All-Ireland SFC Quarter-Final

Monaghan 0-14 Armagh 0-14 AET

Monaghan win 9-8 on penalties

By Paul Keane at Croke Park

Rory Beggan was the spot kick hero as battle hardened Monaghan held firm in a remarkable penalty shoot-out at Croke Park to secure their first All-Ireland SFC semi-final place since 2018.

The towering stopper twice thwarted Armagh's Callum Cumiskey, once in the regular round of penalties and again in sudden death with his second save ultimately winning the game for Monaghan.

Farney fans in the 57,570 crowd perhaps suspected drama given that Vinney Corey's side had previously conjured late, late scores to rescue results against Tyrone, Derry and Kildare in the Championship.

But they couldn't have imagined that it would take over two and a half hours to separate the Ulster rivals with the teams dramatically locked on 0-12 apiece after normal time and 0-14 apiece after extra-time.

Incredibly, the sides were level 14 times across the 90 or so minutes as Monaghan somehow escaped to book their last four place.

But it's agony for Armagh who have lost on penalties for the third time in a year having also come up short of Galway at this stage last year and against Derry in the more recent Ulster final.

Their wait for a first All-Ireland semi-final place since 2005 goes on while Monaghan, for whom Conor McMannus scored four points and converted two penalties, march on to within one more win of the final.

Rian O'Neill converted two penalties for Armagh, blasted six points and thought he'd struck the winner in the 93rd minute only for McManus to send the game to penalties with a 97th minute point from a free that he won himself.

Much, much earlier, O'Neill was one of three players to return to the Armagh lineup following their final round group win over Galway.

Aidan Forker sniped Armagh's opening score after just 40 seconds but O'Neill's importance was clear as he sniped half of his team's first-half scores.

In a low scoring, arm wrestle of a first-half, Kieran McGeeney's side hit the interval with a narrow 0-6 to 0-5 lead.

O'Neill's scores came from placed balls but he also kept the entire Monaghan defence on their toes with Killian Lavelle, wearing number nine, assigned man marking duties on the Crossmaglen powerhouse.

Monaghan defender Kieran Duffy picked up Andrew Murnin in the other key battle close to goal though Murnin still slipped his man for two first-half points.

At the other end of the field, Jack McCarron, who later converted two penalties, was tracked by Armagh defender Paddy Burns while Karl Gallagher, wearing number eight, started in the full-forward line too and was trailed by Forker.

McCarthy has been a revelation since moving from attack to wing-back for Monaghan and, along with McCarron, he was their main attacking outlet initially.

McCarthy opened and closed the first-half scoring for the Farney and showed no signs of fatigue just a week on from his starring role in the preliminary quarter-final defeat of Kildare in Tullamore.

Trailing at half-time was nothing new for Monaghan and, if anything, may have even suited them. They've only led at half-time in one of their seven Championship games this summer but have consistently found a way to improve in the second-half.

It's as if a half-time deficit propels them into action and they typically restarted with gusto, hitting three of the first four second-half points.

Mind you, that only put them a point ahead and Armagh wiped out that gap with another Forker score to make it 0-8 apiece.

Back and forth they went like that for the remaining 20 minutes or so with each score by one side being immediately cancelled out by a score from the other.

Monaghan thought they may have won it when Michael Bannigan and then substitute Conor McManus pointed to leave them one ahead with 69 minutes played.

But Armagh got lucky when Andrew Murnin got his fist to a long delivery in and touched the ball over the bar for what turned out to be the equaliser, forcing extra-time at 0-12 apiece.

There was drama in the dying moments of stoppage time as Armagh goalkeeper Ethan Rafferty fed Conor Turbitt who burst goalwards before being hit with a huge shoulder charge from Gary Mohan about 25 metres out.

Referee Conor Lane blew for a throw up and full-time sounded moments later.

Ross McQuillan nudged Armagh ahead again in the first-half of extra-time but Monaghan, typically, cancelled it out with a McManus leveller, leaving it 0-13 to 0-13 at half-time.

It looked as if penalties would be required with no score in the second-half of extra-time until O'Neill took on the responsibility and boomed over a brilliant score. Then McManus went one better with an equaliser at the death for Monaghan to bring penalties back onto the agenda.

Scorers for Monaghan: Conor McManus 0-4 (3fs), Conor McCarthy 0-3, Gary Mohan 0-3, Jack McCarron 0-2 (0-1f), Michael Bannigan 0-2.

Scorers for Armagh: Rian O'Neill 0-6 (5fs), Andrew Murnin 0-3, Aidan Forker 0-2, Rory Grugan 0-2 (0-2f), Ross McQuillan 0-1.

Monaghan: Rory Beggan; Killian Lavelle, Kieran Duffy, Ryan Wylie; Karl O'Connell, Conor Boyle, Conor McCarthy; Gary Mohan, Darren Hughes; Stephen O'Hanlon, Michael Bannigan, Dessie Ward; Ryan McAnespie, Karl Gallagher, Jack McCarron.

Subs: Conor McManus for Gallagher 40, Ryan O'Toole for Lavelle 53, Sean Jones for McCarron 56, Shane Carey for McAnespie 61, Kieran Hughes for Ward 67. Colm Lennon for Boyle h/t e/t, McCarron for O'Connell 75, O'Connell for O'Hanlon 79.

Armagh: Ethan Rafferty; Paddy Burns, Aidan Forker, Aaron McKay; Conor O'Neill, Greg McCabe, Jarly Og Burns; Ciaran Mackin, Ben Crealey; Jason Duffy, Rory Grugan, Stefan Campbell; Joe McElroy, Rian O'Neill, Andrew Murnin.

Subs: Conor Turbitt for Crealey 45, Callum Cummiskey for McCabe 50, Jemar Hall for Duffy 54, Ross McQuillan for Hall 66, Shane McPartlan for McElroy 69. Barry McCambridge for Forker 70+4. Justin Kieran for Burns h/t e/t, Oisin Conaty for Campbell 90.

Referee: Conor Lane (Cork).