Errigal Ciarán ... 1-13 Crossmaglen Rangers ... 1-10 Peter Canavan has produced many masterful displays, but few better than his devastating performance in Clones yesterday.
He tore the Crossmaglen defence to shreds, particularly in the first half of a thrilling second replay with Crossmaglen Rangers.
A sharper, hungrier Errigal Ciarán deservedly advanced to the semi-final - they meet Ballinderry next Sunday in Clones - but they had a real scrap on their hands in the second half as Crossmaglen Rangers used all their experience to try to claw their way back into the game.
Canavan's goal 20 minutes into the first half was executed with ruthless efficiency as he left Martin Califf for dead before rifling the ball to the bottom right-hand corner to cap a brilliant 10-minute spell that saw Errigal Ciarán turn a four-point deficit into a four-point lead.
Peter Loughran was inspirational in midfield while Ciarán McGinley at full back, Paul Horisk at centre and Mark Harte on the 40 stood out and led by example all through.
Earlier, Crossmaglen had got off to the better start, OisíMcConville putting them in front in the fifth minute and then James Hughes sweeping in the first goal of the game after a high centre had been broken down in the goalmouth by Tony McEntee.
That, however, was as good as it got for the former All-Ireland club champions with Errigal Ciarán engineering a complete turnaround in the following 14 minutes.
The Tyrone champions blew Crossmaglen away with the sheer pace of their game as they hit a goal and five points without reply between the 10th and 20th minutes.
The gamble of playing the injured Eoin Gormley did not work out for Errigal and he was replaced early on by Darren Tierney who contributed two excellent points in this purple patch, as did Rory McCann. These scores helped Errigal into a 1-8 to 1-4 lead at half-time.
The standard of play in the third quarter deteriorated considerably as the game became over-physical and referee Pat McEnaney issued several yellow cards.
Mark Harte put them six points clear in the 16th minute but Crossmaglen reduced the deficit to four points two minutes later and they might well have brought it to the minimum but for an excellent point-blank save by John Devine at the feat of Michael McNamee.
Peter Canavan curled over a beautiful point from 25 metres on the right wing to give his side a five points lead entering the final 10 minutes and they limited Cross to just two points subsequently, the second from a 45 by Oisin McConville after Devine had thwarted another goal attempt.
ERRIGAL CIARAN: J Devine; B O'Donnell, C McGinley, D O'Neill; Emmet McGinley, P Horisk, D Harte; Pascal Canavan (0-1), P Loughran; Enda McGinley, M Harte (0-3), A McGinley; R McCann (0-2), Peter Canavan (1-5), E Gormley. Subs: D Tierney (0-2) for E Gormley; E Cavanagh for A McGinley; S Mallon for B O'Donnell.
CROSSMAGLEN RANGERS: P Hearty; S McNamee, M Califf, D Murtagh; F Shields, F Bellew, J Fitzpatrick; J Donaldson (0-1), A Cunningham; S Clarke, J McEntee (0-3), O McConville (0-5); J Hughes (1-1), T McEntee, C Short. Subs: S Kernan for S Clarke; B McKeown for D Murtagh; G O'Neill for F Shields; M McNamee for C Short; C O'Neill for J Hughes.
Referee: P McEnaney (Monaghan).
