By Shaun Casey

CLONDUFF’S three remaining league games should stand the team in good stead heading into the championship, according to manager Gearoid Adams.

In the next two weeks they face Mayobridge and Carryduff, the teams above and below them in the league table, before finishing their campaign at home to Downpatrick, who are fighting for their lives at the bottom of the pile.

Although mathematically they can still catch league leaders Kilcoo on 25 points and potentially win the league, that would require no slip-ups on their part and for the Magpies to suffer three consecutive defeats, more than they have experienced all year.

“It’s perfect preparation for the championship,” said the Antrim native. “We’re playing Mayobridge on Friday and we’re on the same amount of points so whoever wins that game will go into second place.

“The week after we have Carryduff which is a great game leading into Downpatrick and that will be the last one so those are three good games ahead of the championship.”

Clonduff, who reached the semi-finals of the SFC last year, haven’t been at maximum strength for most of 2026 because of their county contingent. Eamon Brown really caught the eye for Conor Laverty’s Down team this year, particularly in the Tailteann Cup.

“We’ve played most of the year without Eamon and he’d be our main scorer,” Adams added. “Big Arthur McConville (former Down player) has been out for a while as well and they’ve been our main scorers the last couple of years.

“It’s been good to keep things ticking over without them. Obviously, you’ve got Barry O’Hagan in the mix there as well who has played a few league games with us, and then Ross Carr and big Tom Close.

“With those four boys on the county team, it gave other boys opportunities so we’re happy enough to be where we are. You’d like to be a bit closer to Kilcoo and push them right to the end, but we lost a few games by minimum margins and they’re all touch and go.”

On O’Hagan, who has suffered two cruciate injuries over the past couple of seasons, Adams explains that he is still making his way back to full fitness.

“Barry has to monitor how he’s progressing but he has played the last five or six league games for us and has played almost full games in nearly every one of them. It’s just about managing his load and getting him back to his optimum fitness leading into the championship.”