Monaghan Senior Football Championship semi-finals: Scotstown v Carrickmacross (3pm) and Ballybay Pearse Bros v Inniskeen (5pm) (tomorrow, Clones, go to www.monaghangaa.ie for streaming information)
CLUB action in Monaghan has been intense and after four rounds of group games and two quarter-finals, the championship has reached the semi-final stage.
Two thrilling clashes are in store tomorrow as Oisin McConville’s Inniskeen go up against the Ballybay side that saw them off by a point earlier in the competition and Mattie McGleenan’s Carrickmacross cross swords with the club he guided to three championship titles.
Scotstown versus Carrickmacross is the first of the Clones double-header and, if the group stage meeting between the clubs is anything to go by, there can only be one winner here. Scotstown, now managed by former Monaghan minor boss *****, romped home by *** points that day but former Tyrone full-forward McGleenan says his men will relish the opportunity to give a better account of themselves in their first senior semi-final for 12 years.
“We have absolutely nothing to lose,” he said.
“Everybody is well aware of the talent of Scotstown but we’re in Clones and, if you want to play football, Clones is the place to be. We have guys who have never played there before and we will go at it and see where it takes us.
“We are a very young team and they are mad-keen and we learned a lot from the day we played Scotstown. That day I said to the players: ‘Before this year is out, I want you to get us one more go at Scotstown’ and they have delivered that.
“Now we want to get another one or two per cent from each player around the field and give them a run for their money.”
During his time with Scotstown, McGleenan guided the club to the Mick Duffy Cup in 2013, their first title in 20 years and went on to win the first two of the An Bhoth outfit’s four in-a-row between 2015 and 2018, taking them to the Ulster club final in 2015.
“Scotstown are head-and-shoulders the best team we’ve seen this year,” he said.
“The (lockdown) rest has done Scotstown the power of good. Normally they have six boys playing county football with Monaghan but they haven’t had that concern this year. They are fresh for the club championship, they’ve had three weeks’ off but this is our sixth week on the road. Scotstown are a great football team, they were great footballers for me and I am just delighted to have another go at them.”
With the pace and power of the Hughes brothers (Darren and Kieran), the distribution and free-taking ability of goalkeeper Rory Beggan and the finishing talent of forwards Conor McCarthy and Shane Carey, Scotstown boast a formidable line-up of inter-county talent. McGleenan’s positivity will permeate through to his players but they are bound to find the going tough once again tomorrow.
“The management team here has left no stone unturned over the last three weeks and we want to bring our best game to the table on Sunday,” said McGleenan.
Meanwhile, in the second semi-final, Ballybay (champions in 2012) take on Inniskeen who last one the Monaghan senior title in 1948.
Ballybay finished top of group one with three wins and a draw (against Clontibret in their opener) from four games. They go into the semi-final after three wins on-the-trot over Magheracloone (by three points), Donaghmoyne (by 24) and then a one-point (2-9 to 0-14) success against Inniskeen in their final game. Topping the group sent them through to the semi-finals.
Inniskeen’s third-place finish meant they went into the quarter-final draw and made it through to the final four last weekend thanks to an impressive win against a Truagh side that had hammered Latton, beaten Carrickmacross and finished two points behind championship favourites Scotstown.
