Corduff justice: The campaign may have gone on forever (five months to be exact!) but it ended on a satisfactory note for Corduff when they captured the J.F.C. When Corduff won the intermediate championship in 1998 it was regarded by many as the dawn of a new era, They had won the junior double in 1993 and this was seen as a natural progression but their stay in senior ranks was short-lived and this year they were back again seeking promotion from the junior grade just short of a decade since they last moved up writes John Graham. Seamus McEnaney was a key man in their intermediate triumph, managing the team as well as playing a vital part either on the forty or at full forward. "That was a great campaign, I think the intermediate championship was run off over about six weeks that year and it left that you could work with the team to peak over a shorter period. The championships in Monaghan have changed now and take longer to run off so that teams have a longer season and you have to plan for that. Team manager Felix Brennan was aware of that and he along with team trainer Barry McArdle had everything geared to a long campaign." That is borne out by the statistics Corduff played their first game against Killanny back on May 11th and the final wasn't until the 6th of October and we had five games in all. "It can be hard to keep players focussed when there are big gaps between games but we were in the league as well and that helped as we had to keep winning to have a chance of the semi finals. It was also important for us to do well this season as we had dedicated our juvenile pitch to the memory of the late Gene Marron who would have been proud of how well the team did." There was only two points in it the day we played Killanny back in May and we met them again in the semi-final in what was another close game. We had a real battle on our hands that day before we edged through with three points to spare at the end of a hard fought contest in Carrickmacross on Saturday August 24th, quite a time since we had our first outing. "In between we had beaten Aughnamullen, but we were to meet them later in the final and Oram who gave us a tough time as well. We started well against Killanny in the semi final and went 1-3 to a point ahead after just 12 minutes. Some people might have though that we might have things fairly easy but nothing could have been further from the truth as Killanny dug in and made life extremely difficult. Peter Dooley hit I think it was six or seven points and that helped to keep Killanny in touch. We led at half time by three points and scores were hard to come by in a closely contested second-half and the game built to an exciting finish with the minimum between us after an hour, Corduff 1-8, Killanny 0-10. In fact we might have been in trouble at that stage but for an excellent stop by Darren Byrne of who took off a point blank save at the feet Brian Kerley and it was in injury time that we got the couple of points that put us in the final." We had quite a wait to the final, from the 24th of August until October 6th but the fact that we were playing Aughnamullen was a good motivator. We knew it was going to be a tough game and it wasn't until the final quarter that we got on top to wrap up the game. It was a fairly low key affair and many have said since that that the standard of play was disappointing but we are not worried by that now, we won the game and that was what counted. We both missed chances but in the end it was our ability to put a more cohesive game together in the final quarter that ultimately saw us through. "Funny enough I think it was a missed chance that ultimately sparked our late revival because it was only after Shane Malone's penalty had gone badly wide in the 15th minute of the second half that we came to life and finished strongly to hit six points without reply in the final quarter. Over the hour I think we were probably the sharper team, Felix Brennan as always urged every player to chase every ball and his great enthusiasm is infectious. Our finishing let us down at times but the main thing was that we were creating chances and we found the range later in the game." Corduff started with Seamus McEnaney playing at full forward in place of Shane Donoghue and he put in a tremendous effort throughout, winning vital possession to create chances for others as well as scoring a point himself. Up front he had best support from David Marron who collected the man of the match award, George McKitterick who worked extremely hard throughout and Mark Gilsenan who finished with a total of three points to his credit. Corduff started brightly and had Aughnamullen under pressure from the throw-in but were wide of the mark with two early attempts before Mark Gilsenan opened the scoring for them with a point from a free in the fifth minute. A minute later, things looked very promising when Corduff opened a two points lead, Seamus McEnaney combining well with David Marron and picking off a nice point on the run. When Aughnamullen scored two minutes later the indications were that the game would live up to its pre-match billing of a close, keenly contested affair. Scores were at a premium and ten minutes were to elapse before there was another, this time Aughnamullen getting the equaliser and the sides were level again on 27 minutes at 0-3 each. A minute into injury time Raymond Byrne was on target again from a free to restore Corduff to the lead and they went in a point in front at the break, 0-4 to 0-3. 'We knew we had to do something different in the second half, we had plenty of possession but were not scoring so we decided to switch Frank McEnaney from midfield to centre half back with Declan Larkin now partnering Raymond Byrne in the middle. We were probably lucky that we didn't concede a goal early in the second half but the defence got it together and we avoided conceding a score and were awarded a free out. "Two minutes later though Aughnamullen were level when Gary Holland finished well after good approach work by Paddy Duffy and Paul Mulligan and we now found ourselves coming under pressure but again our defence coped well although we probably had a little bit of luck at times to help us out. Turning defence into attack had been something that we always tried to do and we broke out of defence at this stage to earn a free that was converted by Mark Gilsenan in the eighth minute to put us back in front. Our lead was short-lived, however, and two minutes later the game was back on level terms and it was looking like a fight to the finish." Coming up to the end of the third quarter Corduff had a great chance of opening a substantial lead when awarded a penalty, Mark Gilsenan pulled down after he had made a great break. Shane Malone stepped up to take the spot kick but his effort was badly wide. Many another team would have let the heads go down at this stage but not Corduff and as they turned adversity to their advantage and it was a missed opportunity that was ultimately to work in their favour. Their response was very positive and they fashioned a strong finish as they battled their way through for a series of points that had the issue well wrapped up before Brendan McMahon blew for full time five minutes into stoppage time. Raymond Byrne from a free restored Corduff to the lead in the 17th minute with matters then being fairly evenly contested for the following seven or eight minutes but ultimately Corduff sealed victory in a great spell that saw them hit three points in as many minutes. Declan Larkin broke through for a good point in the 25th minute, Mark Gilsenan with another in the 26th and Raymond Byrne lifting over from some 40 meters out in the 27th to open a four points gap and time now on their side. It wasn't all one-way, however, even at this stage as Aughnamullen, despite suffering from an increasing degree of frustration continued to put them under pressure, but to no avail. Corduff had the scent of victory and every avenue was closed down. Two minutes into stoppage time Shane Malone made some amends for his earlier miss when he extended Corduff's lead to five and five minutes into stoppage time Raymond Byrne converted a '45 for a six points winning margin on a final score of Corduff 0-11, Aughnamullen 0-5, Brendan McMahon's whistle the signal for the Corduff celebrations to begin with Corduff again moving up the ladder of success. Corduff's results were as follows: Corduff 2-9, Killanny 2-7, Corduff 0-12, Aughnamullen 1-5, Corduff 3-10, Oram 3-4, Corduff 1-10, Killanny 0-10, Corduff 0-11, Aughnamullen 0-5. TEAM AND SCORERS V AUGHNAMULLEN: Darren Byrne, Fran Monaghan, Louis King, Ciaran Malone, Alan Mee, Declan Larkin 0-1, Kieran Connolly, Frank McEnaney, Raymond Byrne 0-5, George McKitterick, David Marron, Sean Connolly, Shane Malone 0-1, Seamus McEnaney 0-1, Mark Gilsenan 0-3. Subs used: Aidan Marron, Pat Kelly, Liam Duffy, Seamus McConnon. Other members of the panel: Pat McEnaney, Brendan Finnegan, Patrick Callan, Martin Mills, Gareth King, Pauric Gollogly, Colm Marron, Shane McNally, Donal Crossan, Declan Crossan, Brendan Mee, Thomas McCabe. Team manager: Felix Brennan. Selectors: Pat Keenan and Tommy Callan. Trainer: Barry McArdle. Physio: Padraig Duffy. Tweet

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