THE pace and vision of youngster Peter McGrane was among the highlights the Armagh management and their supporters will have taken from Wednesday night’s one-point victory over auld enemy Tyrone at the Athletic Grounds.
Hailing from the Ballyhegan Davitt’s club situated between Richill and Portadown (neither a GAA stronghold) McGrane did his defensive job well and also caught the eye as an attacking force. As expected from a modern day corner-back, he raided forward at every opportunity, scoring 1-1 in the first half and he continued to impress with pacey breaks and creative distribution as Armagh took control of the game after the break against a Red Hand side that lost its way.
McGrane has been around the Armagh panel for a couple of seasons now and will hope that this is his breakthrough year. The challenges will only get tougher for Armagh who face Mickey Harte’s Derry in the semi-final of the Dr McKenna Cup on Saturday (4pm).
McGrane will make his own way in the game of course but he comes from good footballing stock - his family played central roles in Armagh’s first two national championship successes.
Peter’s great-uncle Brian McGrane lined out at corner-forward alongside his Ballyhegan clubmate Paddy Joe McKeever in the Orchard county side that beat Kerry to win the All-Ireland minor championship 75 years ago in 1949.
Tyrone, who included future boxing promoter Barney Eastwood, had clinched back-to-back All-Irelands in the previous two seasons but Armagh ended their run of three in-a-row in Ulster and, after beating Sligo in the semi-final played in Lurgan, the Orchard youngsters went on to beat the Kingdom 1-7 to 1-5 to win the county’s first ever All-Ireland minor title.
Fifty-three years after that success, Brian’s nephew (Peter’s uncle) Paul was the mainstay in midfield as Armagh captured their first Sam Maguire.
Paul McGrane had come agonisingly close to equalling his uncle Brian’s feat when he captained Armagh to the brink of glory in the 1992 All-Ireland minor final. Armagh, undoubtedly the better side on the day, were ahead by two points with time almost up but Meath conjured up a late goal to win by a point.
However, a decade later midfielder McGrane was the provider the famous Oisin McConville goal which saw Armagh turn the tables on Kerry in a tense All-Ireland final.