Donegal 1-26; Monaghan 1-20
Just as we could never have foreseen Donegal being seven points behind at half-time, neither could we have seen such a transformation in play in the second half when Monaghan barely got their hands on the ball as Jim McGuinness’s side totally monopolized play, making them in my opinion the favorites to bring Sam Maguire back to Tir Conail this July.
McGuinness must have been tempted to make changes at the break but his decision to go with the same players was inspirational as everyone afield upped their game to the extent that the previously dominant Monaghan individuals, were left in their wake for virtually all the 35 plus minutes of play at Croke Park on Saturday.
“It's something we spoke about at half-time,” McGuinness admitted afterwards. “It's one of those situations where you can do all the planning in the world and all the coaching but at the end of the day, you do end up in these moments in championship runs where everything is on the line and the players have to find a way.
"And for that reason, we didn't make any changes. We left the same 15 go out there again and in fairness to them, to a man, they turned it around very, very well,” he emphasized.
McGuinness went on: “The energy they brought to it as well was absolutely fantastic. Our decision-making was way better and we used the ball really well, and supported each other really well and we got in and we were dangerous. There were a lot of positives. Obviously, there are a lot of things we need to look at in terms of the game overall in the first half, but listen, at this level of competition now, teams are going to ask serious questions of you and it's probably a situation where we were trying to stay in the game in those moments and then when your own moments come then, try and be clinical.”
Speaking of Michael Langan, who got the goal to change the match around, the Donegal boss said: “|He's a great player, he's a very stylish midfielder and he's very honest. He can do it both ways. He's very skilful on the ball so we're delighted to have him. Hughie [McFadden] has been immense for us all season and thankfully today Jason McGee went in there and had a big contribution in the second half.
Donegal's Michael Langan shoots to score his side's first goal of the match. [Inpho/Tom Maher]
“So that's very positive. It's very important around the middle of the park to try and keep your big men healthy and hopefully we will have Caolan McGonagle back for the next day,” he pointed out.
The second-half recovery, during which they outscored their opponents 1-15 to 0-05, scoring an amazing, except for Kerry that is, 0-11 without response at one stage, showed GAA fans why they are most people’s fancy to go all the way.
Langan hit 1-3 in that time, while the effervescent Shane O'Donnell landed three points in his man of the match performance.
While Michael Murphy hit three uncharacteristic wides, don’t ever discount his influence on the players around him. He is the talisman of the side, the man who makes the big catch out in midfield when it is need and the man who slots over the important score when it can make the difference. Without him Donegal would be a much lesser side, which is why McGuinness worked so hard to end his two year sabbatical and get him back - even at 35 years of age.
Donegal: S Patton; F Roarty, B McCole, P Mogan (0-2); R McHugh (0-1), E Gallagher, C Moore; H McFadden, M Langan (1-3); C McColgan, C Thompson (0-4; 2 tp), S O'Donnell (0-3); C O'Donnell (0-4), M Murphy (0-4, 0-2f), O Gallen (0-3) Subs: D Ó Baoill for McColgan 40, J McGee for McFadden 45, P McBrearty (0-2) for Gallen 49, Eoin McHugh for R McHugh 56, Niall O'Donnell for Murphy 67.
Monaghan: R Beggan (0-5, 1tpf, 1tp, 0-1 45); R O'Toole (0-1), K Duffy, D Byrne; R Wylie, D Ward, A Carey; M McCarville, G Mohan; R McAnespie, C McCarthy (0-2), S O'Hanlon (0-3); A Woods (0-4, 2 tp), M Bannigan (1-2, 0-1f), C McNulty (0-1) Subs: J McCarron for McAnespie 40, L Kelly for McCarville 50, D Garland (0-2, tp) for McNulty 51, D Hughes for Mohan 59, K O'Connell for McCarthy 59, S Mooney for Garland 60-63, blood.
Ref: P Neilan (Roscommon).
Meath 2-16; Galway 2-15
A Meath side that struggled to beat Offaly by two points in early championship season, a Meath side that lost by the same margin to neighbors Louth in the Leinster final is the same Meath team that has now beaten Dublin, Kerry and Galway from the Leinster campaign into the protracted Sam Maguire series.
So how do we account for that? They are on the evidence of those three victories back at the top table, but until Sunday nobody really believed that.
Backed by a huge vociferous support at Croke Park on Sunday they showed great resolve when Galway came at them in the second half to score 2-3 without reply and go three points ahead to find a second coming of their own, which put them back in front until the long whistle signalled they were one of this year’s four All Ireland semi-finalists.
Afterwards, Robbie Brennan, on his maiden voyage as an intercounty manager, was asked why he was so happy with his side’s performance. He answered: “The work rate. We knew we could run all day here, whatever the temperature was we could keep going. Last time we were in here [Louth in the Leinster final] it didn't go too well for us, we were on the other end of the scoreline losing by two. We swore we'd get back here this year and we did.
“The noise is just incredible, and I'd say the Leinster final stood to us in that experience as well. A few people probably cancelled holidays, I'm not too sure they planned for us to be at this stage of the season. There might have to be a few refunds, but I'm delighted we're there and that's the next step for us.
“I'm just so proud of the lads. That's not easy, that's a really good Galway team. A lot of work done and we executed most of it today. It was a point in the end, right down to the wire - phenomenal, phenomenal."
Meath can thank the leadership of Man of the Match Jordan Morris who not only scored 1-6 but was a constant threat to a rather porous Galway rearguard every time he ran at them with pace.
A disconsolate Padraic Joyce was still trying to come to terms with the loss. “Disappointed to lose the game. We didn't get to the energy levels of the game. We didn't perform the way we should be performing. It's very hard to put your finger on what's going on. A very poor first half in general and probably Meath left us in the game as well.
"When we came back and went three up, we probably thought our experience might get us over the line but we failed. We gave away a short kick out, got dispossessed quite easily for another goal. We conceded 2-6 or 2-7 in turnovers.”
Galway had looked to ride whatever Meath could throw at them when in the 56th and 60th minute goals from Cillian McDaid and Liam Silke put them three ahead. It seemed their experience would allow them to kick on and advance to the latter stages of the competition.
Meath, however, had other ideas and staged a grand finale of their own with Morris nabbing 1-02 in the closing eight minutes when he was most needed.
Other big contributors for the Royals on the day were Matthew Costello who hit four points while sub Conor Gray had an immense contribution in breaking high ball around the middle and scoring a decisive goal. Sean Rafferty locked down a superb defensive effort.
Meath: B Hogan; S Lavin, S Rafferty, R Ryan; D Keogan (0-1), S Coffey (0-1), C Caulfield; B Menton (0-1), A O'Neill; C Duke, R Kinsella (0-1), M Costello (0-4, 0-1f); J Morris (1-6), K Curtis, E Frayne (0-1) Subs: C Hickey (0-1) for Curtis 42, B O'Halloran for Lavin 46-49, blood, C Gray (1-0) for O'Neill 46, B O'Halloran for Rafferty 55, Rafferty for Lavin 61, E Harkin for Duke 64-f/t blood, C McBride for Menton 68.
Galway: C Gleeson; S Fitzgerald, J McGrath, J Glynn; D McHugh, L Silke (1-0), C Hernon; P Cooke, J Maher (0-1); C Darcy, M Tierney (0-2), S Kelly (0-1); R Finnerty (0-3, 0-2f), S Walsh (0-5, 1 tpf, 1tp), M Thompson (0-2) Subs: P Conroy for Hernon 42, C McDaid (1-0) for Cooke 44, D O'Flaherty for McHugh 51, D Comer (0-1) for Tierney 51, KiMolloy for Kelly 64.
Ref: M McNally (Monaghan).
All-Ireland SFC quarter-final
Kerry 0-32 Armagh 1-21
Meath 2-16 Galway 2-15
Tyrone 0-23 Dublin 0-16
Donegal 1-26 Monaghan 1-20
[Kerry will meet Tyrone in the first semifinal on Saturday, July 12; while Donegal are to play Meath the following day at the same venue.]
All-Ireland MHC final
Waterford 1-18 Clare 0-10
Fixtures Saturday 5 July
All-Ireland SHC semi-final
Cork v Dublin, Croke Park, 5pm
Sunday 6 July
All-Ireland SHC semi-final
Kilkenny v Tipperary, Croke Park, 4pm All-Ireland MFC final
Tyrone v Kerry, St Conleth's Park, 1.30pm
