Reynolds: Scotstown a perfect measuring stick for Latton’s progress

By Shaun Casey

WHETHER it’s league or championship, Scotstown are the standard bearers when it comes to silverware in Monaghan, and Latton boss Terence Reynolds suggests they offer the perfect measuring stick for his side’s progress.

Latton and Scotstown do battle on Saturday afternoon, with the Division One league crown up for grabs. Latton beat the reigning league champions Magheracloone in the semi-final, while Scotstown saw off Castleblayney.

The Ulster Club champions are chasing an 11th championship title in 14 seasons, and four in a row, and when it comes to championship, Latton have also been drawn in the same group as the Farney kingpins.

“We’re only entered into two competitions, there’s two opportunities to win silverware and the league is the first one,” said Reynolds, in his first season in charge.

“When there’s silverware on offer, you really want to go for it so we’re looking forward to a good game and looking forward to playing against Scotstown, the kingpins in the county to see where we’re at.

“They know what it takes to win silverware and they are the standard bearers in Monaghan. They are the Ulster Club champions so it’s brilliant exposure for our lads to go into this game to see where we’re at.

“We’re looking forward to pitting our wits against them and ultimately we do want to try and win the league, it’d be great to bring some silverware back to the club and it’d be just reward for the squad and the work they’ve put in since January.”

Latton are going to be short a few of their star names, but they’ve been dealing with that for most of the season. Reynolds is happy with the squad that the club has developed despite missing some of their best players.

“We’ve had a decent season so far and we’re happy to be in the league final,” the Latton boss continued. “When you’re in the league final, the team is doing something right.

“We had a couple of blows during the league, we’ve been missing Aaron Mulligan for the latter half of the league, we lost Stephen McCabe to a very serious injury after the second game, he’s one of our leaders in attack.

“Of course, we’ve also lost Oisín McGorman to a broken jaw (suffered in Monaghan’s All-Ireland quarter-final defeat to Louth). We didn’t have Cian Mulligan for a couple of games towards the end of the league as well.

“We’ve had to use our squad, and the players have stepped up to the plate. Everybody from 1 to 30 has stepped into the breach and did a job for the team and ultimately, as a result of that, you’re going into the business end of the season with a strong group.”