Ulster SFC: Cavan score two late goals to beat Monaghan in provincial opener

Cavan scored two injury-time goals to edge past Monaghan 3-12 to 1-12 in a frantic finish to Sunday's Ulster SFC preliminary round clash at Clones.

Monaghan's Michael Hamill cancelled out Padraig Faulkner's goal with a minute of normal time left, and they led by two heading into stoppage time.

Trailing 1-12 to 1-10, Cavan blitzed Monaghan during 10 chaotic stoppage-time minutes with 2-2 without reply.

Goals from Gerard Smith and Paddy Lynch set up a first round tie with Tyrone.

Paddy Lynch top-scored with 1-9, which included seven frees, for Cavan including a spectacular lobbed goal past Rory Beggan in the 10th minute of injury time.

• Monaghan 1-12 Cavan 3-12 - all the action as it happened

Monaghan came into the game on the back of a six-game losing streak which saw them relegated from Division One.

While Cavan's Division Two campaign petered out with back-to-back losses, it was Monaghan who were fancied to win with Rory Beggan back in goal for the first time this year.

Yet he was beaten twice late on, first when Smith cut inside and unleased a fierce shot inside his near post and then with Monaghan chasing the game and Beggan caught out the field, Lynch floated the perfect ball into an empty net from distance to seal a memorable win for the Breffni men.

Cavan will now host Tyrone in Kingspan Breffni Park on 21 April.

Rory Beggan kicks a point for Monaghan

Beggan return

As expected, Beggan was restored to the starting line-up for the first time this year after chasing his American dream in the NFL, and he made an immediate impact.

After a low-key start to the game and the scores level at 0-1 apiece after frees by ace free-takers McManus and Lynch, Beggan had a dramatic 60 seconds to remind gaelic football fans of his true worth to this game.

First was the speed of thought and vision to release Conor McCarthy with a defence-splitting pass, and after McCarthy's shot came off the upright and Kevin Loughran and Jack McCarron were denied by smart saves from Gary O'Rourke, he stepped up to nail the '45' with ease.

Then he got down low to stop a Lynch goalbound shot and turn it around the corner. Lynch emulated Beggan's accuracy from the placed ball by also converting his '45'.

The sides were level four times in the opening quarter, David Garland and Karl O'Connell scoring good points from distance with a strong wind at their backs, with Cavan levelling the scores on four occasions.

Beggan landed a bomb of a free from over 50 metres, and Monaghan followed it up with two points inside a minute from their twin tormenters Conor McManus and Jack McCarron.

McManus skinned Brian O'Connell to cut inside onto his right foot to put two points between them for the first time and within seconds McCarron swung over a left-footed beauty close to the Pat McGrane Stand sideline.

The old hands were doing the business for Monaghan and another veteran Darren Hughes, was influential too, with a great turnover in the corner followed later by a spectacular diving block to win possession back for his team.

Yet in Lynch, Cavan had a star forward they could rely on and his 0-5 from placed balls in the opening half ensured a two-point deficit, 0-7 to 0-5, was far from insurmountable - especially with a wind advantage to follow.

Having failed to score from play in the first half, Cavan grabbed a quick brace in the early second half from Oisin Brady and Gerard Smith, who finished off his jinking run with a fine score.

Cavan's victory sets up an Ulster quarter-final meeting with Tyrone on 21 April

In an indication of the gale now facing Monaghan, Beggan's attempt at a free was held up in the wind but they soon had bigger problems to face when war horse Darren Hughes was stretchered off and taken to hospital after a heavy collision, with it later revealed that he had suffered a knee injury.

McManus stepped up to steady Monaghan nerves with a free and they still led 0-10 to 0-8 after sub Sean Jones added mark with 12 minutes to play.

But Cavan played with a lot more intensity in the second half and transitioned quickly, catching Monaghan on the break.

Faulkner's goal lit the fuse on a frantic finish. He pivoted brilliantly after Cian Reilly's ball in and when Kevin Loughran slipped, he blasted the ball past Beggan to put Cavan in front for the first time in the 60th minute.

Brian O'Connell's point on the break, with Beggan scrambling to get back into goals, put Cavan briefly ahead 1-10 to 0-10 but Monaghan did not panic and set about clawing their way back.

Their subs made a difference, including Hamill who scooped the ball off his bootlaces racing in at the back post and rattled the ball high into the roof of the net for a Monaghan goal after 68 minutes.

The Farney county must have thought they had inched closer to victory when Joel Wilson, another sub, added a mark and Beggan scored from play in the first minute of stoppage time.

However the twists and turns kept on coming and it was Cavan who seized the initiative in the 10 minutes of injury time.

Lynch scored his first from play to reduce the deficit to one, before a crazy finale with Cavan's rousing 2-2 earning them a late win, just as they did when now Cavan manager Raymond Galligan scored the winning point in an Ulster opener four years ago.