McManus on target as Monaghan blitz turns Erne challenge to dust
PUTTING their foot to the pedal in the in the second half and shooting 10 points in succession, Monaghan left Fermanagh in their wake quickly enough in last evening’s preliminary round Ulster Championship game at Clones.
And Malachy O’Rourke will be happy that 13 of his men got their names on the scoresheet by the finish.
The stroll that was predicted for Monaghan turned out to be anything but early on.
In front of just 7,473, the sides were level six times in a first half, though the eventual losers should have held an advantage more often.
However, Erne goalkeeper Thomas Treacy diced with danger once too often with his short kickouts and eventually Jack McCarron pounced, fed Conor McManus who dummied the goalkeeper before slotting home in the 14th minute.
Fermanagh could have folded after such a self-inflicted blow but to their credit they outscored the home side by 1-2 to 0-1 in the next 10 minutes.
Paul McCusker punched a big hole in the Monaghan defence and floated a ball into the square to Ryan Lyons, who ghosted in unmarked to plant it confidently into the far corner to bring Fermanagh level in the 22nd minute.
Monaghan finished the half strongly with four of the last five points, with Karl O’Connell and frees from McCarron and McManus giving them a 1-8 to 1-6 interval lead.
Yet, despite scoring two of the opening three points in the second half to close to a point Fermanagh lost heart as Monaghan started to pile on the scores.
Man of the Match Owen Duffy came on and made a big impact with 0-3 at a stage when Monaghan began to take the game away completely from Pete McGrath’s side.
They hit 10 points in a row inside 17 minutes in a one-sided second half to ensure safe passage to the quarter-final clash with Cavan on June 11.