In their fifth friendly of the season, Monaghan United U-13’s hosted a strong Lisnaskea Rovers side from Fermanagh. The game kicked off at a high pace with a Lisnaskea attacker forcing goalkeeper Ciaran Doyle into an early save from long range. The away side were providing the early pressure but defenders Blake Lees, Robin Pratt-Clarke, Conal Harpin & Fionan O’Gallchoir continued their good run of form to deny any attacking efforts. Monaghan were looking to get inbehind the Lisnaskea defence with defender Robin Pratt-Clarke sending some long balls forward to the attackers, but the away side were defending well, denying the Monaghan attackers. Midway through the first half midfielders Michael McMorrow, Darragh McKenna and Cian Brennan were starting pile on the pressure in the middle of the pitch and started to dominate in possession using forwards, Dylan O’Reilly, Eoin O’Hanlon and Cian Bradley-Gillespie as attacking outlets. The first goal of the game did come Monaghan’s way when centre back Conal Harpin won the ball in defence and found forward Eoin O’Hanlon with a tidy pass. Eoin slipped a defence cutting pass through to forward Dylan O’Reilly who sent the ball past the Lisnaskea goalkeeper. 1-0 to the homeside. The next chance of the game also fell to Dylan O’Reilly as he rattled a long range left-footed freekick of the crossbar with a fine effort. Monaghan had a chance to go further a head when forward Eoin O’Hanlon was brought down inside the box, winning a penalty kick. Up stepped midfielder Cian Brennan who fired home Monaghans second. Cian was having a fantastic game in a new role in midfield and moments later the home side were awarded a long range free kick. Up stepped Cian who rocketed a freekick towards goal only to be denied by a fine save by the Lisnaskea goalkeeper.
The second half kicked off with Monaghan dominating from the word go. Midfielder Darragh McKenna broke at pace down the right wing, his cross found forward Cian Bradley-Gillespie who found the net with a tidy volley, only for the goal to be disallowed for a correct offside call. Monaghan were attacking a long down the left hand side as fullback Fionan O’Gallchoir and midfielder Josh Kelly were linking up well playing some fantastic attacking football. Forward Dylan O’Reilly slid the ball through to Eoin O’Hanlon, who produced a turn in the box that Zinedine Zidane would be proud off, as he beat the centre back and smashed the ball towards goal only to be denied by a save by a very impressive Lisnaskea goalkeeper. Monaghan were pilling on the pressure as midfielder Darragh McKenna lined up a long range strike on goal, but the away sides goalkeeper was on hand once again. Monaghans last chance of the game came when Cian Bradley-Gillespie broke through the Lisnaskea defence he sent the ball past the goalkeeper only to see his effort narrowly come off the goalpost. Unlikely not to go in. The final chance of the game, however, fell to the away side as they took advantage of a defensive error and sent the ball into the Monaghan goal. 2-1 the game finished on a very entertaining afternoon.
Monaghans Man of the Match award goes to holding midfielder Cian Brennan who, put in a powerful shift in centre midfield, dictating the tempo of the game from the first whistle, showing both great attacking and defensive qualities, rounding off his performance with a goal from the penalty spot.
Monaghans United U-13’s Next Fixture to be Announced.
Man of The Match: Cian Brennan
Goals: Dylan O’Reilly, Cian Brennan
Team: Ciaran Doyle, Blake Lees, Robin Pratt-Clarke, Cian Brennan, Conal Harpin, Shane Freeman, Fionan O’Gallchoir, Patrick Treanor (C), Josh Kelly, Darragh McKenna, Michael McMorrow, Fabian Kaminksy, Lewis Brady, Dylan O’Reilly, Cian Bradley-Gillespie, Eoin O’Hanlon
Managers: Conor Finnegan, Brian Finnegan
Monaghan United U-14's 