Monaghan 1-13

Down 0-11

Monaghan had to dig deep in the final minutes to fend off Down's challenge in their Ulster MFC quarter-final clash at Clones this evening.

Leading by 1-6 to 0-2 at half-time, the home side's lead was twice whittled down to four points in the closing stages before injury-time efforts from Sean Burns and Padraig McMahon confirmed their place in the last four.

The hosts signalled their intent by opening up a 0-5 to 0-1 lead inside the first 20 minutes thanks to three points from David Garland and one each from Michael Bannigan (45) and James Wilson, with Declan Murdock registering Down's sole reply.

Monaghan extended their lead to seven points in the 23rd minute when Ryan O'Connor teed up Wilson for the only goal. Owen McCabe (Down) and Frank Connolly traded scores as the Farney took a seven-point advantage into the break.

McCabe was on the mark again after the restart, only for Gartland to reply with a brace for Monaghan. After Liam Kerr and Murdock exchanged points, Gartland kicked two more points to push the winners eight clear, 1-8 to 0-3.

But the Mourne County then rallied with a succession of scores from Liam Kerr, Murdock and Conor McCrickard to close the gap to four, 0-10 to 1-11. The visitors suffered a setback when one of their corner backs was red-carded and Monaghan were able to close out the game.

Monaghan - J Kirk; J Walsh, C Lennon, O Quinn; P McMahon (0-1), R Mohan, F Hanratty; C Leonard, P Finnan; R O'Connor, J Wilson (1-1), A Courtney; D Garland (0-8, 5f), M Bannigan (0-1), F Connolly (0-1). Subs: R McAlister for A Courtney, F Beggan for R O'Connor, S Burns (0-1) for J Wilson, C Doyle for J Walsh (BC).

Down - D Ross; C Killen, S Fitzpatrick, F McIlroy; J Connery, P Laverty, C Cox; O McConvey, D Catterson; O McCabe (0-2), S Murdock, C Tinnelly; C McCrickard (0-2), D Murdock (0-5f), L Kerr (0-1). Subs: D Treanor for J Connery, J Sloane for C Tinnelly, R Beatty (0-1) for S Murdock, P Fegan for C Killen (BC), O Donnelly for S Fitzpatrick.

Referee - M Dorrian.

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