Monaghan earn early-season bragging rights with win in McKenna Cup opener

Dr McKenna Cup round 1

Monaghan 0-16

Cavan 0-13

Paul Fitzpatrick at Kingspan Breffni

New year, old fixture, a familiar pattern stitched to proceedings. There is rarely much between the teams in the Drumlin Clasico, regardless of if it’s in the National League, the championship or, as in this case, the resurrected Dr McKenna Cup - and that was the case again here as Monaghan deservedly shaded the season-opener with three points to spare.

A crowd of 2,083 turned up in bitterly cold conditions for what was Dermot McCabe’s first competitive match as manager and the sides served up a decent contest, all things considering. Both fielded mostly experimental line-ups and a few players will have impressed their respective managers, McCabe and Gabriel Bannigan.

Cavan had nine wides and dropped four shots short but Monaghan could point to two squandered goal chances from Stephen Mooney and Fionán Carolan and, in the final analysis, Monaghan were that little bit more composed in attack and that made the difference.

The game started at a good tempo. Gary Mohan and Galway native Ciaran Brady, who grew into the contest after a slow start and competed well in the air in the second half, contested the throw-in, Mohan won it and it was delivered quickly to David Garland, who was fouled and Micheál Bannigan converted the opening free to put Monaghan one up.

The Farney captain soon added a second, this time from play after Monaghan turned Cavan over at the other end.

Cavan’s opening score came after Oisin Brady’s two-point effort dropped wide; the kick-out was intercepted by Paddy Lynch and Tristan Noack-Hofmann swung it over off the left to make it 02 to 0-1 after six minutes.

A Monaghan three-up infraction followed and Lynch, who was well-marked by Darragh Treanor, landed the two-point free from the hands. The impressive Hofmann then saw an effort bounce on the bar, brought back for a free, but Lynch’s two-point attempt drifted wide.

Cavan pressed high to good effect at this stage but efforts from Cian Shekleton and Emmanuel Shehu both dropped short. Bannigan combined with Cameron Dowd and Garland showed a nice turn of pace before finishing well to level it on 11 minutes.

Garland then followed with another lovely point off his left, a super finish, before Emmanuel Shehu, another to impress for Cavan, darted into space and pointed to level it after 14 minutes.

Noack-Hofmann dropped one short and after a foul on Shehu, Lynch converted to edge Cavan in front.

A long ball in to Stephen Mooney then led to the first big goal chance of the contest as he went through on goal and looked odds-on to score but his effort was deflected out for a 45 which Kian Mulligan stroked over - Beggan-esque - to level matters at five apiece on 18 minutes.

Mooney continued to cause problems and worked the ball to corner-back Cameron Dowd, the Clones man knocking over his first senior point for Monaghan to restore the lead.

Oisin Brady responded with an excellent individual score, carrying at pace and driving over off the left when the defence stood off him but another well-taken point from Garland nudged Monaghan ahead again.

Karl Gallagher, back from the AFL and with a JFC medal secured, fisted a point to help Monaghan lead 0-8 to 0-6 at the break.

The away side made five substitutions at the interval and one of those, Ryan Mohan, made an immediate impact, delivering a nice ball to Gallagher who clipped over after 30 seconds.

Emmanuel Shehu then fed Cormac O’Reilly, who did very well to control the ball, turn his man and blast over the bar. Mulligan scuffed a Monaghan free wide before Hofmann laid off to Shekleton, who was fouled, Lynch converting to leave it 0-9 to 0-8 on 35 minutes.

A massive two-pointer from Oisin Brady followed as the Killygarry man drove over spectacularly to put Cavan ahead for the first time on 44 minutes. Bannigan replied with quick hands and an off-load to Dessie Ward, who curled over from just inside the arc to draw the sides level again.

Garland’s movement continued to cause problems and he won a free which Andrew Woods, very prominent in the second half, converted, before Bannigan sent two efforts wide.

Monaghan then spurned another huge goal chance as speedster Fionán Carolan tore through the centre, looked odds-on to score but blasted wide. Woods curled in a lovely point and, in response, Cormac O’Reilly was wide after Noack-Hofmann did well to create the chance.

A lay-off from Ward allowed Woods to fist over to make it 0-13 to 0-10 on 51 minutes as Monaghan looked to kick for home. Ryan Donohoe replied with a fine point off the laces from a tight angle for Cavan and when fit-again Darragh Lovett reduced the gap to one, a grandstand finish looked likely.

Sure enough, the home crowd came to life when Oisin Brady fisted the equaliser after a patient crossfield move that followed Ciaran Brady breaking the Monaghan kick-out.

But Cavan conceded cheaply when Garland played a one-two, Cavan bought it and didn’t track him and he fisted over to edge Monaghan ahead once more – and there they stayed.

Bannigan curled in a well-struck free after Cavan made a mistake with a short kick-out and sub Eddie Walsh clipped over via the upright with the final kick of the match to seal it.

Monaghan: Kian Mulligan (0-1, 45), Cameron Dowd (0-1), Darragh Treanor, Ronan Boyle, Ryan Duffy, Dessie Ward (0-1), Thomas Hughes, Karl Gallagher (0-2), Gary Mohan, Jason Irwin, Micheál Bannigan (0-3, 2f), Oisin McGorman, David Garland (0-4), Andrew Woods (0-3, 1f), Stephen Mooney

Subs: Ryan Mohan for Ryan Duffy, Darragh McElearney for Ronan Boyle, Alistair Stewart for Gary Mohan, Liam McDonald for Oisin McGorman (all half-time), Fionán Carolan for Jason Irwin (42), Shane Hanratty for Dessie Ward (53), Eddie Walsh (0-1) for Andrew Woods, Oisin Monahan for Karl Gallagher (both 64)

Cavan: Liam Brady, Paddy Meade, Brían O’Connell, Favour Shehu, Emmanuel Shehu (0-1), Ryan Tobin, Tristan Noack-Hofmann (0-1), Ryan Donohoe (0-1), Evan Crowe, Ciaran Brady, Paddy Lynch (0-4, 2ptf, 2f), Tiarnan Madden, Peter Corrigan, Oisin Brady (0-4, 2pt), Cian Shekleton

Subs: Cormac O’Reilly (0-1) for Favour Shehu (half-time), Jason McLoughlin for Evan Crowe, Conor Brady for Emmanuel Shehu (both 48), Darragh Lovett for Cian Shekleton, Gearóid McKiernan for Paddy Lynch (both 53), Eoin Clarke for Brían O’Connell, Caoimhán McGovern for Tristan Noack-Hofmann (both 63)

See this week's print edition for full coverage.