By Shaun Casey

BACK-TO-BACK victories over Aughnamullen and Scotstown were enough to see Latton secure their place in the league quarter-finals and their manager David Lennon says they are “delighted” to be there.

They take on Clontibret this Friday evening while last year’s Intermediate Championship winners Magheracloone, who finished second in the table behind Scotstown, lie in wait in the semi-final.

With the county contingent now back playing club football, Lennon is hoping that Latton can continue their winning form and reach the last four.

“We’re delighted to have got here, it could have gone the other way for us,” said the Latton boss.

“We could have been in the bottom four, but we won the last two games so we’re in bonus territory to be where we are. The league is funny in Monaghan, you’re missing your county men all year and injuries and things, you’re only getting a few boys back now.

“We’d our two strongest teams out in the last two games, which is probably why we got to the quarter-finals. We had Scotstown last weekend and we both had our county men back.

“That was the only time we’ve had them all year. We were sitting in fifth place, and we ended up coming third and we’re delighted to be in the quarter-finals.”

Clontibret edged out Latton in the opening round of the league back in April, but that will have no impact on Friday’s result.

“Both teams have changed since the last day, and both were understrength, so it’ll be two new teams facing each other this weekend.

“We’ve been carrying a number of injuries all year, men missing for different reasons, and there’s a couple of boys away and I’m sure Clontibret is going to be the same so it should be a very tight contest.”

Latton are set to be without their key attacking threat in Aaron Mulligan however, although Lennon is hopeful he’ll be back for the championship.

“We’ve lost our marquee forward in Aaron Mulligan. It’s no secret in the county, he’s been out for two weeks, and he’ll be out for another number of weeks, we’re just not sure when we’re going to get him back.

“We’re waiting for a full diagnosis on it, but our main objective is to try and get him back to play some part in the championship and hopefully he can do that.”