McArdle and Scotstown braced for Kilcoo challenge

By Shaun Casey

SCOTSTOWN aren’t expecting last year’s Ulster Championship triumph over Kilcoo to count for much when the two sides face off once again on Saturday night, according to their captain Damien McArdle.

In dramatic circumstances, the Monaghan champions edged out Kilcoo in Newry by the minimum of margins on their way to reaching the Ulster final. But 12 months on, the focus is very much on the 2024 campaign.

The pair travel to the BOX-IT Athletic Grounds for their semi-final showdown and the winner will make their way to the decider.

But David McCague’s side aren’t looking that far ahead just yet.

“It’s a clean slate this year,” said Scotstown skipper McArdle.

“Last year is last year, it’s over and done with now at this stage, it’ll be all on Saturday evening and suppose who performs the best will come out on top.

“For Kilcoo, they came up short last time and they’ll use that as motivation.

“I suppose it’s no different than us, we came up short in the Ulster final and you want to get back to that point.

“Everybody knows the sort of quality Kilcoo have, it’ll be about trying to keep the error rate down and it’ll be who blinks first I suppose.

“Everybody wants to gauge themselves against the best and Saturday evening is a good opportunity to do that and see where we really are.”

Both sides opened their provincial accounts with victories.

Kilcoo battled by Cavan’s Crosserlough two weeks ago while last weekend, Scotstown waltzed by Fermanagh representatives Erne Gaels in Enniskillen.

“We started well which gave us a real good foothold in the game,” added McArdle on their recent 0-19 to 0-6 win.

“It set the tempo and it was just about keeping the thing moving forward.”

Saturday’s semi-final clash will be Scotstown’s fourth outing in five weeks, including the county final and Monaghan league final, which they won.

“It’s a hectic schedule,” the Scotstown defender continued.

“I suppose management might like a wee bit longer to prepare on the training pitch given the quality we’re facing.

“But you can only work with the schedule you’re given.

“As players you’d rather play games than train, so we’d be happy enough.

“If you’d injury concerns, you’d like that extra week, but we seem to be all good that way, so we’d be happy enough with the week’s turnaround.”

While Scotstown, as well as Kilcoo, are well used to the Ulster Championship at this stage, McArdle insists that’s it still means an awful lot to the players and he looks forward to it with each passing season.

“The atmosphere in games and around the community as well is brilliant. it’s the best competition I’ve ever played in and I’m sure even some of the more experienced county boys on the panel would probably say the same.

“It’s very honest football too,” he added.