Red Hands in control in opening-round clash

Ladies NFL Round 1

Tyrone 7-11

Monaghan 0-11

All-Ireland champions Tyrone showed no mercy to Monaghan on the opening day of their Division 2 campaign at Cookstown on Sunday, bagging seven goals in a commanding 21-point win at the new Holy Trinity 4G.

Although this was classed as a home fixture for the Farney side, there were no home comforts as Tyrone took charge from the outset. All of their forwards scored, the woodwork twice denied Monaghan further damage, and for long spells the contest was one-sided.

For 27 minutes of the first half Tyrone were in total control, with Monaghan trailing by six points before Éabha Sherry kicked a fine score on 16 minutes to get their scoreboard ticking. Two minutes later Niamh Flanagan added another, her height proving advantageous under the new mark rule, but Tyrone continued to stretch clear, racing into a six-point lead and racking up 1-3 from play.

Cara McNamee opened Tyrone’s account with an early point and they pushed ahead when Áine Strain combined with Emer McCanny to finish a goal. The post denied Niamh O’Neill before both she and Aoife Horisk added points, while McNamee cracked a shot off the crossbar. Points from Leanne Maguire and Flanagan briefly cut the gap, but in reality that was as good as it got for Monaghan in the opening period.

O’Neill set up Horisk, O’Neill herself fired over from the right, and McNamee finished off a sweeping move with Tyrone’s second goal on 25 minutes. Tyrone did struggle in the closing stages of the half, with kick-outs proving an issue, and Monaghan finally found a foothold.

With five minutes to go until the break, the Monaghan defence began to get to grips with Tyrone’s pace. Eimear Traynor turned over plenty of ball, Áine Loughman put her body on the line to stop a shot on goal, and Alison Gilliland and Rosemary Courtney led charges out of defence to instigate counter-attacks.

In the middle third, Niamh Flanagan, Amy Garland and Casey Treanor put immense pressure on Tyrone’s restarts. Chloe McBride won a good ball on the edge of the D and slotted over, Treanor struck twice in quick succession, and Muireann Atkinson landed a long-range effort to leave five points between the sides at the break.

It was Monaghan’s only bright spot.

Any hopes of building on that momentum were extinguished almost immediately. Within 30 seconds of the restart, O’Neill robbed the goalkeeper and slid in Tyrone’s third goal, quickly followed by numbers four and five. The hard-working Méabh Mallon collected inside her own half before releasing Horisk for the fourth, and in a well-worked ‘Omagh’ style move, McNamee flicked home her second, with Strain and McCanny combining to open the door.

Conroy and McBride exchanged points before both teams reshuffled. Three Monaghan substitutes briefly lifted their challenge, with Aoibhín McCormack pointing on her first touch and a couple of chances created, but by then the damage was done.

The quality of O’Neill was underlined as she finished with 1-1, McNamee curled over a sweet point from the right, and Maxwell came to life on her return to Tyrone with 1-3 down the home straight. Monaghan kept battling, with McBride converting a free and adding further points, and scores from Jennifer Duffy and Éabha Sherry bringing their total to 11, but Tyrone’s lead was never threatened.

Monaghan’s miserable afternoon was compounded when Jennifer Duffy was yellow-carded late on, as Tyrone closed out an emphatic opening-day victory.

Monaghan: Molly Flood, Áine Loughman, Áine McQuaid, Maeve Monaghan, Eimear Traynor, Rosemary Courtney, Alison Gilliland, Jennifer Duffy (0-1), Niamh Flanagan (0-1), Muireann Atkinson (0-1), Amy Garland, Casey Treanor (0-2), Chloe McBride (0-3, 1f), Éabha Sherry (0-2), Amy Jo Kierans

Subs: Dervla Cawley, Michaela Grew, Aoibhín McCormack (0-1), Ellen Leonard, Caoimhe Ward