Monaghan into Ulster semi-final after late goal sinks Tyrone

Monaghan’s smash and grab sent Tyrone crashing out of the Ulster SFC at Healy Park as Ryan O’Toole fired home a sensational winning goal deep into stoppage time.

An epic contest looked like it was heading for extra-time when Darren McCurry gave the Red Hands the lead, but O’Toole arrive on the shoulder of Kieran Duffy, when a fisted point to tie the game looked the sensible option.

The Red Hands started brightly with neat scores from Darren McCurry and Darragh Canavan, who edged his side into a two points lead after wing back Ryan O’Toole had nailed the Farney opener.

Mattie Donnelly had just edged Tyrone into a two points lead when they struck for a goal on ten minutes, Canavan arriving at pace to receive McCurry’s lay-off and smash his shot past Rory Beggan.

Goalkeepers Beggan and Niall Morgan, both expert exponents of the kick-out, kept their respective sides on the offensive with hugely effective restarts, with Monaghan getting a couple of scores off Beggan’s accurate distribution off the tee.

One of those was a trademark Conor McManus effort, the veteran attacker sweeping over a gem from close to the sideline McManus hit six of his side’s eight first half scores, the remainder from frees, and was the only Monaghan attacker to score from play before the break.

Frank Burns, Michael McKernan and Mickey O’Neill closed down the Farney men as they built from deep, and it was the pace of the Red Hands on the break that made the difference, with Conor Meyler pressing forward to pick off a couple of points, and the experienced Mattie Donnelly displaying immense energy to help with the defensive effort and contribute a couple of scores as well.

Tyrone led by 1-10 to 0-7 at the break, but with wind advantage in the second