THE Greenfield Foods Monaghan SFC continued over the weekend with wins for Scotstown, Ballybay and Clontibret.
Scotstown lead the way in Group 1 after they claimed a second win (1-12 to 0-9) away to Aughnamullen on Sunday.
Jack McCarron hit the only goal of the game during a dominant first-half performance from the holders, who also had Matthew Maguire and Shane Carey among their scorers as they built up a 1-8 to 0-1 lead with the breeze at their backs.
Aughnamullen bossed the third quarter with three points each from Mícheál Bannigan and Tiernan Duffy eating into their deficit, but Scotstown regrouped to see out their eighth consecutive Monaghan SFC win.
Ballybay got off the mark in style with three second-half goals at home to 14-man Corduff.
An early goal from Mícheál Keenan got Corduff off to a strong start, but they were reduced to 14 men midway through the first half.
Fergal Hanratty’s accuracy helped the visitors lead by 1-5 to 0-6 at the break, but Shane Monaghan, Thomas Kerr and sub Shane McGuinness all hit the net for Ballybay as the 2022 county champions turned it around for a 3-12 to 1-12 win.
Clontibret have four points in Group 2 after they cruised past Killanny on Saturday, 0-13 to 0-4
The hosts used the breeze to their advantage to help build up a commanding 0-9 to 0-2 half-time lead and they were always able to stay in charge as they built on an opening-round win over Inniskeen.
In the absence of the injured Conor McManus, Darragh Hughes was the only Clontibret forward to score, but six of their back seven got on the scoresheet – led by Dean McDonnell (0-3) – against a Killanny side who managed just two points in both halves.
Inniskeen needed a storming finish to salvage their first point of the campaign via a 0-14 each draw in Latton.
Last year’s runners-up were on the brink of a second loss of the group when they trailed by five points going into the last 10 minutes, but they managed to dig out a share of the spoils.
Seán Jones made a bright start on his return to the starting team for Inniskeen, but with Aaron Mulligan, Ryan Duffy and Darren McElroy responding, Latton were up by 0-10 to 0-6 at the interval, helped by keeper Kian Mulligan making an impact at both ends, most notably when saving a Tommy Durnin penalty.
The league table-toppers remained on course for most of the second half, only for Inniskeen to earn what could yet be an important point via late scores from Dónal Meegan and Christopher Hanratty.
Round three
Group 1
Sunday, August 25 Corduff v Aughnamullen (2pm); Cremartin v Ballybay (5pm)
Group 2
Saturday, August 24 Killanny v Latton (3.30pm);Donaghmoyne v Clontibret (6.30pm)
