seconds later a speculative Bradley effort fell kindly to his brother, Eoin, on the square's edge. Monaghan must have been shell-shocked to see 1-7 to 1-5 on the scoreboard as they traipsed off at the break.
"We never talked about that at half-time," claimed McEnaney (although he surely touched on the eight wides). "We said we would have bought this position a week ago or an hour before the game, to be two points ahead at half-time."
Either way, they were overrun for large patches of the second-half, with Corey forced into his old defensive duties to help plug the leakage. Paddy Bradley and Mark Lynch deserve particular mention for some beautiful scores but Muldoon pulled up lame and departed as matters got really serious.
Woods and Freeman points kept Monaghan in the hunt but Colin Devlin, Doherty and substitute Christopher McCaigue reeled off consecutive scores between 51 and 56 minutes to finally put Derry into a winning position. They failed to drive it home. The ball somehow drifted inside the upright off Gollogly's boot on 60 minutes but Bradley nudged Derry back in front before another substitute, Monaghan's Shane Smyth, registered a point that seemed certain to force extra-time.
Then, entering time added on, Gollogly seemed to slip as McCaigue challenged him inside Freeman's free-taking range. Coldrick blew for a foul. It seemed harsh. Freeman dispatched the point from his hands. Derry came again but the now possessed Monaghan defence trampled on the dying embers of a Derry season that had promised so much.
MONAGHAN:1 P McBennett; 2 D Mone, 3 JP Mone, 4 D McArdle; 5 D Freeman (capt), 6 D Hughes, 7 P McGuigan; 8 E Lennon, 11 D Clerkin (1-0); 10 C McManus (0-1), 13 R Woods (0-1), 12 S Gollogly (0-3); 19 C Hanratty (0-2), 14 V Corey, 15 T Freeman (0-5, two frees). Subs: 21 S Smyth (0-1) for Hughes (47 mins); 17 N McAdam for McGuigan (53 mins); 9 B McKenna for Clerkin (67 mins).
DERRY:1 J Deighan; 6 G O'Kane, 3 N McCusker, 4 J O'Kane (0-1); 5 L Hinphey, 23 K McCloy (capt), 21 M McBride; 8 F Doherty (0-1), 9 Patsy Bradley; 30 R Wilkinson, 14 Paddy Bradley (0-4, two frees), 12 E Muldoon (0-1); 18 C Devlin (0-1), 10 M Lynch (0-2), 15 E Bradley (1-1). Subs: 22 C McCaigue (0-1) for Hinphey (half-time); 13 C Gilligan for Wilkinson (47 mins); 11 P Murphy for Muldoon (50 mins); 19 J Diver for McCloy (62 mins); 17 J Conway for Patsy Bradley (68 mins).
Referee:D Coldrick (Meath).
