Monaghan Celtic Under 11’s
Second in the league Belurgan Celtic travelled to Century Homes Park on Saturday
hoping for another win having already beaten Monaghan Celtic at home 4-1 but the
home team had other ideas. Having had no League game from before Christmas we knew
we would be match rusty but we started the game very well and within five minutes we were one up due to a well worked ball from midfield pushed through to Kevin Loughran
who beat the defender and pushed the ball pass the keeper great goal. After that our
match fitness started to creep in and Belurgan were let back into the game. Belurgan were
working the ball well up along the wings and were starting to get in behind the defence. It was not long before they equalized and five minutes later scored a second to go 2-1
up. The lads rallied but the score remained 2-1 at half time.
A good team talk and a few changes at half time paid off and the lads were looking more
like a team again. We took control of midfield again and started to get more ball to the
forwards, unfortunately we were getting it hard to score but eventually pushing the ball
out wide. Jack Brogan made a break down the right and passing the ball across to Daniel Mc Carron who scored with a well taken shot into the left corner to level the match. We had at least 3 to 4 more chances to win the game but could not put the ball in the net.
Belurgan were still very dangerous on the break and could have stolen a win near the end only for a great save by Ciaran Lynch. It was a great game of football to watch ending in a 2 all draw, although the lads know they can play much better. Management and players would like to wish Michael Mc Carville a speedy recovery due to a nasty injury during a training session.
Team: C Lynch,B Harraghy,B Smyth,K Murray,P Smyth,F Mc Mahon,S Owens,D Mc Carron, M Galligan,K Loughran,P Byrne,E O'Boyle,A Croarkin,C Forde,J Brogan,C Deery and F Sherry.
Managers:P Owens,B Brogan,N Harraghy and J Lynch
Monaghan United Under 12’s overcame a well organized Kilmallock team to progress to the last 16 teams in the SFAI Norton Cup at Century Homes Park on Saturday last. Monaghan started confidently and didn’t allow the Limerick side to settle into their game. The Midfield trio of Conor Moynagh, Seadh Deeney and Colin Clerkin worked hard closing down potential attacks and releasing the pacy forwards. Shane McGuinness was unlucky in the eight minute when he ratted the crossbar with a fierce drive. James McAllister, Shane Larkin and Shane McGuinness tormented the Kilmallock defence and on the 17th minute Shane McGuinness netted from close range after a fine build up from midfield. Kilmallock responded and threw everything at the Monaghan defence. The back four of Niall Greenan, Thomas Kerr, Dylan McMahon and James Clarke soaked up everything through their controlled play.
The second half began with a flurry of activity and Monaghan were denied repeatedly by the Limerick keeper who was in outstanding form. Kilmallock went for broke and pushed forward with a wreckless abandonment that nearly paid off. The Limerick team hit the post on the 18th minute and it took some brave goalkeeping skills by John McPhillips to consolidate their lead. United held out for a deserved 1-0 victory and look forward to the draw for their 6th round opponents.
TEAM: John McPhillips, Niall Greenan, Tomas Kerr, Dylan McMahon, James Clarke, Conor Moynagh, Seadh Deeney, Colin Clerkin, James McAllister, Shane Larkin, Shane McGuinness, Ross McKenna, Adrian Prunty, Keith Sheridan.
MANAGER: Seamus Deeney
Monaghan United Under 13’s made it through to the last 16 in the National Cup on Sunday after beating off a very good Athenry side. Monaghan, who were without four of their regular starters got off to a very nervous start and conceded a goal within the first five minutes. This was due to a mixup in the goal mouth area, which let the Athenry striker toe-poke the ball home from 6 yards and the Monaghan goalkeeper could do nothing about it. This seemed to kickstart Monaghan’s game, after all if your going to concede then that is a good time to do it because at least you have all the rest of the game to get back into it.
Monaghan started to pile on the pressure on Athenry and came close on a couple of occasions from James Clarke, Philip Donnolly and Cillian Coleman. Monaghan finally got their breakthrough when Aaron McCarey collected the ball in his area and drove a wonderful ball upfield where it was headed on by Pete Dooney to James Clarke. Clarke lobbed the keeper from 20 yards! This was a wonder “route one” ball which Jack Charlton would have been proud of! Monaghan almost made it two five minutes later when Pete Dooney’s header from a corner kick hit the cross bar. Monaghan came close once again after Owen Coyle fed the ball through to Philip Donnolly who played a one-two with Conor Clerkin and then Philip beat the keeper with a shot only for it to come off the far post. It was just hard luck for Donnolly who was a thorn in the Athenry side for the whole of the game. It finished 1-1 at half time.
Monaghan took complete control of the second half with Athenry always hoping to hit on the counterattack. Monaghan finally made it 2-1 when, once again Aaron McCarey, who was in top form, drove a quick long ball out of defence to Philip Donnolly. Donnolly took the ball on his chest and flicked it on to James Clarke. James was already in full flight, such is the understanding between these two players, and with James one on one with the keeper, he was brought down in the box. Philip Donnolly slotted home the penalty kick in style. Philip should have had another penalty five minutes later when he himself was brought down inside the box after beating 3 players. Shane Jackson also come close after some good footwork by Ashley Hawthorne. Pete Dooney also shot just wide from a free kick. Monaghan got a couple of late scares before the final whistle, but due to some good defensive work by Darren McKenna and Brian McQuaid, who played right back for the first time in his life, and Danny McNally, who was also playing out of position due to the lack of players. This was a well deserved win. Well done lads and we can look forward to the next round of the cup. We hope we have all our players available then. If we have we will be a challenge for anyone.
MAN OF THE MATCH: Philip Donnolly
TEAM: Aaron McCarey, Brian McQuaid, Darren McKenna, Danny McNally, Owen Coyle, Conor Clerkin, Pete Dooney, Cillian Coleman, Shane Jackson, Philip Donnolly, James Clarke, Ashley Hawthorne.
MANAGERS: Packie Cooney and Brian Finnegan
Monaghan United Under 15’s booked their place in the last 16 of the National Cup with a well deserved 2-1 win over their DSL rivals Walshestown on Saturday last. Right from the start both teams really got stuck in and in a very hard physical game the Monaghan lads had that bit extra to go on and win. United were the better team in the first half and could have had a 2-0 lead only for some fine defending by the Walshestown defence. The Monaghan lads were on the end of some very bad tackles that went unpunished and to make things worse, Walshestown took the lead with 5 minutes left in the first half from a penalty. The Monaghan keeper, Kevin Martin, nearly saved the spot kick when he got a hand to it but it went in off the post to give Walshestown a 1-0 lead at half time.
The United lads knew that they could win this game and really had a go at Walshestown. Dermot Malone got on the end of a corner kick to head in Monaghan’s first goal and with 20minutes left both teams had a really good go at trying to win the game. The game ended 1-1 in normal time and extra time had to be played. Walshestown and Monaghan both played their hearts out and with only 3 minutes left on the clock, Gavin Turley got on the end of a Ciaran Hughes cross to slot the ball into the back of the Walshestown net. There were scenes of jubilation on the Monaghan bench and on the line where the Monaghan supporters were.
It would be very unfair to pick a man of the match as everyone that pulled on the Monaghan shirt on Saturday last played their part along with all the sub’s on the line who have contributed all season.
Well done to all the lads and let’s see if we can go another bit further. To all the parents who traveled to support the team, thanks to you all. It was very much needed on the day. To end on a good note, its good to see our Captain Colm Reilly back at training and let’s hope all goes well for him.
TEAM: Kevin Martin, Conor Finnegan, Liam McKenna, Vinny McKenna, Niall Flynn, Dermot Malone, Gavin Turley, Ciaran Hughes, Emmett McArdle, Darren Rooney, Paul Toal, Darren Quigley, Marc Murray, Aaron Molloy, Pauric Redden, David McEntee, Barrat Turner.
