AFTER an exciting, and at times an end-to-end contest with Derry champs Newbridge, Clann Éireann booked their spot in the final four of the Ulster SFC and All-Ireland winner Barry McCambridge was delighted to help his side through.
McCambridge, who was nominated for Footballer of the Year due to his performances with the Orchard County this season, blotted out Conor Doherty’s influence on proceedings when handed that man-marking job in the second period.
Coming into the provincial series, where they’ll now face Errigal Ciaran in the semi-finals, McCambridge suggests that every game is a tough challenge, no matter who stands in the opposite corner.
“We knew coming in here, every team is a champion so they’re going to be a strong team,” said the All-Star winning defender.
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“The weather was brilliant so that made it a really open game of football. Newbridge have some unbelievable footballers.
“They’re so good at keeping the ball and they made it really, really difficult for us. We just got fortunate that we had the legs at the end to get across the line and again our bench, one or two of them helped us just push us on.
“The likes of Rioghan Meehan, Dan McCarthy, Ready (Redmond) French coming on, they all gave us that wee bit of a push to get across the line.”
Along with the subs bench, it was the lesser lights that shone brightest for Ruairi Lavery’s side as they earned a two-point win. Jack Conlon earned the man of the match award and top scored on the day with 0-4.
“Every game someone new steps up and that’s the beauty of it, we a quality team and we have good footballers all over the place,” added McCambridge.
“If one or two boys aren’t having a great game, someone else steps up and pulls them out because they know down the line, they’re going to do that for them.
“Jack is an unbelievable footballer; he can score from anywhere so it’s just good to see him get as many points as he did, and it helped give us that wee edge across the line when we got into a tight spot.
“We were back level, and he was able to put two or three of them over the bar just to give us that wee bit of breathing space.”
On facing Errigal Ciaran, McCambridge continued, “at underage level we’d have played them and I know a few of the boys just from university football and stuff. I’ve seen them and we know the quality of them.
“I think someone said nearly every player has been on the Tyrone County panel in the past, so we know how good they’re going to be, and we’ll just go and give it a rattle and see how we get on.”
It’s an exciting time to be a Clann Éireann supporter at the minute. While the men are through to the semis, the ladies take on Lurgan (Cavan) in the Ulster final this weekend and are aiming to retain their provincial crown.
“It’s a good buzz for everyone and it’s really important that we keep it going because there’s all these young fans coming along to support us and hopefully down the line, they’ll push on, and they’ll make the club a better place,” said the Irish News Men’s Footballer of the Year.
“Even for the county it’s always good to see a club, an Armagh team go far, no matter who they are so hopefully we can keep going and see where it takes us.”