Monaghan 4-10 Fermanagh 0-8

Fermanagh minors suffered a second defeat in their Ulster Championship campaign as they were well beaten in Clones by Monaghan on Saturday afternoon.

Niall McElroy’s side opened their account with a defeat to Donegal in Donagh and followed it with a heavy loss in Monaghan’s first outing of the competition.

A brace from Killian Kearns and two more goals from Cian Rafferty and Senan Hanratty helped the home side to a 4-10 to 0-08 win.

Dermot Malone’s side got off to a rapid start with Kearns pointing straight from throw-in after a long ball in.

Evan Treanor added a second shortly after and midfielder Rafferty drilled over a third point for a scintillating start in the first three minutes of the game.

A well-worked hand-passing move saw Fermanagh get off the board for their first score as Michael Duffy took his time to split the posts.

Darcy Foy added a fourth Monaghan point and from the kick-out, the ball was given straight to the hosts allowing Kearns to race in and slot home the opening goal.

Fermanagh responded with two scores, Odhrán McGovern and Daire Chapman on target. Foy tagged on another, and his side finished the half with another point from Charlie Mone following another cheap giveaway from the kick-out.

Fermanagh went into the break with a deficit of 1-06 to 0-03 but started the second half brightly as midfielders Conor Mulligan and Chapman won the throw-in and sent a ball into Dan O’Connor who spun his man and kicked the half's opening score.

Foy and McGovern then traded scores before the rain began to fall in Clones with the second goal following seven minutes into the restart.

A high ball in from Foy was flicked down into the bottom corner of the net by Hanratty. The sides traded scores through Duffy, Chapman, Rafferty and Treanor with Darragh Keenan then being dragged down for a penalty in the 50th minute.

Kearns stepped up to despatch the spot-kick and the fourth goal came shortly after when Rafferty used his searing pace to breach the Fermanagh defence and sell a couple of dummies before a cool finish low to the net.

Chapman converted a free in the closing stages and Rafferty then kicked a 45’ to end the contest bringing up his personal tally to 1-03 from midfield.

Fermanagh face Tyrone next before a trip to Down in their final two Ulster Championship fixtures.

Fermanagh manager Niall McElroy says his side will have to improve if they are to get something from Saturday’s game.

“We had a poor start to the game, Monaghan had the breeze in the first half and went ahead early on so we had a poor start but in fairness to the lads they did battle well and got us back into the game in the first half,” McElroy said.

“But unfortunately, we let a few bad goals in, in the second half which made it very difficult for us to recover then.

"Some of our scores were very well taken against the breeze. We had some very good scores in the second half as well. We did have passages of play to get back into the game and then the Monaghan goal left it hard for us to get back into it.

"The scores were a positive, we have a difficult encounter against Tyrone but I suppose we have home advantage in that game so we will try and use that.”

Tyrone were beaten 2-12 to 1-08 by the same Donegal side who defeated Fermanagh in their opener.

“Tyrone’s always very strong at minor level, they always have players who are good on the ball,” McElroy added.

“We have to learn from the games we’ve played so far in the Championship and our retention of the ball is going to be huge against Tyrone because if we give the ball away easily, like Saturday, Tyrone will punish us. We will look to improve on that and put it up to Tyrone as best as we can.”

Monaghan: J Flannagan, S Carolin, M McCaffrey, T McGeough, S Corrigan, P Carville, A Stewart, C Rafferty (1-03, 1f 45’), S Du Plessis, S Hanratty (1-00), E Treanor (0-02), C Mone (0-01), T Nugent, K Kearns (2-01), D Foy (0-03, 2f).

Subs: D Keenan for Nugent (43), J McKenna for Mone (47), F McEneaney for Hanratty (55), C McElwain for Foy (55).

Fermanagh: D Treacy, N Flynn, J Tierney, J Hamill, C Casey, R McCann, T O’Brien, C Mulligan, D Chapman (0-03, 3f), O McGovern (0-02), C Rasdale, D Mohan, D O’Connor (0-01), N Beattie, M Duffy (0-02,45’).

Subs: D McGovern for McCann (40), A McCaffrey for Hamill (40), R Hannigan for Casey (60).