Monaghan 3-13, Fermanagh 0-12.
Monaghan travelled to Enniskillen on Sunday last with one aim in mind, to defeat Fermanagh and thereby secure their place in the final of division 3A of the Allianz Hurling league. On the day they achieved their goal although it was at times a faltering performance in a game that really only came to life in the third quarter. It was a very low key affair in the first half with Monaghan going two in front and Fermanagh drawing level by the 13th minute. Fermanagh then took the lead briefly with the sides then exchanging points twice and they were level four times in all, before Deaglan Crowe put Monaghan in front in stoppage time to leave the half time score Monaghan 0-7, Fermanagh 0-6. On the resumption Monaghan did increase the tempo considerably and by the end of the third quarter they had outscored the home side by 2-5 to 0-1 to take a 10 points lead and the home side struggling to come to terms with the increased pace of the game. They threatened briefly but a third goal for Monaghan in the 24th minute by Mark Treanor, who had an outstanding game, pushed Monaghan 13 points clear and with no way back for the home side, the game just simply fizzled out as a contest, with Monaghan winning by 10 points at the finish.
Teams and Scorers: Monaghan; Kieran Hanniffy, Kevin Crawley, Patrick Finnegan, Brian Flanagan, Aaron Kenny, Peter Treanor, Conor McKenna 0-1, Deaglan Crowe 0-3, Eanna Mac Suibhne, Niall Garland 0-3 (1f), Mark Treanor 2-1, Ronan Meegan 0-2 (1f), Fergal Rafter, Stephen Lambe 1-2 (0-1f), Martin Murphy. Subs: Conor Boyle 0-1 for M Murphy, Shane McNally for P Finnegan, Feargal O’Dowd for R Meegan, Stephen Forde for F Rafter, Jamie Guinan for C McKenna.
Fermanagh: Fergus Bannon, David Teague, Shane Mulholland, Odhran Russell, Eoin Mahon, Mark Slevin, John Paul McGarry 0-1, John Duffy 0-2 (2f), Daniel Teague 0-2, Dermot Curran, Karl Kehoe, Paul McGoldrick 0-5 (3f), Barrie Duffy, Ciaran Corrigan, Thomas Cleary 0-1. Subs: Brian McLaughlin for B Duffy, Conor McShea for P McGoldrick, Shea Curran 0-1 for C Corrigan, David McGorman for K Kehoe.
Referee: Liam McAuley (Antrim).
Hurlers secure Div 3A Final Appearance
