Monaghan 0-11 Donegal 4-14
Jim McGuinness' second coming as Donegal manager could start with some silverware next weekend if they can overcome Mickey Harte’s Derry, following a comprehensive Dr McKenna Cup semi-final win over an inexperienced Monaghan side in Castleblayney.
Donegal attacked with real cutting edge in the first half, opening Monaghan up on the counter time and again to create a series of goal chances, of which they took three to gain complete control, courtesy of Oisín Gallen (two) and Jamie Brennan.
Monaghan gifted Donegal the chance to open the scoring when they coughed up possession, with Darren McDonnell out of his goals, allowing Oisín Gallen to lob into an empty net.
It set the tone for an open and error-strewn start, which saw Gallen and Jamie Brennan clip over points, with the latter having another goal disallowed for a square-ball offence.
Shaun Patton was called into action twice at the other end, both times to deny David Garland, but it was mostly one-way traffic.
Odhrán Doherty emphatically crashed home a second goal for Donegal, who led by 2-04 to 0-01 midway through the half, by which stage Monaghan had lost both Seán Jones and Conor McCarthy to injury.
Barry McBennett and Stephen Mooney kicked points for the hosts, but 1-03 in a six-minute burst by the impressive Gallen, who was called ashore at the interval with 2-04 to his name, his second major from a penalty.
The game was over as a contest by then, with Donegal leading by 3-09 to 0-03.
Mooney led the Monaghan attack in the second half as he hit six points to take his tally to 0-08, but Donegal cruised through, with veterans Patrick McBrearty and Ryan McHugh adding their names to the scoresheet, along with subs Ronan Frain, Karl Molloy and Luke McGlynn.
McGuinness and Co will take on Derry next weekend, while Monaghan turn their focus to their league opener away to Dublin on 27 January.
Monaghan: Darren McDonnell; Kevin Loughran, Killian Lavelle, Ryan O’Toole; Kevin Sheridan, Colm Lennon, Conor McCarthy; Mícheál McCarville, Gary Mohan (0-01); Joel Wilson, Stephen O’Hanlon (captain), Barry McBennett (0-01); David Garland, Seán Jones, Jason Irwin.
Subs: Stephen Mooney (0-08, 6f) for Jones (inj, 2); Daragh McElearney for McCarthy (inj, 14); Darragh Treanor for Lennon, Thomas McPhillips for O’Toole, Andrew Woods for Garland, Michael Hamill for Wilson (all ht); Bobby Walker for Lavelle (45); Francis Hughes for Mohan, Ciarán McNulty (0-01) for McBennett (both 51); Jack McCarron for O’Hanlon (56).
Donegal: Shaun Patton; Dónal Mac Giolla Bhríde, Stephen McMenamin, Mark Curran; Ryan McHugh (0-01), Caolán McGonagle, Jeaic McKelvey; Oisín Caulfield (0-01), Ciarán Moore; Odhrán Doherty (1-00), Ciarán Thompson, Shane O’Donnell (0-01); Patrick McBrearty (captain, 0-01), Oisín Gallen (2-04, 1-00 pen, 0-01f, 0-01m), Jamie Brennan (0-03).
Subs: Luke McGlynn (0-01) for Gallen (ht); Peadar Mogan for McMenamin (45); Ronan Frain (1-00) for O’Donnell (47); Rory O’Donnell for Doherty (51); Aaron Doherty for McBrearty, Karl Molloy (0-02f) for Thompson (both 57); Daithí Roberts for Patton (63)
Referee: Mark Loughran (Tyrone).
MCGRATH CUP ROUND-UP
Cork 1-20 Waterford 0-06
Cork made sure of a McGrath final spot with a facile win over Waterford in Mallow this afternoon.
The first half was a sleepy affair, the Rebels rather groggy and slow to find their groove, only leading 0-06 to 0-04 at the break.
The second half was a cakewalk by comparison, the just introduced Chris Óg Jones rattling the net immediately after the re-start.
Wing forward Eoghan McSweeney was on song, landing 0-05 from play, while Óg Jones would finish with 1-04. The closing stages were shooting practice for the Division 2 outfit, the margin finishing at 17.
John Cleary's side now face Kerry in the decider, seeking to win the Munster pre-season competition for the second year running.
Tipperary 1-11 Limerick 0-10
Tipperary claimed their first win under new manager Paul Kelly, with Luke Shanahan's second half goal proving crucial as they had four points to spare over Limerick in Templetouhy.
Evan Comerford struck the opening two points of the game from placed balls but was forced out of the game with injury after just a quarter of an hour.
The hosts led 0-05 to 0-04 after a cagey first half, Sean O'Connor hitting their opening two points of the half.
The game remained tit for tat until the 65th minute when Stephen Grogan claimed possession and laid on debutant Shanahan for the game's only goal.
Shanahan would tag on a free, while Shane Neville and Kyle Shelly were on target as the Division 4 side sealed the win.
