They say you get nothing for finishing in second place and this certainly applied to Clones in 2011 as they failed to secure promotion to intermediate ranks despite being runners-up in both the JFC and the JFL. Over the course of the season, St Tiarnach's delivered performances of a consistently-high standard and that impressive form was enough to see them through to league and championship finals. But they were edged out by Cremartin in both deciders and it was Toome who stole the second promotion spot, much to the obvious frustration of everyone in the north county town club.

Logically, one would expect that when a team wins the double (as Cremartin did in 2011), beating the same team in both finals (Clones), that the second team concerned - as double runners-up - would secure the second promotion place. But this wasn't the case. The rules of the County Board state that under these circumstances, it's the team that finishes highest in the final league table that gets promoted.
Thus, Toome will join Cremartin in the 2012 intermediate championship, while Clones must spend the winter reflecting on how close they came and how unlucky they were. But there's not much time to be feeling sorry for themselves. The new season will follow hot on the heels of the old one and - as the 2011 JFL final was the last domestic club match played in the county (on Sunday, November 20th) - Clones will have less recovery time than anyone else in the 2012 junior grade. In the heel of the hunt, their season proved ultimately as fruitless as it was long and there's no denying that they were extremely unfortunate.
It's not just the rule that decrees who goes up when one club secures a double that left them frustrated. After all, that's a fair rule and everybody knows where they stand from the start of the year. Toome won promotion on merit, even if Clones did beat them at the semi-final stage of the league. But there was also the lengthy lay-off before the league final, which definitely had a bearing on the outcome…
Having won their semi-final by 0-8 to 0-6 in Toome on Sunday, October 16th, holding the hosts scoreless for the second half, Clones went into the league final full of confidence. But Cremartin's involvement in the Ulster junior club football championship meant that the Monaghan JFL final was held up until five weeks later. Clones were left kicking their heels, waiting patiently, while Cremartin were benefiting from some very competitive matches against Shercock and Burt in the provincial club competition. There was no comparison between the match sharpness of the two team when Clones and Cremartin met in the league final at Emyvale on November 20th and the Shamrocks tore into a 1-10 to 0-1 lead. To their credit, Clones kept battling to the bitter end but a 2-12 to 0-10 defeat drew the curtain down in agonising fashion on their season.
Twice, St Tiarnach's had got themselves within touching distance of a return to the middle grade. But Lady Luck refused to co-operate and the offshoot of it all is that they'll be junior again in 2012, when they'll hope to emulate Cremartin, who lost both the JFC and JFL finals in 2010 but won both competitions in 2011. Certainly, if Clones can get their heads right, continue to improve and move on from the frustration of this year, they'll be a real force in next season's junior grade.
Clones finished the year in fourth place on the junior league table, with 21 points from 16 games - nine wins and three draws. A win over table-toppers Toome at St Victor's Park booked a place in the final but Clones had to win the decider against already-promoted Cremartin to secure promotion and their bid fell short…
St Tiarnach's drew two of their opening four games - against Toome in the opener on Sunday, March 20th (0-10 each) and at home to Oram on Friday, April 29th (0-13 to 1-10). In between, they suffered a three-point defeat at home to Cremartin - 0-11 to 0-8 on Sunday, April 17th - and beat Aghabog by the same margin in Aghabog, 0-11 to 0-8 on Saturday, April 23rd.
Defeat in Killanny on Sunday, May 8th (2-8 to 1-7) and another draw in Emyvale a fortnight later (1-12 to 2-9) left Clones with just five points from six games and it was seven points from eight games (the halfway stage) when they won in Blackhill (2-13 to 1-7) on Sunday, June 12th but lost at home to Toome three days later, 1-11 to 1-9.
While it wasn't exactly a spectacular start to the league campaign, Joe Mallon's charges turned a definite corner in the middle of their league programme and hit top form with a run of five straight victories. They were twice as good on the home straight, taking 14 points from their last eight games! Killeevan were seen off at Clones on Sunday, June 19th - 0-8 to 0-5 - and this was followed by wins on the road again Cremartin (0-9 to 1-3) and Oram (2-9 to 0-9) on Wednesday, July 20th and Wednesday, August 17th respectively. A month had separated each of those three league games due to the championship being in full swing but from late August onwards the matches were coming thick and fast again…
On Sunday, August 21st, Clones beat visitors Killanny by 2-15 to 0-7; twelve days later, they sent Emyvale home empty-handed, 1-15 to 1-9. They lost at home to Aghabog by a point - 0-13 to 1-9 - on Saturday, September 10th - and a fourth successive home game culminated in a thumping victory over Blackhill seven days later, 4-12 to 1-5, with the goals coming from substitute David Freeman (2-1), Adrian Alford (1-4) and another sub, Sarto Quigley.
Clones closed their league campaign with a 1-11 to 0-7 win over Killeevan at Scotshouse before beating Toome by 0-8 to 0-6 in the semi-final (where Adrian Alford scored four of the winners' eight points and David Freeman clipped over the last two decisive points) and losing the Dr Ward Cup decider to Cremartin.
It had been a similar story in the 2011 Monaghan JFC, where Clones also lost the final to Cremartin - 1-6 to 0-7 at Ballybay on Sunday, August 28th. En route to the final, Clones had demonstrated an impressive knack of winning tight matches, opening their championship campaign with a hard-fought 0-12 to 0-11 derby victory over Killeevan at Ballybay on Sunday, May 29th (thanks to David Freeman's injury-time winner as the town side knocked over the last four scores of the game) before edging out Aghabog by 0-7 to 0-6 at Scotstown on Friday, June 24th.
There was a temporary set-back in the next round when a 2-9 to 0-10 defeat to champions-elect Cremartin at Clontibret on Sunday, July 3rd (a match in which captain and full back Danny Rooney was superb, as was centre half back Darragh Holland, who scored three points from play) consigned Clones to the back door. But they rebounded with a crushing 2-12 to 0-5 defeat of Blackhill at Tyholland twelve days later before - boosted by Fintan Kelly's return from the States - seeing off Emyvale in an epic semi-final at Truagh on Sunday, August 14th - 1-9 to 1-8. Darragh Holland struck the decisive goal at St Mellan's Park.
Clones played a total of six matches in the championship, producing some wonderful football, but the two defeats to Cremartin meant they missed out on the silverware. The players worked hard all year and their manager, Edendork native Joe Mallon, pointed out that, with the team going through a rebuilding process, they had exceeded expectations by getting to the finals in 2011. The hope is that having witnessed at first hand what it takes to win major honours they can now kick on next term.
The Clones St Tiarnach's side that contested the 2011 Monaghan junior football championship final was: C Morgan; P Shiels, E Holland, P Connolly; D McQuaid, M Treanor, F Kelly; D Rooney (captain), J Jenkins; D Graham, A Alford (0-3), D Holland (0-2); P McCarville C McCaughey, David Freeman (0-2). Subs: Darren Freeman for McCarville (h/t); C Kelly for Graham (36); R Adamson for E Holland (43); F Cunningham for Jenkins (57). Tweet

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