Ulster’s shock moments

With Antrim aiming to cause a major shock against Armagh on Saturday, Niall McCoy looks at some big surprises involving Ulster teams since the turn of the Millennium

2000: Antrim 0-13 Down 1-7

ANTRIM fans haven’t had too many summers to enjoy in recent years, but before their 2009 march to the Ulster final, there were the manic few weeks of 2000.

Okay, it seemed more like the depths of winter when they took to the Casement Park field for their clash with the Mourne County , but it would be a day their fans wouldn’t forget.

That’s due to the fact that Antrim hadn’t won in Ulster in 18 years but with Seanie McGreevy in inspired form in goals, they ended the wait.

With the weather worsening, there were fears that the game would be abandoned at half time, but it continued and the likes of midfielder Sheeny McQuillan and Kevin Brady drove at Down on the slippy pitch while Kevin Doyle kicked three brilliant points.

Gregory McCartan scored a first-half penalty but he was denied by McGreevy from the spot in the second half – a crucial moment in the game.

Antrim would go on to face Derry at a boisterous Casement in the semi-final, but the paw of Anthony Tohill denied McQuillan a winner from a free and Derry won the replay.

2003: Monaghan 0-13 Armagh 0-9

IT must have been hard along the Monaghan border in 2002 to hear the Armagh fans singing about Sam, so you can forgive the Oriel faithful for enjoying this result. And enjoy it they did as the orange-clad fans started to stream out before the game had finished.

One of the biggest Ulster shocks ever, a youngster by the name of Paul Finlay caused Armagh all sorts of trouble at Clones with the champions offering a measly response.

What was more impressive was that Colm Coyle’s side won having played most of the second half with 14 men after Damien Freeman’s sending off.

It just wasn’t Armagh’s day with Stevie McDonnell of all people missing a sitter for a first-half goal with Glenn Murphy denied Oisín McConville and Tony McEntee in the second half when they should have been tagging on points.

Monaghan couldn’t build on the win with losses to Down and Meath ending their season, but Armagh recovered to reach the All-Ireland final where they lost to Tyrone.

2004: Fermanagh 0-12 Armagh 0-11

THE 2004 Fermanagh vintage was a very good one, but few gave them a chance of coming out on top when they came up against the Armagh machine in a 2004 All-Ireland quarter-final at Croke Park.

All looked to be going to plan as Armagh reeled off four points at the start against an Erne side caught in the headlights but they caught their breath.

Enda McNulty’s first-half red card helped them get an even firmer foothold and they led 0-8 to 0-6 at the break.

The second half was tit for tat with Armagh just always keeping their noses in front, but that was until Tom Brewster drew Fermanagh level and then went on to kick the winner.

The Irish Independent’s match report started with “if half of Fermanagh is submerged in a lake then the other half was still drying off tears.”

It was the biggest of a day of shocks at Croke Park with All-Ireland champions Tyrone dumped out by Mayo in the main event at the venue.

2008: Fermanagh 1-11 Derry 1-9

In 2008, Derry were one of the form teams in the country having reached the Division One final where they defeated Kerry by four points.

It raised hopes of a first Ulster title since 1998 and while it was close against Donegal in the quarter-final, not too many teams leave Ballybofey with a championship win.

That set up a semi-final against a talented Fermanagh outfit, but only one outcome was expected.

It was an emotional day for the Erne County as defender Barry Owens made his first appearance since undergoing heart surgery, and perhaps inspired by his brilliance, they claimed a 1-11 to 1-9 win to book a first final appearance since 1982.

Fittingly, Owens came off the bench to score the crucial goal for Malachy O’Rourke’s side and any suggestions that it was a fluke were swept aside in the final as they outplayed Armagh. Unfortunately for them they couldn’t kill off the Orchard County and lost in the replay.

2014: Donegal 3-14 Dublin 0-17

HOW do you beat the team that can’t be beaten? Well you need goals anyway.

That’s what took Jim McGuinness’s side past Jim Gavin’s Dublin, a side that were expected to waltz through to an All-Ireland final.

The Tir Chonaill County could be backed from 7/1 to 10/1 depending on the bookies but they bamboozled their opponents by exploiting the space left at the back.

Dublin had eased into an 0-8 to 0-3 lead so all seemed to be going to script, but Donegal had turned it around at the break to lead 1-8 to 0-10 with Ryan McHugh popping up for a goal.

In the second half, the Dublin defence went missing as McHugh grabbed his second and Colm McFadden added a third soon after to secure a famous day for the Ulster side.

2018: Fermanagh 1-8 Monaghan 0-10

FERMANAGH are appearing on this list quite a lot, perhaps a sign that they are written off too much, but there’s no denying that their victory over Monaghan in Omagh was a major surprise.

The Oriel County had spoken about how complacency would not be an issue having suffered a surprise semi-final defeat to Down the year before, but they couldn’t stop the Green Machine in a low-scoring encounter.

In a back and forth contest, Monaghan looked like they had finally broken Fermanagh’s resistance as they hit the front coming down the stretch to lead by two with the Erne County down to 14 as they had used all their subs by the time Ruairi Corrigan picked up a black card.

But there would be one more twist as a ball was floated towards goal at the death and team captain Eoin Donnelly punched home.