No longer living off chaos, Monaghan have now evolved

Analysis

This was a mature performance by Monaghan on a systematic and individual level, writes MICHAEL HANNON.

By half-time on Sunday, Monaghan had registered 15 points - and it could have been more.

Their first-half tally against Westmeath was built on control, patience, Rory Beggan’s range and the increasing variety of their attacking threats. Is there a better two-point kicking team in Ulster than Gabriel Bannigan’s men? They had five orange flags by half-time.

Westmeath’s 2-9 was built on moments. Dangerous moments, certainly; moments Monaghan will not want to see repeated. But moments all the same.

On the television, GAA+ were raving about Westmeath’s performance at half-time, yet the sides were only level and not to sound wise after the fact but I could see cracks appearing.

That was the contradiction of the opening half in Clones. Monaghan had put together the sort of attacking return that should usually create distance on the scoreboard. Instead, Westmeath’s two goals kept the game balanced and gave the afternoon a level of uncertainty that probably did not reflect how much control Monaghan were beginning to establish.

There was fortune attached to both Westmeath goals, although that does not allow Monaghan to wash their hands completely of responsibility.

For the first, Westmeath worked the ball from one side of the field to the other while Monaghan defended zonally around the arc. There is nothing wrong with that in principle - passing runners on can be sensible against a team trying to stretch your shape. The problem comes when the wrong players end up in the wrong match-ups.

That is exactly what happened when Matthew Whittaker found himself isolated against Micheál McCarville. In the air, or under a dropping kick-out, McCarville would be comfortable. This was different. It was a one-v-one in space against one of Westmeath’s quickest and most agile runners.

Whittaker sensed the opportunity immediately, eased past him and finished to the net.

Home captain Micheál Bannigan was nearby and looked visibly frustrated as Beggan picked the ball out of the net. The issue was not the zonal structure itself but the communication within it. If Monaghan are going to pass players on around the arc, they cannot accidentally create the mismatch the opposition are hoping for.

The second goal felt similarly avoidable. Beggan came out towards his 20-metre line to meet a dropping ball around the square. His intention was clear: break it, kill the danger and prevent a clean goal chance. Instead, the break landed in the one place Monaghan could not afford it to land - straight into Brandon Kelly’s hands.

Neither goal felt like evidence of a fatal structural flaw; Westmeath did not repeatedly carve Monaghan open. They punished two isolated moments: one communication lapse and one broken-ball mistake. Once those areas were tidied, Westmeath found the game far more difficult.

At the other end, Monaghan’s attacking game, by contrast, looked increasingly mature.

Westmeath struggled all day to compete with Beggan’s kick-outs. They gave up short restarts repeatedly, clearly reluctant to push extra bodies into the arc. From the 45m line back was all they pressed, with only one or two exceptions in that first half. The fear was obvious. Press Beggan too aggressively and he has the range and accuracy to bypass you completely.  Once the ball goes over the top, the contest becomes a breaking ball in the middle third. Monaghan now have enough pace to turn those breaking balls into punishment.

Cavan saw it in the first round of Ulster when Stephen Mooney’s pace hurt them. Roscommon saw it too. With Stephen O’Hanlon, Micheál Bannigan, Conor McCarthy, Dessie Ward and Mooney all capable of attacking open grass, Monaghan can punish every loose possession.

The problem for Westmeath was that Monaghan no longer need that chaos to hurt you.

They have become increasingly efficient at taking the short kick-out, working the ball safely through the thirds, setting up their 11 v 11 attacking shape and waiting until a defender switches off, a gap opens, or a runner arrives at pace from the right angle.

That is where O’Hanlon has become transformative. Against Roscommon, he was handed the job of tracking Daire Heneghan and carried it out so well that one of the sharpest forwards in the country was reduced to his quietest outing of the season. On Sunday, restored to a more advanced role, O’Hanlon became the player Westmeath simply could not contain.

Again and again, he broke the line through the middle of their defensive structure. His three points were only part of the story; his line-breaking was the real damage.

Mark McHugh acknowledged as much afterwards, admitting Westmeath had tried three different men on him and still could not get a handle on him.

The other major advantage Monaghan possess is their ability to score heavily without having to penetrate all the way inside the cover.

They kicked five two-pointers against Westmeath (all coming in the first half, as stated). Beggan nailed three from frees, while McCarville and Andrew Woods added one each from play. Westmeath managed two in response, one from Ronan Wallace and another from Shane Corcoran.

Monaghan won that battle by six points; they won the game by six points. Let that sink in.

For Monaghan, the two-point arc is becoming a core part of their scoring model. Beggan is the obvious cheat code. When he stands over a free from that range, it no longer feels speculative. Fouls that once merely conceded territory now risk handing Monaghan two points.

Sit off them and they will work the ball patiently until a runner like O’Hanlon, Bannigan, Ward or McCarthy arrives at pace. Step out to them aggressively and you risk fouling while also leaving space behind. Foul them outside the arc and Beggan can punish you for two.

Take Conor McCarthy; he is so comfortable at taking ball into contact that pushing up to him is an issue. Yet not pushing up to him is an issue, too. It’s a catch 22.

Westmeath’s long kick-outs also became a real problem for them in the second half. Once Monaghan began to win breaking ball in the middle third, possession that had been contested suddenly became Monaghan possession. From there, the Farney men were able to take the game to the Lake County and expose the spaces that began to appear.

That will not have surprised anyone from Cavan who made the trip to Mullingar earlier in the championship. Something similar happened that day. Westmeath’s long kick-out began to creak in the second half and Cavan wrestled momentum back in the final quarter of normal time.

Against Louth, that advantage is not guaranteed. One of the reasons Gavin Devlin’s side have been so competitive this year is the size and physical presence they can place around the middle third. At various stages, Louth have made opposition kick-outs deeply uncomfortable by loading that area with big bodies and asking teams to beat them in the air or on the break.

That is where Beggan’s accuracy becomes crucial. It is one thing to control your own restart when a team stands off and allows the short option. It is another when the opposition can contest the middle third with the sort of size Louth possess.

McCarville could have a major role to play, not only as a ball-winner, but as a player capable of helping Monaghan secure the possession their attacking game depends on.

Gabriel Bannigan will surely have looked at Craig Lennon’s influence for Louth and wondered whether O’Hanlon might be the player to perform another disciplined man-marking role, similar to the one he carried out on Heneghan against Roscommon.

But Devlin will have watched O’Hanlon tear through Westmeath and may be thinking along similar lines in reverse. Does he ask Lennon to put the brakes on O’Hanlon? Does he send him towards Conor McCarthy? Or does he allow Lennon to play on the front foot and force Monaghan to worry about him?

That subplot alone feels worth the entrance fee to Croke Park.

For Monaghan, the bigger picture is encouraging. This is not the same team that staggered through the league looking short on bodies, form and momentum. The pieces are beginning to fit. Beggan is dictating games from the restart and from outside the arc. McCarron is finishing and O’Hanlon is changing the pace of their attack.

Louth will present a different type of test. They are physical, confident, fresh and already proven against high-level opposition. They will not fear Monaghan, nor should they. These two teams, with their respective forward lines, will not die wondering. We could be about to witness a good old-fashioned shootout.

Louth are Monaghan’s counterparts in Leinster in the sense that they are, in my opinion, the best two-point kicking side in their province.

In a nutshell, sparks could fly.