Crossmaglen 1-12 St Gall's 0-9:THEY WERE selling the last of the fireworks on the outskirts of town but we had our own homemade explosives here in Crossmaglen. Rub the former four-time All-Ireland club champions up against the reigning champions and things are bound to ignite.
It never got out of control but with 11 yellow and two red cards – in the first half alone – it certainly was good old-fashioned hard-hitting football, exactly the way they like it up here in the old border country. In the end Crossmaglen emerged convincing winners, ending St Gall’s reign in the process, but they were made to work hard for it – and helped in no small part by the home advantage.
“Delighted with the win,” said manager Tony McEntee, the former Armagh county and club All-Ireland winner. “We made a lot of mistakes in the second half and lost our shape a little. But beating the All-Ireland champions, at home here. . . it doesn’t get much better than that.”
Crossmaglen actually presented St Gall’s with a guard of honour onto the field, but that was where the courtesies ended, as they then stood up, physically and mentally, to their Antrim opponents.
“We thought it was only right and proper to give St Gall’s that honour, especially here on our home ground. But yeah, after that it was strictly business,” added McEntee. Indeed it was – and Crossmaglen wasted no time in making their intentions clear.
McEntee has gone about something of a rebuilding phase with the team that won 14 of the last 15 Armagh titles, and seven Ulster titles within that same period, although it was some of the more familiar faces who set about dismantling the St Gall’s challenge.
Oisín McConville was in superb form, collecting 1-6 in total – and no score more crucial that his penalty conversion just before half-time, which pushed Crossmaglen into a 1-8 to 0-4 interval lead. It was a fair reflection of their dominance, with Aaron Kernan lording the half-back line and David McKenna repeatedly bursting forward from midfield, and collecting two big points in the process.
The first half was also short-fused and fully-charged. St Gall’s lost half forward Karl Stewart for a second yellow card on 22 minutes, and just two minutes later Crossmaglen lost corner back James Morgan, also on a second yellow.
There was a more widespread fracas shortly afterwards that was brief and quickly extinguished. The only explosive point after that was at the tail end, when Crossmaglen midfielder Johnny Hanratty was shown a straight red for a challenge on Kevin Niblock.
But for long periods of the first half St Gall’s found Crossmaglen’s movement in the forward line too difficult to handle. Michael McNamee, a late replacement for Martin Ahearne, was keeping busy and just before half time Francie Bellew made his expected appearance, initially slotting in at full forward. Bellew retired on 50 minutes with a back injury but that was the cue to introduce John McEntee, twin brother of Tony and who had come out of retirement in recent weeks to throw his considerable weight and experience back behind the cause. McEntee’s late point raised possibly the loudest cheer of the afternoon.
Still, St Gall’s weren’t reigning Ulster and All-Ireland champions for nothing, and they didn’t go down without a fight. The high concession of frees was part of their undoing in the first half, but they tightened that up in the second, and finally got some decent possession into Conor McGourty and Niblock. Two scores from those two early in the second half signalled a comeback, but unfortunately for them it was short-lived.
When Bellew reverted to a defensive role and was deemed to have fouled Rory Gallagher, Niblock stepped up to a penalty that would have brought St Gall’s back into it. Instead his shot was wonderfully saved by Paul Hearty.
Hearty pulled off another great save towards the end, this time from Darren O’Hare, although by then St Gall’s challenge was over.
They couldn’t make their period of dominance count, and in fact went some 17 minutes of the second half before McGourty got their next score. Crossmaglen are on the march again, and it will take a mighty club to stop them.
CROSSMAGLEN RANGERS: P Hearty; P McKeown, P Kernan, J Morgan; A Kernan (0-2, one free), D O’Callaghan, S Finnegan; J Hanratty, D McKenna (0-2); M McNamee (0-1), S Kernan, F Hanratty; T Kernan, A Cunningham, O McConville (1-6, 0-4 frees, 1-0 penalty). Subs: F Bellew for Cunningham (26 mins), B McKeown for P McKeown (36 mins), K Carragher for McNamee (47 mins), J McEntee (0-1) for Bellew (49 mins), M Aherne for F Hanratty (56 mins).
ST GALL’S: Ronan Gallagher; C Brady, A McClean, B Martin; T O’Neill, A Healy, S Kelly (0-1); S Burke, A Gallagher; M Pollock (0-1), K McGourty, K Stewart; C McGourty (0-5, 0-3 frees), Rory Gallagher, K Niblock (0-2, one free, one 45). Subs: Kevin McGourty for Pollock (half-time), M Kelly for Burke (36 mins), S Burns for Kieran McGourty (47 mins), D O’Hare for O’Neill (53 mins).
Referee: Joe McQuillan (Cavan).
