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Inniskeen captain Sean Jones feels his side are building nicely for Sunday’s Monaghan SFC Greenfield Foods’ opener against Latton, having put their league quarter-final defeat behind them. Castleblayney overcame last year’s championship runners-up, before losing out to eventual league winners Scotstown. Latton, managed by Leitrim man Terence Reynolds, must dust themselves down from Saturday’s 1-20 to 2-9 league final defeat, with both themselves and Inniskeen due to face Scotstown in Group 1 in the coming weeks. Jones says a semi-final against Scotstown ‘would have been nice’ but is confident his side have prepared well over the last ‘three or four weeks’ ahead of Sunday’s opener on home soil: “We’re well used to this, getting into the championship, getting into the group games. It’s never an easy game playing Latton. They’ve been on our tail the last few years, always tight, cagey games. “We have Corduff, Carrick and Scotstown after that, so no easy game this year, taking nothing for granted, just trying our best to get out of the group and hopefully put ourselves in a good spot towards October time.” John McEntee remains at the helm not far from the Armagh-Monaghan border, and Jones, who opted out of the Monaghan panel in 2026, sees a tangible connection between team and management. Read more: - Rory Beggan hopeful of return for Scotstown ahead of emotionally charged occasion - Ulster Club SFC draw pits Tyrone winners against Down champs in preliminary round - ‘We’re going out to battle against these boys, don’t even look at them...’ Irish News Allstars were a break from the norm for Armagh goalkeeper Paul Hearty The cross border rivalry remains strong however: “We’ve really got a family bond there with John and Tony, two lads that live five, ten minutes down the road, so they know all the surroundings in Inniskeen around the community. They’ve bought in well for us and we’ve bought in for them. “There’s not much the boys wouldn’t do for those two lads, they’ve put in a serious amount of time and effort into us. We’re just trying to impress them, boys trying to get into the starting 15 with Inniskeen. “The knowledge they’ve brought to Inniskeen is second to none. They’ve won everything in the game, from All-Irelands, Ulsters, many Cross’ championships. “John is a good man to take a slagging, and he can definitely dish it out! He takes it as well, we have the craic with John and Tony. “Maybe we weren’t thinking Armagh would be put out so soon, they might say they thought Monaghan would get put out earlier! Monaghan showed well this year, and it was a bit of craic in training.” In his new role as captain, Jones is excited to lead his side into championship battle. Not least with younger brother Conor, a Monaghan U20 this year, in the Grattans’ ranks: “Conor’s developing well. He’s put on a good bit of size and he’s still only 19. He’s trying to learn the senior ropes. I’d say maybe in his first year, he came up from minor and thought he could push the boys around, but he found out quickly enough that you don’t get that in senior football, that extra second or two on the ball doesn’t happen in senior football. “He’s integrating well into the team now, probably starting to become one of the main lads on the team. He’s a big presence for us around midfield as well. Happy to play alongside him and hopefully he can push on as well for us.” Scotstown travel to Carrickmacross in the group’s other match on Sunday (3pm), with Corduff handed a bye in round one, as are Cremartin in the other group. Group Two action takes place on Saturday, starting with the meeting of Truagh and Castleblayney (4pm), before Clontibret head for Magheracloone (7pm).