All-Ireland SFC: Monaghan advance to last eight

All-Ireland SFC Round Three

Monaghan 1-28 Westmeath 2-18

By Colm Shalvey at St Tiernach's Park

Monaghan booked their place in the All-Ireland SFC quarter-finals with a high-scoring win over Westmeath in front of almost 22,000 in Clones.

Matthew Whittaker and Brandon Kelly starred in the first half for Westmeath, but Monaghan outscored the Leinster champions by 1-13 to 0-9 after the restart to complete the quarter-final line-up. In a game where both sides ended up with 10 scorers, Monaghan dominated possession in the second half to clinch back-to-back victories over provincial winners.

John Heslin opened the scoring for Westmeath, but two-pointers by Rory Beggan and Mícheál McCarville moved Monaghan ahead. The first half ebbed and flowed, with Monaghan threatening to pull away at times with another pair of two-point frees by Beggan, only for Westmeath to continually peg them back with goals from Matthew Whittaker and Brandon Kelly.

Andrew Woods and Jack McCarron responded for Monaghan, but Whittaker and Kelly took their tallies to 2-5 combined by the end of the opening half.

The teams went in level 0-15 to 2-9, before a free-flowing start to the second half saw the teams kick five points in as many minutes, with three of those kicked by the hosts, including two from Dessie Ward.

Monaghan eventually put some daylight between the teams midway through the half when Stephen O’Hanlon scythed through to set up McCarron to hit the net from close range.

As Monaghan began to take a grip on the midfield battle, they stretched their lead with scores from O’Hanlon, Conor McCarthy and Stephen Mooney.

Ray Connellan came off the bench for Westmeath to kick a two-pointer, while Ronan Wallace landed some fine scores from either side of the arc, but McCarron finished with 1-5 from play as Monaghan advanced to the last eight of the All-Ireland for the eighth time since 2013.

Scorers for Monaghan: Jack McCarron 1-5; Rory Beggan 0-6 (3 2-pt-f); Stephen O’Hanlon 0-3; Stephen Mooney 0-3; Mícheál Bannigan 0-3f; Mícheál McCarville 0-2 (1 2-pt); Andrew Woods 0-2 (1 2-pt); Dessie Ward 0-2; Conor McCarthy 0-1; David Garland 0-1.

Scorers for Westmeath**:** Brandon Kelly 1-3; Matthew Whittaker 1-2; Ronan Wallace 0-4 (1 2-pt-f, 1 ’45); Ray Connellan 0-2 (1 2-pt); John Heslin 0-2; Robbie Forde 0-2; Tadhg Baker 0-1; Kevin O’Sullivan 0-1; Shane Corcoran 0-1; Sam McCartan 0-1.

Monaghan: Rory Beggan; Dylan Byrne, Ryan Wylie, Ryan O’Toole; Dessie Ward, Killian Lavelle, Conor McCarthy; Mícheál McCarville, Karl Gallagher; Stephen O’Hanlon, Mícheál Bannigan, Aaron Carey; Andrew Woods, Jack McCarron, Stephen Mooney.

Subs: Oisín McGorman for Gallagher (22); David Garland for Woods (51); Ryan McAnespie for Carey, Kian Mulligan for Beggan (both 66); Robbie Hanratty for Lavelle (67).

Westmeath: James Mitchell; Adam Treanor, Conor Dillon, Charlie Drumm; Ronan Wallace, Shane Allen, Sam McCartan; Brían Cooney, Shane Ormsby; Matthew Whittaker, Tadhg Baker, Kevin O’Sullivan; John Heslin, Senan Baker, Brandon Kelly.

Subs: Robbie Forde for Cooney (24); Shane Corcoran for S Baker (46); Ray Connellan for Heslin (53); Jack Duncan for O’Sullivan (54); Danny Scahill for Treanor (59).

Referee: Noel Mooney (Cavan).