Greenfield Foods Monaghan Senior Football Championship:
Clontibret 2-13 Latton 1-14
A HUGELY resilient Clontibret surmounted numerical disadvantage to clinch their place in the semi-final of the senior championship at the expense of Latton in a game that built to a dramatic conclusion in Castleblayney.
The game marked the return of Latton’s Kieran Duffy, who had gone to the USA following Monaghan’s exit from the Ulster Championship, but even his efforts were not enough to get Latton over the line. At the end of a low scoring first-half, Latton were ahead by a single point, 0-7 to 0-6, Conor McManus with five of those points for Clontibret, the lead having changed hands on a couple of occasions.
Clontibret had been reduced to 14 men after just 16 minutes, when Martin Corey was red-carded after the umpires had drawn the referee’s attention to an off-the-ball incident. Clontibret were further reduced numerically going into the final 10 minutes, when David Savage was red-carded but, by that stage, they had turned things around to lead by three points thanks to the accuracy of Conor McManus from frees and an excellent goal by Vincent Corey.
Latton got back to parity with seven minutes of normal-time remaining but, despite their numerical disadvantage, Clontibret manufactured the winning points from Conor McManus (free) and Vincent Corey to win by two.
Scotstown 0-15 Truagh 0-7
SCOTSTOWN may not have been firing on all cylinders, but they still proved too strong for Truagh to book their place in the semi-final and stay on track to retaining their championship title, but they will know there is room for improvement on this performance.
Central to this victory was a towering performance by Kieran Hughes in midfield, where his ability to win possession, distribute effectively and hit four excellent points, one from a free, all helped to give Scotstown the edge against a Truagh side who put in a vastly improved performance on their previous appearance.
Scotstown were only headed once in the entire contest and that after just 20 seconds, when Truagh opened the scoring with a point by Chrissy McAnenly. By half-time, Scotstown had taken a five-point lead, 0-8 to 0-3, with three from frees by Shane Carey and a couple of excellent strikes from Kieran Hughes.
Scotstown continued to dictate the pace in the second-half, with Truagh making them work hard, but ultimately lacking the penetration and firepower to turn the game around, with Scotstown finishing strongly with four unanswered points to seal a deserved victory.
MATCH STATS
Clontibret: D McDonnell, D Mooney, C Boyle, C Duffy, B Greenan, D Mone, C Greenan, C Lavelle, V Corey (1-2), P Boyle, R Gorman, K D Savage, K Lavelle (1-0), M Corey, C McManus (0-11, 0-10 frees); Subs: D Carragher for K Greenan (black card), R McGuigan for K Lavelle, F Mone for P Boyle.
Latton: S Farmer, C Lynch, T Lynch (0-1), E Lennon, S Fitzpatrick, E Coyle, K Duffy (0-1), S McElroy, A Farmer, S McCabe (0-2), O Duffy (0-1), D McElroy, S Coyle (0-2), H McElroy (0-5 frees), D O’Brien; Subs: B O’Brien (1-2) for C Lynch, C Lynch for S McElroy, P Fitzpatrick for S Coyle, D Duffy for D O’Brien.
Referee: P Caulfield (Blackhill).
Scotstown: R Beggan (0-1 free), F McPhillips, D McArdle (0-1), P Keenan, E Caulfield (0-2), D Morgan, D McNally, F Caulfield, K Hughes (0-4, 0-1 free), S Mohan, J Turley, R McKenna, S Carey (0-4 frees), D Hughes (0-1), P Sherlock; Subs: O Heaphey for J Turley, M Duffy for P Keenan, R Sheehan (0-1 free) for D McNally, W Carroll (0-1) for R McKenna, C McElwaine for P Sherlock, B Boylan for F McPhillips.
Truagh: I Treanor, N McQuillan, N Feely, J Treanor, S Treanor, J McCarron, E Kelly, P Treanor, R Treanor, C McKenna (0-3, 0-2 45s), C McAnenly (0-2, 0-1 free), M Flood, N Coyle, A Treanor (0-1), N McMeel (0-1); Subs: C McRory for J Treanor, J McKenna for N Coyle, S McKenna for C McAnenly, N Rooney for N McMeel, D Todd for N McQuillan.
Referee: P McEnaney (Corduff).
