Monaghan seize their moment

NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE DIVISION TWO: Monaghan 2-17 Wexford 1-12:MONAGHAN MADE it two victories from two outings in Division Two when they proved much too potent for Wexford in Clones yesterday. Monaghan effectively wrapped up things in a scintillating six-minutes spell midway through the final quarter when they blitzed Wexford with two goals and two points.

Prior to that the game was close enough but Monaghan seemed to have that bit more in reserve and when in full flight Wexford found them difficult to contain. Wexford enjoyed their best spells in the opening 10 minutes at the end of which they led by 1-2 to 0-1, Matty Forde crashing in the goal as the defence misjudged a centre by PJ Banville, and in the early part of the third quarter when they brought the margin down to two. After that early flurry Monaghan settled down and by the 19th minute they were level with four unanswered points between the 14th and 19th minutes.

The lead changed hands twice between the 20th and 26th minutes with Monaghan hitting another purple patch that yielded four points between the 28th and 31st minutes to open a four-point lead. An exchange of points between Forde and Conor McManus late in the first half gave Monaghan a four-point lead at half-time, 0-12 to 1-5.

McManus extended Monaghan’s lead to five points in the third minute of the second half but by the 12th minute Wexford had the margin down to two. That though was as close as it got as Monaghan took control, particularly at midfield, to fashion a strong period between the 19th and 28th minutes when they outscored the visitors by 2-3 to 0-1.

Paul McGuigan fisted in Monaghan’s opening goal in the 22nd minute, Tomas Freeman got their second five minutes later, with substitute Damien Freeman (2) and Rory Woods landing points. Wexford outscored Monaghan by three points to one in the final minutes.

MONAGHAN:P McBennett; D McArdle, V Corey, K Hughes; C McManus (0-3), G McEnaney (0-1), D Hughes; D Clerkin (0-1), E Lennon; S Gollogly (0-1), P Finlay (0-3, one free), M Downey; C Hanratty, R Woods (0-3), T Freeman (1-3). Subs: D Mone for K Hughes, D Freeman (0-2) for M Downey, P McGuigan (1-0) for C Hanratty, S Smith for P Finlay, B McKenna for T Freeman, M McNally for C McManus.

WEXFORD:A Masterson; D Walsh, D Carter, B Malone; C Morris, P Colfer, S Cullen; B Doyle, D Fogarty; A Flynn (0-1), D Kinsella (0-1), C Byrne (0-1); C Deely, PJ Banville (0-2), M Forde (1-6, one 45, one free). Subs: A Doyle for D Fogarty (yellow card), C Lyng (0-1) for D Kinsella, T Howlin for C Deely, B Brosnan for S Cullen, G Molloy for A Flynn, N Murphy for D Walsh.

Referee:M Sludden (Tyrone).