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Inniskeen held the ball for over two minutes. The excellent Andrew Woods split the posts with a score that had all the hallmarks of a side to be Scotstown’s main contenders in Monaghan. Experience, know how. John McEntee’s side ticked all the boxes of game intelligence in that moment, even if they weren’t perfect overall. Shane Woods looked to have arrested the last hurrah as Tadhg Callaghan went at him, but the latter fisted a perfectly weighted ball across the square. Perfect it had to be, and fellow sub Ryan O’Connor palmed it home with a timely reminder as to why they call it the danger zone. Having been 11 down, Carrick stormed into contention despite losing both their midfielders to injury, as Louth’s James Maguire and Monaghan’s Stephen O’Hanlon combined for five two-pointers. O’Connor, meanwhile, had made two blood sub appearances, before fully entering the fray, and O’Hanlon was delighted with the match winner: “Ryano probably played a lot of minutes during the league, and then wasn’t playing as much. I think he was on and then off, on and off, and on again. Every single time he came in, he was tuned in”, he said. “It’s just a testament to the character. I think Ryan is driving down from the south side of Dublin and he never misses a thing. “That’s the kind of thing you hear managers talking about all the time. It might sound cliché, but that’s your panel like. That’s what wins games. “Mattie (Carolan) and Loughie (Niall Loughman) are massive, massive players for us. Losing Loughie, that defensive perspective presence he has, around the middle, on kickouts, losing him was a disaster. “Losing Mattie, you’re talking about twos, we had six. If Mattie stays on the field, you probably have eight. Two massive losses, but it comes back to the same thing. “It’s a panel effort. Dualta (Honney) went off as well, Deccie Lynch… Sean Carthy was unbelievable again. He won the game for us against Corduff, when you watch the video back as a group you see it. “It’s those lads coming in, and then Jamesie kicking it over from Mars like! Those two things won us the game.” Maguire finished with 0-9 in all, seven of which were from play, while Woods hit eight in defeat for Inniskeen. Grattan Park saw drama aplenty with a Sam Mulroy goal that toppled Armagh earlier this summer, and O’Connor’s effort wasn’t all that far off it in terms of the shock factor that reverberated around the ground once again. O’Hanlon, well in the frame for an intercounty All-Star nomination, waxed lyrical over 21-year-old Maguire, who played in both affairs: “James is as good as there is in the country in my opinion. I watched him here, sitting up in that corner against Armagh, and he was outstanding that day as well. “We’re absolutely delighted to have Jamesie.” Andy Callan’s charges have their bye in the final round, and while there is a possibility of a three-way tie on six points should Inniskeen topple Scotstown, the champions have a major edge on score difference. Carrick’ look set to face the losers of Clontibret v Truagh, or the winners of Castleblayney v Cremartin, with ‘goal one achieved’ according to their county star: “You’re up from intermediate. The goal at the end of the day is to consolidate your senior status. We did that in the league”, O’Hanlon said. “I know you might say that’s not overly ambitious but we spent three years intermediate and couldn’t get out of it the first two. We didn’t win a double. “Now you’re just excited, excited to get to go out and play in a quarter-final and hopefully beyond, but goal one is achieved for us.”