Cormac Leonard Commercials Armagh SFC play-off round
Ballymacnab 0-7 Clann Eireann 0-12
FIVE points looks a handy enough winning margin for Clann Eireann in the end, and nobody inside Pearse Og Park on Sunday night could argue they weren’t good value for a victory that sent the 2021 champions into the last eight.
Without former Armagh defender Ryan Kennedy and the twin talents of Rory and Jack Grugan - the injured brothers animated figures on the line alongside manager Ronan Murphy – beleaguered Ballymacnab stayed solid in defence, but lacked any kind of spark in attack.
Seven scores in total, just one from play, tells its own story. But sometimes the outcome of games like these are subject to a little more nuance than what the score on the board says.
And, with 10 minutes left on the clock, Ronan Murphy’s men had the opportunity to swing the momentum in their favour when a bustling run from Dominic McParland ended with the big full-back being felled by Sean McCarthy.
Already on a yellow card following a first-half altercation with Ryan Watters, plenty in the crowd felt McCarthy’s race should have been run there and then.
But referee Ruan McKinstry kept his cards in his pocket this time around, the award of a potentially game-changing penalty deemed punishment enough.
The Lurgan men were three ahead at this point, 0-9 to 0-6, but only their own wastefulness could be blamed for failure to push that lead out further.
Instead, when Pearse Hughes stepped up to strike the penalty, he had the chance to hand Ballymacnab a surge of energy at exactly the right time. The ball ripples the net, and suddenly all bets are off.
But unfortunately for them, and for Hughes, Eoghan Mulholland had other ideas – the Clann Eireann goalkeeper leaping to his right to push the ball into the waiting arms of Conan O’Carroll, launching a counter-attack that would end with the outstanding Ruairi McDonald clipping over his fourth and final score of the day.
On such fine margins are championship battles often decided.
“Absolutely, that was a big moment,” said Clann Eireann boss Ruairi Lavery.
“It was a great save, it’s not as if it was a bad penalty, and thankfully we saw the game out.”
In truth, though, they could have been out of sight at that stage.
The first half, in particular, was one-way traffic. Even with the breeze at their backs, Ballymacnab simply could not escape their own half as the towering trio of Tiernan Kelly, Conor McConville and Barry McCambridge dominated the middle.
At times it looked as though Clann Eireann might cut loose, particularly when four unanswered scores in a five-minute period left them 0-7 to 0-2 in front and in complete control.
Yet, from 18 scoring opportunities, just those seven had been converted by half-time – late frees from Watters and Kieran Hughes giving the ‘Nab something to cling onto as they headed in at the break.
And, in the second half, they started to get to grips with the movement of Clann Eireann’s attack.
It might have been a different story had Conor Turbitt been thrust into the action, with the Armagh ace available after the suspension that saw him miss last weekend’s one-point win over Madden.
The Armagh All-Ireland winner was doing sprints up and down Pearse Og Park long after the dust had settled on his side’s win on Sunday, and Lavery insists Turbitt will be good to go for the quarter-final in a fortnight’s time.
“There’s just a couple of wee minor things that we’re working on at the moment… he just wasn’t ready for the game.
“Obviously himself, Barry, TK, they’ve had a very long season and that takes its toll, so we’re just trying to manage it.
“It’s been very intense up to now, we’ve played four weeks in a row so we’ll take the two weeks. The likes of Shea Heffron and John Magee are in the same boat, that’s where we’re lucky we have a strong squad.
“But, moving forward, everything should be okay with ‘Turbo’.”
Ballymacnab had the chance to drag themselves back into contention but were unable to take it. At the business end of the championship, there are no more second chances, only what-might-have-beens.
Clann Eireann got the job done, but they also know there is much more to come. That is not a bad place to be.
Ballymacnab C McGivern; N Cosgrove, D McParland, C Connolly; C McKee, B Gribben, S Casey; R Watters (0-3, frees), D O’Toole; A Hughes, N McKee, O McGivern; A Toner, K Hughes (0-3, 0-1 free, 0-1 mark), P Hughes (0-1, free).
Subs C McKee for Toner, B Gray for A Hughes (54)
Yellow card R Watters (27)
Clann Eireann E Mulholland; C O’Carroll, M O’Shea (0-1), E Magee; B McCambridge, S McCarthy, R Owens; T Kelly (0-1), C McConville (0-2, 0-1 free); D Magee, A Kelly, R Meehan; D Mallon, A McConville (0-3, 0-1 free, 0-1 mark), R McDonald (0-4, 0-1 free).
Subs D McCarthy for Kelly (42), J Conlon for Meehan (42), E McKenna (0-1) for Owens (53)
Yellow card S McCarthy (27)
Referee R McKinstry
