Monaghan Rugby Club's senior men produced a strong final quarter at IJM Park on Saturday, 17 October, overturning a 12-point deficit to beat Donaghadee 25-17 and take a bonus-point win that lifts them into the top three of Ulster's Championship 3 table.
The result is confirmed on the club's own results page, and a full match report from the club appeared in the Anglo-Celt on Wednesday.
A slow start in the low sun
Gareth Graham kicked off for the home side and Monaghan had the better of the opening ten minutes, camped for long spells inside the Donaghadee 22. They could not turn that pressure into points, though, and the visitors scored an unconverted try with their first real attack around the quarter-hour mark.
The rest of the first half was tight. According to the report, the Monaghan players were struggling with the low autumn sun in their eyes, and a run of handling errors broke up their rhythm. Just before the break, referee Andrew McConville sent Dick Carleton to the sin bin for a high tackle in the 36th minute, and Donaghadee went in 5-0 up at half-time.
Monaghan kept the visitors out for almost all of the ten minutes they were a man down. But just before Carleton came back on, Donaghadee crossed for a second try, and the conversion put them 12-0 in front.
The fightback
The comeback started in the 49th minute, when Graham scored a try and converted it himself to cut the gap to five points. Donaghadee answered with a third try, unconverted, in the 57th minute, but from there the home side took control of the game.
Simon O'Connell finished out wide in the 61st minute, with Graham just missing a difficult conversion. Jamie Sherlock then levelled the match in the 66th minute, burrowing over from a ruck on the Donaghadee line, though the conversion again went astray.
O'Connell put Monaghan ahead for the first time in the 72nd minute with his second try, which also secured the four-try bonus point. With three minutes left, Graham kicked a straightforward penalty from in front of the posts to make it 25-17 at the final whistle.
The Anglo-Celt report said the win leaves Monaghan sitting comfortably inside the top three of the Championship 3 league table. Earlier in the season the club's results page shows a 28-10 win over PSNI on 19 September.
The Monaghan team
Monaghan lined out with Jamie Sherlock, Daniel McGregor, Richard Carleton, Ciaran McKenna, Padraic Doolan, Kieran Conlon, Liam Hamill and captain Will Arkell in the pack; Carl Foentjies, Gareth Graham, Karl McKenna, Charlie McElroy, Simon O'Connell, Alex Lafferty and Josh Graham in the backs. Rory McKenna, Callum Madden and Shane Deery were the replacements.
Elsewhere at the club, and what's next
It was a harder weekend for the club's other sides. Monaghan RFC Women lost 41-19 to North Down in Women's Championship B at IJM Park on Sunday, 18 October, and the club's second XV conceded its Regional South West fixture away to Ballyshannon on Saturday, as the club's results page records.
The senior men are on the road this Saturday, 24 October, when they travel to Belfast to renew an old rivalry with BHSFP. Kick-off is at the usual 2.30pm.
