BIG TEST TO COME FOR CHAMPIONS

Colm Shalvey reports

Can champions Clontibret complete great escape in relegation play-off?

Amid the ongoing restrictions and after a final round of group games where the slimmest of margins sent some teams on separate paths towards the top end or the relegation shake-up, the Monaghan club football championships reach the knockout stages this weekend. The messy sideline scenes towards the end of the Latton v Carrickmacross game garnered the headlines on a weekend where there were many talking points across the grades, not least holders Clontibret losing their grip on the Mick Duffy Cup.

Nine months after Clontibret dumped Crossmaglen out of the Ulster Club series, there was a distinct Cross influence on this fixture, with John McEntee going up against his old team-mate Oisín McConville, now in charge of Inniskeen. The Grattans had fallen to a couple of one-point defeats…