Armagh Senior Football Championship Group B1: Clan na Gael v Crossmaglen Rangers (Sunday, Davitt Park, 2.30pm)
A GREAT torrent of water has passed under the Orchard county bridge since these clubs met in last year’s senior championship final.
Both sides had players involved in Armagh’s Sam Maguire summer and Stefan Campbell and Shane McPartlan (Clans) and Oisin and Rian O’Neill and Cian McConville (Cross) will be on opposite sides in this Davitt Park clash.
Alongside their county stars both sides boast talented and highly-motivated supporting casts which include talented youngers like Diarmiud O’Hagan and Callum O’Neill for the Lurgan outfit and the experience of skipper Callum Cumiskey, Paul Hughes, Rico Kelly and Stephen Morris in the Rangers ranks.
Last year Stefan Campbell’s swashbuckling 10 points inspired a miraculous comeback as Ronan McMahon’s Clans came back from the dead to beat rivals Clann Eireann at the semi-final stage.
Hopes of a first title since 1994 were high when they led Crossmaglen by a point at half-time in he final but the Rangers found their feet and showed their class after the break and racked up 2-10 to canter home by 12 points and collect their 47th county title in the process.
Cross are without last year’s skipper Jamie Clarke who wasn’t able to commit this season due to work commitments but even without the former Armagh star they will, as always, be the team to beat. While they don’t have the vice-like grip on the Gerry Fagan Cup they had between 1996 and 2015, the black and amber outfit have appeared in the last six county finals and won four of them.
“Given that we’ve won it this last two years, I suppose we’re favourites but there’s nothing we can do about that,” said manager Anthony Cunningham.
“We have three lads with All-Ireland medals now in Rian, Oisin and Cian and very well deserved but they’re back with us now and their focus is on a county championship. They’ll be fully focussed, I know the pedigree of all three and they’ll not be allowed to be anything else but ready for the championship.
“Given what they achieved, it’s only right that they celebrated their win and had a bit of time off but, 100 per cent, all three will be playing on Sunday.”
Crossmaglen met Clan na Gael in their first match of last season’s championship and that game finished in a draw thanks to a late goal from Shane McPartlan. Cunningham sees the Clans and their Lurgan neighbours Clann Eireann among the contenders for this season’s silverware.
“Clan na Gael had a very good league and they’re now up into 1A, Clann Eireann are up there as well and you’ll have the usual contenders like Madden, Killeavy… They’ll all be gunning for us and we just have to be ready for that,” he said.
Alongside the experienced, household names in the Crossmaglen panel this year, Cunningham explained that a clutch of talented youngsters are hoping to make their mark for the club at senior championship level.
“We have names that everybody knows about, like the Armagh boys and Calum Cumiskey, Paul Hughes and all those lads, but we actually have a very young team,” he said.
“There’s a lot of lads sitting around 20/21 who are just gunning to get some consistent game-time and this could be the year for a lot of those boys. Our age profile is very good at the minute and a lot of boys will be putting their hand up to get in the team.
“You can’t please everybody - everybody wants to play and rightly so – but it’s our job as a management to put players in to win each game and that’s what we’ll do.”
Saturday
SFC Group B1: Sarsfields v Granemore (Sarsfields, 5pm)
THROUGHOUT their Division 1A campaign Granemore concentrated on keeping things tight at the back. However, they lacked the forward punch to capitalise on that defensive solidity and came out on the wrong side of several low-scoring games.
Despite their league struggles, the St Mary’s side – who will be minus former Armagh midfielder Kieran Toner for this opener but welcome back Paul McGeown - will be confident of victory as they begin their championship against a Sarsfields outfit that finished bottom of Division 1B and have been relegated to 2A for next season. However, the loughshore outfit will back themselves to turn their poor form around in the championship.
SFC Group C1: St Peter’s v Clann Eireann (St Peter’s Lurgan, 7pm)
A SATURDAY night Lurgan derby to get the championship juices flowing, although it was one-sided last year. Former Antrim manager Frank Fitzsimmons is at the helm of ‘the Peters’ against a star-studded Clann Eireann side that will include Sam Maguire winners Barry McCambridge, Conor Turbitt (who scored 10 points in Clann Eireann’s 13-point win in the 2023 clash) and Tiernan Kelly.
Fitzsimmons guided his side to third in Division 1B this year while 2021 senior champions Clann Eireann finished top of 1A, an impressive feat without their Armagh players.
Sunday
SFC Group D1: Ballymacnab v Dromintee (Ballymacnab, 4.30pm)
WITHOUT their Armagh All-Ireland winner Rory Grugan, Ballymacnab struggled for results in Division 1B and finished second-from-bottom after losing half of their games. Playmaker Rory and his brother Jack both miss out with injury while former Armagh defender Ryan Kennedy hasn’t featured at all this season.
Playing in Division 1A, Kieran Quinn’s Dromintee had an even tougher time of it, winning just two games out of 14 including a nine-game losing streak. All-Ireland final goal-scorer Aaron McKay has been welcomed back to the fold and that will have boosted morale going into the championship.
SFC Group D1: Mullaghbawn v Armagh Harps (Mullaghbawn, 6.30pm)
CHAMPIONS in 2017, Armagh Harps haven’t reached a final since and they travel to South Armagh to meet a Mullaghbawn team that finished top of Division 1B despite losing form towards the end of the campaign with defeats in their last three games.
Mullaghbawn didn’t progress from the group stage last season and will be keen to end their winning run against the Pascal Canavan-managed Harps who finished mid-table in 1A.
