McGrath: Carryduff embracing Clonduff challenge

By Shaun Casey

CARRYDUFF and Clonduff are the only two unbeaten teams left standing in the Down Senior Championship but one of them will lose their place on Friday evening.

The sides lock horns in the championship semi-final, with last year’s beaten finalists Carryduff hoping to get back to the final while Clonduff haven’t been there since 2016. Burren and kingpins Kilcoo face off on the other side.

Carryduff manager Hugh McGrath is well-aware of the challenge they face against a Clonduff side that have hammered Burren and Mayobridge to reach the final four.

“Obviously after the draw was made you just go into getting ready mode and thankfully, we’ve got a bit of lead-in time ahead of the game,” said the Derry native, who joined Carryduff midway through their Division One league campaign.

“It’s the two unbeaten teams in the championship and Clonduff have played some really good stuff. The win over Burren definitely, even the Mayobridge match, they maybe showed a bit of tiredness, but Clonduff were still fairly ruthless.”

Clonduff’s inside-forward line of Eamon Brown, Arthur McConville and Barry O’Hagan is arguably the best in the county, but McGrath notes that they have plenty of quality to be considered all across the field.

“Absolutely their full forward line is good, there’s no question about that, but they have a couple of lads in the half-forward line that are fairly decent as well,” McGrath continued.

“They have a midfield that many club around the country would be envious of and Darren O’Hagan is still battering away there at number six for them.

“There’s Aaron Sherry as well. I saw him against Mayobridge, I’d say his kickout retention rate was well above 90 percent, so they have weapons everywhere.

“You can tell that they have real belief in themselves and real belief in their management because they’re carrying out what they’re asked to do and they’re carrying it out really, really well.

“Are we capable of quelling that full forward line? Time will tell and I think we have a reasonable amount of forwards of our own that will be chomping at the bit and looking to test themselves against a really good bunch of footballers.”

McGrath also confirmed that Down duo Daniel Guinness and John McGeough, who both missed their comfortable quarter-final over Saul, will be available for selection.

“It was just precautionary. We felt we had a reasonable chance with the personnel that we had so we didn’t risk them.

“They’ve come back from the county season and they’ve had no real rest, and it’s been a bit of a slog for them, so it was just to try and give them that bit of rest and bit of freshness. We’ll have them for the match; there’s no issue there.”