IT RAINED by the bucketful in Clones yesterday and somewhere between the conniving of the elements and the size of the occasion all potential for beauty was lost. Bellaghy and Crossmaglen played out a hard, dour match and for their trouble must face off again next Sunday.

It wasn't pretty to watch but in its relentless competitiveness and full blooded unravelling this game had plenty of intrigue. Bellaghy, experienced hands in the long haul business which is the club championship, came up against a Crossmaglen side drawing momentum from the sheer novelty of their adventure. The club championship is about experience but even more so it is about momentum. The side which gets on a roll usually prevails.

Nothing too surprising then about the opening passages when Crossmaglen swarmed all over the Derrymen. They struck lucky after just two minutes when Jim McConville intercepted a poor clearance by Bellaghy full back David O'Neill. McConville bore down on goal and left Gerry McPeake with little option but to haul him down. He dusted himself off and slotted the penalty home without increasing his pulse rate.

Crossmaglen have a simple but effective tactic which has carried them safely through this year. They bring big corner forward Colm O'Neill out to midfield and generally pack the middle third of the pitch with tall hefty men. From the preponderance of possession they win they eke out enough chances to keep the McConvilles, Jim and Oisin, scoring freely.

For long periods yesterday, as the rain poured down and the winter light dwindled, it looked as if that ruse would work again.

Joe Cassidy replied for Bellaghy with a free kick but the trend of the game was against the Derry champions. The middle third of the pitch was a crush of bodies and the hungrier Crossmaglen side were picking up most of the breaking ball.

Joe Cassidy and John McEntee exchanged, points before Crossmaglen's pressure really began to pay dividends. Oisin McConville pointed a free on 15 minutes and not long afterwards produced a lovely point at the end of a fluent Crossmaglen move.

Their lead should have been supplemented in the 25th minute when Tony McEntee was placed by means of a lovely flicked pass from Colm O'Neill. His low shot coaxed an extraordinary save out of goalkeeper Kevin O'Neill in the Bellaghy goal. However, McEntee had the consolation of another point minutes later.

By then, Crossmaglen's two-man full forward line was featuring Cathal Short (nominally a wing forward) at full forward. Short won a series of useful balls towards the end of the half and with a minute remaining came deep and amidst a swarm of blue shirts, found the space to pop over another point.

Bellaghy at this stage looked tired and bewildered. Six points adrift and being tactically overrun, hope was slender. Yet they had the fortune to win a free before half time which yielded a point for Joe Cassidy. Then, like manna from heaven, a long speculative ball dropped into the hands of Eunan Cassidy, who squirmed and jigged until he was free to get in a shot which sneaked into the corner of the Bellaghy net. Undeservedly they reached the break just two points adrift.

On the resumption they switched big Danny Quinn to full forward and funnelled about four others to the midfield area. The switches worked well. Quinn placed Eunan Cassidy for another point after just three minutes.

By now, with the elements so unfavourable and the midfield so crowded, the game was turning into a bloodbath. A plethora of thrown fists and illegal challenges stopped the flow of the game.

Bodies bounced of each other like dodgems.

With space up front and the midfield achieving parity, Bellaghy had the momentum. The scores were hard to come by however and it took some heroic defending (notably by Gerry McPeake) to prevent Crossmaglen picking off scores on the counter attack.

Bellaghy finally took the lead on 51 minutes when yet another Joe Cassidy free (this one from the hands) sailed over.

That however was to be their final score of the game. Just three minutes later they lost midfielder John Mulholland when, having being booked shortly beforehand, he was spotted pushing Francie Bellew to the ground.

The 14 men conceded the momentum and a late score as 14,000 people howled for the whistle that would mark a merited draw.

All back for more confrontation next Sunday.