Scotstown make it three in a row
COUNTY players led the way as Scotstown won their third consecutive Monaghan SFC title with a commanding display against Magheracloone in Clones yesterday.
Man of the Match Conor McCarthy hit 1-8 for the winners, while Darren Hughes got the other goal and their Monaghan team-mate Rory Beggan also impressed in goals.
Michael Metzger gave Magheracloone an early lead, but that was their only time to hit the front, with McCarthy and Beggan on the mark for Scotstown, before Darren Hughes burst through to drill home the opening goal in the fifth minute.
McCarthy added three points to his tally by the 20th minute and with Hughes and Beggan also on target, the holders added to their lead, while Beggan denied Paudie McMahon at the other end.
A James Ward point left Magheracloone five adrift just short of the three-quarter mark, but Scotstown killed the game off when substitute Kieran Hughes got on the end of a long pass from Beggan to release McCarthy for a cracking goal.
Freeman and Doogan responded for Magheracloone, but they were never going to get back into the game by then, while Orin Heaphey and Damien McArdle added their names to the list of Scotstown scorers.
Veteran forward Freeman brought his total to five points late on, but scores from Shane Carey and the excellent McCarthy sealed another county success for Scotstown.
Scorers: Scotstown: C McCarthy 1-8 (0-4f); D Hughes 1-1; R Beggan 0-3 (2f, 1 ’45); D McCrudden, S Carey, J Hamill, D McArdle, O Heaphey 0-1 each.
Magheracloone: T Freeman 0-5f; M Metzger 0-3 (2f); G Doogan 0-2; J Ward, J Kieran, A Kieran 0-1 each. KILCAR won their first Donegal SFC title in 24 years after seeing off 13-man Naomh Conaill in a poor final.
The quality of fare will hardly matter to Barry Doherty’s team, who finally ended their wait for Dr Maguire.
After a cagey opening quarter the teams were level at 0-2 apiece, but Kilcar moved into command with four-in-a-row, three of them from captain Patrick McBrearty and the other by veteran Michael Hegarty.