Magheracloone endured a tough start to the Greenfield Foods Monaghan senior football championship.
They suffered a nine-point defeat to Clontibret as their group two opener ended 2-13 to 1-7.
Clontibret laid a solid foundation for victory in the first half. Ryan McGuigan’s goal on the stroke of half-time helped them to a nine-point cushion.
His strike came just moments after Magheracloone failed to take advantage of a goal chance themselves.
Magheracloone boss Gary Farrelly cited it as a decisive period.
“28 or 29 minutes into the first half, there was six points in it and we (Magheracloone) miss a goal Instead of going for a point, they come up and get a goal. That’s a big swing,” said Farrelly.
The contest finished up as a nine-point game but Magheracloone drew the second half. Both sides landed 1-4.
Despite being nine points down, they opted against a conservative approach in the second half. Farrelly says it paid dividends.
“Happy with the lads in the second half. We did have three attacks up along the right-hand wing before we got the goal, where we could have got another score or two.
“We can look at that and say, there’s a little bit more in us if we were a little bit more aggressive in the first half and gone after the ball in the tackle.”
Round Two
Next up for Magheracloone is a second round meeting with Inniskeen. Farrelly’s expecting a tough challenge but remains optimistic, nonetheless.
“Inniskeen are a good team, they’re a physically strong team. We had a good battle with them in one of the last rounds of the league.
“It’s a home game, we’ve a bit to prove. If we take our learnings from today and bring it into that, we’ll give it a rattle.”
ROUND 1 .. RESULT UPDATE….
🏐@GreenfieldFoods Senior Football Championship Group 2@clontibretclg 2-13 @MaghenMoore 1-7@InniskeenGaa 1-11 @ScotstownGAA 0-12#monaghangaa2023 #itstartswithclub pic.twitter.com/eWwf9DAS21
— @monaghangaa (@monaghangaa) August 14, 2023
