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Corduff deserved their promotion
30 December 2005
The black and amber of Corduff will be seen once again in the
Intermediate ranks of Monaghan football in 2006, and if ever a
team deserved promotion it surely is this great little club from
the deep south of the county. By Seamus McCluskey
Extremely unlucky in the championship, they crowned a great
league campaign with a final victory over old rivals Drumhowan
in the Dr. Ward Cup decider at Aughnamullen on the last Sunday
of November. This was their third Dr Ward Cup title, and their
first one since 1993, this fine victory sending them up to next
year’s Intermediate ranks along with Monaghan Harps.
Corduff’s first ever Monaghan title was as far back as 1926 when
they won the Junior Championship, and they have again been very
prominent in recent years, particularly during the ’nineties’
when they scored a number of notable successes in both Junior
and Intermediate grades. They certainly will be no strangers to
the ’middle’ grade of football and should be able to give a
really good account of themselves against the other nine
intermediate teams during the football year that lies ahead.
Their championship campaign opened at Clontibret on Sunday
evening 8th May when they faced the team that would eventually
overcome in the Junior League decider much later in the year -
Drumhowan. This turned out to be one of the closest games of the
entire championship series and was remarkable for a storming
finish that had the big crowd on tenterhook right up until the
final whistle.
Corduff looked the more consistent team all through, even though
they had appeared somewhat shaky during the opening minutes when
Drumhowan took an early lead. Four points adrift after only
three minutes, it took the unerring boot of Mark Gilsenan to
give them the confidence they needed when he sent over some fine
points from placed balls. At half time they still trailed by the
narrowest of margins, 0-5 to 1-3, but they lifted their game
considerably during the second period and had six unanswered
points during a fifteen minute spell of supremacy. Drumhowan
staged a late recovery but Corduff held on grimly and emerged
winners, if only by the narrowest of margins, on a final
scoreline of 0-13 to 2-6.
Corduff had lined out for that game thus: - Darren Byrne, Paddy
McMahon, Louis King, Ciaran Malone, Ciaran Brennan, Gareth King,
Gerry Mee, Raymond Byrne 0-1, Declan Larkin, Martin McDermott,
Mark Gilsenan 0-7, Brendan Kerley 0-1, George McKetterick 0-1,
Shane Malone (0-3) and Lee McGardle. Subs used Pauric Gollogly
and Martin Mills
That victory put Corduff into the quarter-finals against the
red-hot favourites, Monaghan Harps. This one took place at
Aughnamullen on Friday evening 8th July and, if ever a team had
hard luck, Corduff had it on this occasion. Their tremendous
closing rally, with two points coming in injury time, the second
of which would surely have ended up in the Harps net, saw the
game slip away from Corduff by the narrowest of margins. The
county town side were most fortunate to have a defender get his
fingertips to the ball as it was heading to the net for the goal
that would have given Corduff a victory that would have been
well deserved.
This was a real cracker of a game with Corduff unlucky to
concede a third minute penalty that put them in arrears from
such an early stage. At half time the winners had their noses in
front, 1-5 to 0-7, and it was again tit-for-tat in the second
period. The nail biting finish saw Corduff losing by the minimum
1-10 to 0-12. This time Corduff had lined out - Darren Byrne,
Paddy McMahon, Louis King, Gerry Mee, Colm Marron, Gareth King,
Martin Mills, Lee McGardle, Declan Larkin, Pauric Gollogly 0-4,
Raymond Byrne 0-3, Mark Gilsenan 0-1, Brendan Kerley 0-3, George
McKetterick and Martin McDermott. Subs used: Aidan Marron 0-1,
Shane McNally and Shane Malone
The ’back door’ now beckoned and Corduff made full use of it,
overwhelming Blackhill by 1-12 to 0-6 in the first of the
qualifiers at Castleblayney on 21st August. At times they
struggled, however, and it was only in the second half that they
really began to show the football they were capable of playing.
At the halfway stage they were only two points to the good, 1-2
to 0-3 but midway through the second half they had extended that
lead to seven. Fran Monaghan and Shane McNally started in
defence in this one and Corduff finished well in front at the
final whistle.
The semi-final had now been reached and Aughnamullen would
provide the opposition at Clontibret on Sunday 4th September.
Corduff may have hard luck in their previous outing against
Monaghan Harps, but it was even worse on this occasion, as they
again suffered the narrowest of agonising defeats, 1-10 to 0-11,
the Aughnamullen goal coming in the final two minutes of normal
time.
The line out that figured in this their last championship outing
read - Darren Byrne, Paddy McMahon, Louis King, Gerry Mee, Fran
Monaghan, Gareth King, Shane McNally, George McKetterick, Declan
Larkin, Martin Mills, Raymond Byrne 0-6, Brendan Kerley, Colm
Marron, Mark Gilsenan 0-4 and Martin McDermott. Subs used: Lee
McGardle 0-1, Mickey Keenan, Ciaran McKeown and Stephen
Hamilton.
The championship hopes may have been shattered but the League
(Dr Ward Cup) was still there for the taking. From the very
first outing of the year in this competition, Corduff had
maintained their place in the ’Top Four’ and were in second
place for most of the season, breathing down hard on the necks
of leaders Monaghan Harps. In the opening contest they defeated
Blackhill 3-8 to 1-3 and looked highly impressive. This was
followed by an away win at Oram, 0-12 to 0-7 and the good form
was maintained at Drumhowan, but the first points lost were to
Monaghan Harps on 23rd April.
It was then back to winning ways with a 2-11 to 1-7 victory over
Aughnamullen and then a 1-9 to 1-6 win at Killeevan. Full points
from Killanny and Toome brought them to the half-way stage and
still in second position. The second half of the league followed
a similar pattern as the first half, one of their best wins
coming at home against Oram when they triumphed by 1-12 to 1-6.
Monaghan Harps again proved the stumbling block, followed by a
draw with Aughnamullen and then a surprise defeat by Killeevan,
but they recovered well and when the final league table
appeared, Corduff were still in that second position.
The semi-final pitted them against Killeevan at Donaghmoyne on
19th November and it took a real ’late late’ show to succeed on
this occasion. Trailing by three points with barely five minutes
left, Corduff put in storming finish that rocked the opposition
and brought victory by the convincing margin of 4-7 to 0-9,
In the League final, played at Aughnamullen on Sunday 27th
November, Corduff lined out against their old rivals from
Drumhowan, whom they had met so often during the season. This
game turned out to be a real tit-for-tat affair with play
swinging from end to end. The first fifteen minutes were
scoreless and by the half way stage, there were still very few
figures on the scoreboard. Corduff, with their noses in front by
0-4 to 0-3. That lead was short-lived in the second half when
Drumhowan scored an early goal, but great work by George
McKetterick in the middle of the field soon swung matters
Corduff’s way again.
The concluding stages very much belonged to Corduff, and when
Declan Larkin scored a brilliant goal ten minutes from time, the
title and promotion were both on their way to Corduff. Despite
all of Drumhowan’s fine efforts, Corduff held on to win by 1-12
to 2-6 and brought the Dr Ward Cup home for the third time.
The team that did duty for Corduff on that occasion and one
which will surely be remembered in this small south county
citadel for many years to come was as follows: Mark Gilsenan,
Paddy McMahon, Gerry Mee, Ciaran Malone, Gareth King, Declan
Larkin 1-0, Shane McNally 0-1, George McKetterick 0-5, Fran
Monaghan, Martin Mills, Raymond Byrne 0-2, Colm Marron, Lee
McGardle 0-1, Louis King 0-3, Brendan Kerley. Subs used: Aidan
Marron and Seamus McConnon
To say that Corduff will be a ’force to be reckoned with’ in
next year’s Intermediate Championship and Fr. Hackett Cup
competitions is surely an understatement, and the current
occupants of that particular grade of football will certainly
find out that they have a dangerous force to cope with next
year. The feeling in the camp is that what they accomplished in
1998, when they defeated Inniskeen in the final of that year’s
Intermediate Football Championship and qualified for promotion
to senior ranks for the first time in their proud history, can
be accomplished again. They should have every reason to believe
in themselves as this is an even stronger team than that which
won out in 1998 and who is to say that 2006 could or could not
bring a similar ending?
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©2006 Lynn Publications
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