Ryan O’Toole hit Tyrone with a dramatic sucker punch goal at the end of stoppage time to send the 2021 All-Ireland champions crashing out of the Ulster Championship at Healy Park on Sunday.
O’Toole (23) could have fisted a point to send this quarter-final tie to extra-time but his goal secured a famous 2-17 t0 1-18 victory in a real slug fest at Omagh.
It was the Scotstown man’s Championship debut, and one he’ll never forget, as he shot 1-1 with Stephen O’Hanlon grabbing Monaghan’s first goal.
READ MORE: Tyrone v Monaghan score recap and result from Ulster SFC clash
“I played a couple of Ulster club championship games but nothing compares to that,” said a delighted O’Toole.
“You never know what you are thinking in those situations. You just kinda live in the moment a wee bit.
“Great runs coming in drew the defenders in and I just happened to come wide and cut in and it just left the bit of space in behind.
“The ball came in over the top and I was in one on one with Niall (Morgan).
“When the ball was coming into my hands I just said, ‘Here, I am going to have a go at this.
This is too good an opportunity not to.’
“And thankfully it went in and that’s all I can say about it.
“Absolutely incredible to go toe to toe with them boys out there. It’s amazing.
“It was never going to be easy, marking the likes of Darren McCurry, Darragh Canavan - all star forwards.
“You go and you give it your best shot and we came out on the right side of it.”
O’Toole wasn’t fazed by making his first championship start, although he found McCurry a handful early on before moving across on Canavan.
“You are coming into the lion’s den here in Omagh,” said O’Toole. “The crowd was always going to be against you.
“A couple of wee lads behind the goals giving you guff the whole game. But here, that’s what it’s all about. That’s the Ulster Championship and that’s what you live for.”
It looked bleak for Monaghan when they trailed at half-time, having lost five of their own kick outs in the first half.
“I just thought we didn’t impose ourselves enough in the game,” said O’Toole.
“We came in and we said we have to impose ourselves on the game.
“Any time we have lost to Tyrone it’s because we sat back. We were complacent and just happy to let them play ball.
“We had to go and try and dominate the game ourselves and that’s what we tried to do in the second half and it worked a treat.”
It was a huge win for Monaghan boss Vinny Corey, who praised O'Toole for going for the jugular: "We did give them the licence before the game to take the risk," he said.
"I knew as he was shaping up that he was going to go for it because he had scored one in Castlebar that cut in like that and it was exactly the same.
"I would have forgiven him for fisting it over the bar. But he took it on and full credit to him on his championship debut. The easiest thing was to take the safe option but he went for the goal and he deserved his reward."
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