Airtricity League – Premier Division
Monaghan United v Shamrock Rovers
Monaghan United welcome the league title holders to Gortakeegan on Monday.In the previous encounter between these two sides at Tallaght Stadium Monaghan United against the odds took the lead after three minutes and maintained it until the 56 minute and indeed the game was in the balance until the final kick of the game when Shamrock Rovers got to all deciding third goal. After their excellent result against Dundalk on Friday United should be in a more confident mood at Gortakeegan and will believe that they can get a result from this tie. Roddy Collins’s side is still hit by injuries however he should have both Alan Byrne and Robert Bayly available for this game. United still await their first home win of the season, it would be a tough ask to achieve this against the title holders, however they would settle for a share of the points.

Dundalk 1 – 2 Monaghan United
Dundalk got a dream start when with only 24 seconds elapsed Michael Rafter put them ahead. Straight from the kick off Dundalk advanced into Monaghan’s 18 yard area, United failed to clear their lines, the ball broke to Rafter at the front of the area he rounded a defender before firing to the net. The lead should have only lasted a minute had United converted a good chance at the other end. Dundalk could nearer capitalise on their early strike and after surviving a nervous opening 15 minutes United started to dominate the possession but were finding it hard to penetrate the home side’s penalty area, Dundalk on the other hand looked dangerous anytime they got forward particularly Rafter and Coughlan who each created a number of good scoring opportunities. Monaghan for all their dominance had only a couple of efforts but in fairness they never tested the keeper, however in the closing minute of the half Willo Mc Donagh got his head to a Reynor free only to put it the wrong side of the post.
At the start of the second half Gareth O Connor replaced Jason Marks and the move immediately paid dividends, in the opening minutes United laid siege on Dundalk’s area and it was O’ Connor whose pass across the front of the area that found Jordan Keegan and his volley from 20 yards flashed past the keeper to bring the sides level within 3 minutes of the resumption. Minutes later United should have taken the lead when Anthony Griffiths ghosted in behind the defence to get on the end of Reynor cross and from five yards out he should have beaten the keeper. But United’s good travelling support wouldn’t have long to wait. With seven minutes gone United broke from mid field, Keith Quinn laid on a perfect pass to the in rushing Jordan Keegan who outpaced the defenders before sliding the ball past the advancing keeper. It looked like Dundalk’s forward line had capitulated and they were depending on long kicks from their keeper to penetrate United rear-guard and the nearest they came to scoring was a free kick from three yards in their own half which had Schlingermann back peddling. Monaghan continued to dictate the possession and Keith Quinn was having an excellent game on his return to middle of the field. When a very frustrated home crowd started to get at their side it added to United’s confidence. Rafter had a couple of chances one of which he was brilliantly denied by Schlingermann who dived to take the ball off his striking boot.
Monaghan claimed their second win of the season in what was an excellent all round performance and what a transformation from their last two outings. It would be unfair to single any one player out for man of the match as there were some excellent displays but nevertheless for taking his two goals and his not stop approach from start to finish the accolade has to go to Jordan Keegan.
The result has to be a great boost for United when they take on Shamrock Rovers at Gortakeegan on Monday.
Dundalk: Peter Cherrie; Ben McLaughlin, Liam Burns, Derek Foran, Eoghan Osborne; Gareth Coughlan (Chris Reilly 73), John Mountney, Chris Shields (c), Stephen McDonnell (Mark Griffin 65); Gary Shanahan (Bob McKenna 80), Michael Rafter.

Subs: Ger Hanley, Nathan Murphy, Kevin Loughran, Peter Thomas.
Monaghan United: Michael Schlingermann; Paul Whelan, Conor McMahon ( c ), Stephen Maher, Darragh Reynor, Keith Quinn, William McDonagh, Jordan Keegan, Jason Marks (Gareth O’Connor H/T) (Owen Humphrey 87); Conor Murphy (Bobby Ryan 67), Tony Griffiths.

Subs: Chris Bennion (GK), Roddy Collins, Shane Dunne, Leigh Dunne.

Any fans of Monaghan United who wish to donate to the club from outside Ireland can do so  by sending money to Monaghan United’s bank account in the Diamond, Monaghan using  the following IBAN details: IE55ULSB 986120 11333221

Paypal is also available sending to licence@monaghanunited.ie

Monaghan United have now opened a new paypal account to make it easier to donate to the club.  If you wish to sponsor a seat please let the club know your details and what name you want on the seat and then use paypal to send the money.

Even if you just want to donate to the club you can use the paypal account for this also.

The email address you send to in paypal is licence@monaghanunited.ie

Monaghan United FC would like to thank all those who have contacted us already with promises of donations and those who have offered support in any way in these difficult times.

C’mon the Mons!

News of Monaghan United’s appeal for funding is starting to spread with extratime.ie being among the first to highlight the cause. The Mons are asking all fans to spread the word far and wide in an effort for the fundraising potential to be optimised.

http://www.extratime.ie/newsdesk/articles/8035/mons-make-funding-appeal/

Tuesday 8^th. May 2012

Monaghan United FC  -  Press Release

Monaghan United Football Club held a very well attended open meeting tonight at which the Club Chairman, Jim McGlone, outlined financial shortfalls which the Club is facing at this time in maintaining its Premier Division status. 

He informed the meeting that so far the Club had not succeeded in securing any headline Sponsorship such as Stadium, Front of Shirt, back of Shirt etc for the current Season, resulting in a short-term cash-flow deficit.

The attendance identified several initiatives to address the problem, including the establishment of a special Fund Raising Committee, an immediate fund raising appeal to the public and the establishment of a special bank account to accept donations.  One very obvious way of showing support for the Club is through increased attendance at home games.

However, in addressing the meeting, the Chairman made it clear that the Club sees this as a short term problem and once resolved, will allow the Club to look forward to the rest of the Season with renewed confidence and determination.

Details of the special bank account is a follows:  Ulster Bank, The Diamond, Monaghan,  Branch Sort Code, 98-61-20, Account Number  11333221. 

Tom Britton

Club Media Officer

Airtricity League – Premier Division
Shelbourne 2 – 0 Monaghan United
It took Monaghan 30 minutes to get into this game and by that stage was fortunate not to be at least two goals down. Shelbourne on the other hand came out firing on all cylinders and with scarcely 30 seconds elapsed they had forced the first of three quick corners from which Philly Gorman hit the crossbar and Conor Mc Mahon denied Philly Hughes with a goal line clearance. What followed was a half hour of dreadful football from both sides with the ball being hoofed in the air up and down the field. Monaghan United didn’t have a strike at goal until Shaun Maher in 32 minute and that was well wide of the goal. Shelbourne were looking more dangerous, Brian Shorthall shot narrowly wide from 25 yards after 20 minutes, two minutes later Paddy Kavanagh was put straight through but he struck directly at the keeper, then Anto Murphy had a speculative strike from the wing which had the keeper Schlingermann scrambling across goal. Finally after the half hour mark United got into the game and for the remaining 15 minutes they played some delightful football but unfortunately they couldn’t get in close where it might hurt and Conor Murphy lacked support up front. Jordan Keegan hit a powerful strike on goal for United on 35 minutes but it was well off target. The last two opportunities of the half fell to Shel’s Kavanagh but his effort was also off target and then on 43 minutes David Cassidy hit the crossbar..
It was a very much improved performance from United in the second half right from the restart they took the game to Shels, Robert Bayly replaced Dan Mc Guinness, after 7 minutes they forced their first corner of the game which Jordan Keegan took. The ball was blocked back out to him at the corner flag, he prevented it from going behind for a corner and advanced into the area, having rounded Sean Byrne and the defender grounded him near the end line and the referee had no hesitation in pointing to the penalty spot and Willo Mc Donagh converted the spot kick to give United a surprise lead. United upped the tempo in going for a second, Jordan Keegan was causing Shels defence all kinds of trouble with some powerful runs with the ball right through them. United’s lead only lasted eight minutes, Shels cleared the ball down the right out of defence, Philly Hughes crossed the ball to David Cassidy and he in turned picked out Paddy Kavanagh six yards in front of goal for an easy finish, at that point in the game the score was very much against the run of play. United tried hard for the equaliser but again they were caught on the counter attack. Shels advanced down the left the ball was swung across field to David Cassidy unmarked 40 yards out, United’s keeper Schlingermann was caught in two minds and in no-mans land, Cassidy advanced before easily lobbing the ball over the keeper to double the lead. Shels should have put the game out of United’s reach after Hughes crossed to Cassidy and he set up Sean Byrne who should have redeemed himself for the earlier concession of the penalty but scuffed his chance. Willo Mc. Donagh was denied by a good save from the keeper. The last action of the game was a brilliant goal line save from Darragh Reynor to deny a certain Philly Hughes goal.
On their second half performance United deserved a share of the spoils
Shelbourne: Dean Delany; Gareth Matthews, Brian Shorthall, Andy Boyle, Sean Byrne; David Cassidy (Kevin Dawson, 90), Glen Cronin, Paddy Kavanagh, Anto Murphy (John Sullivan, 84); Philip Gorman, Philip Hughes
Subs not used: Paul Skinner, Conan Byrne, Barry Clancy, Paul Byrne, Ian Ryan
Bookings: David Cassidy (41)
Monaghan United: Michael Shlingerman; Shaun Maher, Conor McMahon, Aidan Collins, Paul Whelan (Darragh Reynor, 21); Jordan Keegan, Bobby Ryan (Owen Humphrey, 76), Danny McGuinness (Robert Bayly, 45), Stephen Maher; Willo McDonagh, Conor Murphy
Subs not used: Conor Forde, Roddy Collins, Tony Griffiths, Jason Marks
Bookings: Willo McDonagh (68)
Referee: Graham Kelly
Attendance: 805

FAI/FORD Cup- 2nd Round
SLIGO ROVERS vs MONAGHAN UNITED
The draw for the second round in the FAI/FORD Cup was made on Monday night last in which Monaghan United have been drawn away to Sligo Rovers @the Showgrounds.
All games in the Round will be played on the week ending 27th May next.
The full draw is as follows:

Cherry Orchard v Longford Town;
Drogheda United v Mayfield United;
SD Galway v Mervue United;
UCD v Phoenix FC;
Shamrock Rovers v Limerick FC;
Kildrum Tigers v Avondale United;
Cork City v Athlone Town;
Sligo Rovers v Monaghan United;
Blarney United v Malahide United;
Everton v Waterford United;
Dundalk v St Patrick’s CY;
Bray Wanderers v Shelbourne;
Crumlin United v St Patrick’s Athletic;
Derry City v Finn Harps;
Bohemians v Drumkeen United;

I was extremely disappointed with both the result and overall performances against Bray Wanderers. I felt that we could have replicated our performance of the previous week at Dalymount Park and put together back to back wins but instead we ended up with our worst performance of the season. We have sat down with the lads and went through the game in detail, we have to put it behind us and look forward to the next game in hand. We have a three week break coming up and it is out intension to have vacated the bottom position in the table. That is my short term aim.
This week we are in Tolka Park, a venue that I like going to. It was a very successful ground for me as a manager and continued right up to last season when we won both games there. Shelbourne have done well since promotion to the Premier. Like ourselves they too and some adjusting to do moving up a division, although they are in a mid-table position they have lost twice recently and drawn once, so I believe it is a good time to be meeting Shels.
I felt very aggrieved with Keith Quinn being sent off, it compounds the sending off of Chris Bennion the previous week, and we have been importuned enough from the start of the season with injuries without having them added to with suspensions. I have never been able to start my favoured eleven this season. Fortunately Aidan Collins featured well in training and Alan Byrne is ready to go, on the flip side Gareth O’ Connor and Paul Whelan are doubtful. Nonetheless there was a good spirit in training when we had exorcised the memory of the Bray game and I believe we get a positive result at Tolka.
This season we have been having excellent support when we have played against the different Dublin clubs so I am expecting another good turn out in Tolka, it made the difference at Dalymount two weeks ago.
I was delighted with the FAI/Ford Cup draw which sees us once again pitched against Sligo Rovers. It will be the third meeting of the sides since I joined the club last season, it’s starting to become somewhat of a derby , I am looking forward to another visit to the Showgrounds.