Monaghan manager Malachy O'Rourke was happy that his side reached their goal after a determined display saw his side take Allianz Division 3 Football League silverware at Croke Park tonight.

Despite Meath taking the lead for the first time in the 41st minute, Monaghan outscored their opponents by 1-7 to 1-1 over the remainder of the game, with Meath's goal coming in the 66th minute.

But a Kieran Hughes goal late on, coupled with a point from his brother Darren ensured a five-point win.

"It's what we set ourselves out to do and we are just glad that we did it," O'Rourke said.

"I suppose we had a few setbacks along the way, but we responded well and I'm just delighted to get the victory."

It was a night for super scores and Monaghan took some excellent ones with all bar three points of their tally coming from open play.

"It's often hard when you are stuck in the middle of it to appreciate some of the scores," he said.

"We would have been happy with a lot of our attacking play. I suppose there were a lot of wides from both sides as well.

"We gave Meath the ascendancy at the start of the second half, but we grabbed it back and we finished strong and we are just delighted to get the victory."

A double celebration with Monaghan's Minor footballers also claiming silverware this afternoon with their Ulster Minor League success.

"There is no doubt that it was a good win for the Minors," he said.

"Any day there is a cup on offer you try your best to go out and win it and that's what we did. It's a confidence boost going forward. At the end of the year I suppose not too many people will remember it so you just get the head down again and look forward to Championship.

"We are just looking to the first round of the Championship and hopefully we get a good performance against Antrim and that's as far as we are looking." Tweet

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