By Shaun Casey

THE big clash in this weekend’s Monaghan SFC is between the reigning champions Scotstown and Corduff, who are chasing top spot in the group and automatic progress to the knockout stages.

Scotstown, who have won eight of the last 11 championships, are unbeaten in the group stages so far having picked up maximum points in both two first two outings against Ballybay and Aughnamullen.

Corduff are on the same points as this weekend’s opponents, although they’ve played a game more than them. That was in round two when Seamus McEnaney’s men lost to Ballybay by six points.

These two sides locked horns in the semi-final of last year’s championship with Scotstown proving that little bit better on the day and seven points separated the sides by the end of play. It would seem Scotstown are perhaps still that wee bit ahead of Corduff.

In the other Group A game taking place this weekend, Aughnamullen and Cremartin will battle it out as they both hope to hang on to their ambitions of finishing inside the top three of the table.

Aughnamullen, of course, reached the quarter-final in 2023, but lost out to Scotstown, but this season hasn’t gone to plan so far. Lee Conlon’s men have suffered two defeats, to Scotstown and Corduff.

Cremartin on the other hand earned a respectable draw against Ballybay in their most recent outing. Admittedly, Ballybay were missing a number of key players, but the point picked up that day could mean a lot come the end of the round robin series.

In group two, Clontibret still lead the way, but they have a bye this weekend, so it offers the chasing pack a perfect opportunity to make up some ground and close the gap at the top of the table.

Last year’s beaten finalists Inniskeen have yet to really catch fire and head into the weekend aiming to capture their first win of the campaign. They take on the 2023 Intermediate winners Killanny, who have been one of the surprise packages.

Killanny have beaten Donaghmoyne and Latton on their way to second place in the table and will be eyeing up a huge scalp on Sunday. Donaghmoyne have no points on the board so for and they’ll be eager to change that record this weekend.

They take on Latton who sit midtable currently with one point following their 0-14 apiece tie with Inniskeen and the two points are huge for both sides here as they hope to fend off fears of relegation.