THE Greenfield Foods Monaghan SFC group stage wrapped up yesterday, with Latton, Corduff, Inniskeen and Ballybay joining Scotstown and Clontibret in staying in contention.
Both Corduff and Killanny were awaiting other results to determine whether they qualified for the quarter-finals, with the former getting what they needed and the latter seeing their exit confirmed by a last-gasp winner for Latton.
Scotstown had already secured top spot in Group 1 and a direct path to the semi-finals, but they maintained their 100 per cent record with a win in Cremartin that ended the senior newcomers’ chances of making the knock-out stages.
The writing was on the wall for the hosts by the midpoint of the first half, with Jack McCarron leading the scoring as Scotstown built up a 1-7 to 0-1 cushion, just as they had done against Corduff the previous week.
Stephen Mooney helped Cremartin grow into the game, but it was too late to turn things around. After welcoming Darren Hughes back from injury last time out, Scotstown introduced his brother, Kieran, as a sub for his first appearance of the campaign.
Ballybay finished the group in second place after putting a slow start behind them to beat Aughnamullen, who hit the net twice in the first six minutes through Bobby McCaul.
A Colm Lennon goal helped Ballybay cut to within a point at half-time (1-5 to 2-3) and they went on to dominate the second half, with further majors from Daniel Caraher and Paddy O’Neill seeing them outscore their neighbours by 2-7 to 0-3 to end up nine points to the good.
Inniskeen moved up to second in Group 2 with a free-scoring display in a south-Monaghan derby in Donaghmoyne.
Needing a win to stay in the hunt, Inniskeen put things beyond doubt during a one-sided first half, which saw them hit the net five times.
With an attack containing the talents of Seán Jones, Andrew Woods, Ciarán McNulty and Dónal Meegan, Inniskeen have bounced back from taking just a point from their first two games to regain some of the form that got them to last year’s county final.
Latton were pushed right to the wire as they edged group winners Clontibret to set up a quarter-final derby against Ballybay.
Aaron Mulligan hit the game’s only goal to move Latton ahead on 10 minutes, but three points from Darragh Hughes helped Clontibret lead by 0-8 to 1-3 at the break.
The home side held a narrow lead for most of the second half, but Latton hit the last three points through Eoin Duffy, Thomas McPhillips and Mulligan to make it back-to-back wins.
Killanny had been set to hold onto third place in the group until Mulligan’s free in the fourth minute of added time saw Latton overtake them.
