Cormac Leonard Armagh SFC semi-final: Clann Eireann 1-11 Crossmaglen 0-10
EVEN when their stranglehold on Armagh football isn’t tied as tight as in the past, it had still been more than 1,000 days since Crossmaglen were beaten in knockout championship.
The last time was the 2021 final when Clann Eireann won their first county title for 58 years.
It won’t be another 58 until they win their next but ever since the first settled, there’s been a sense of impatience and frustration that there hasn’t been a second.
They threw away a six-point lead against Clan na Gael in last year’s semi-final. The pair of them will be back in the city in a fortnight for an appetising derby decider, with local bragging rights and the honour of winning the county title in Armagh’s All-Ireland year at stake.
Both deserve to be there.
Tiernan Kelly was the best player on the pitch and it was his role in his brother Adam’s goal that typified his performance.
They were struggling for ways out on their kickout when he showed hard into the space, leaving Stephen Morris in his wake and demanding the ball.
Twenty seconds later, it was in the Crossmaglen net.
Conor Turbitt looked to have lost it in the tackle after being played in behind but had the power in the right leg to wrestle the ball back and get his shot away. Miceal Murray’s save was excellent but the ball fell right at the boot of Adam Kelly who couldn’t have missed from six yards.
There’d never been any great daylight between the sides but Cross led for just four minutes in total, all of them in one early first-half spell.
They spent most of the day chasing ever from Jack Conlon cut in and scored one of his three fine points to push the league champions 0-5 to 0-4 ahead three minutes before the break.
Anthony Cunningham and Jim McConville had lost the latter’s son Cian to injury after 24 minutes but not before Ruairi Lavery had to replace Sean McCarthy to an ankle knock. He’d been detailed to pick up Rian O’Neill and was doing a fine job.
It was Oisin O’Neill’s two first-half points that kept his side in touch early on and indeed it was the youngest of the three siblings, Aaron, who led the fight when they were trying to rescue it late on.
But when the chance arrived, it fell to the man they’d have wanted on it. Rian wound up the right boot from 20 metres. Throwing himself on his Armagh team-mate’s right boot was none other than a full-length Conor Turbitt, making a match-winning block.
His primary job of leading the line was well restricted by Chris Crowley but in doing all the other bits they had to do, Clann Eireann got more than enough out of their big names.
Kelly was excellent, Barry McCambridge had moments and had his shots fallen on his right boot rather than three on the left, he might have registered than just the one from his third effort.
But in Conor McConville and Micheal O’Shea and Shea Heffron and goalkeeper Eoghan Mulholland, whose kickouts and aerial work were excellent, they had more than enough to go around.
Cross struggled to really get inside them. Callum Cumiskey drove as best he could from six and young Odhran Kieran had a decent outing but it was a game they were second best in.
It has been a long and emotionally draining few months for Cross. The loss of Caolan Finnegan, listed all year at 15 in the programme, was just a colossal blow to a town and a club and a people. They have carried themselves so well through it all.
But this was just Clann Éireann’s day.
There is no guarantee that it will be their year, though.
For a first all-Lurgan final since 1968, all bets are off.
MATCH STATS
Clann Éireann: E Mulholland; S Heffron, M O’Shea, C O’Carroll; B McCambridge (0-1), S McCarthy, R Owens; T Kelly, C McConville (0-1); J Conlon (0-3), D Magee, A Kelly (1-0); R McDonald (0-1 free), C Turbitt (0-4 frees), E Magee
Subs: R French for McCarthy (14), R Meehan for A Kelly (39), D McCarthy for Owens (48), A McConville for R McDonald (55), J Magee (0-1) for Conlon (60)
Black card: R Owens (37-47)
Crossmaglen: M Murray; T Óg Duffy (0-1), A Haughey, C Crowley; O McKeown, C Cumiskey, O Kieran (0-1 free); S Morris, O O’Neill (0-2); C McConville, R O’Neill (0-1 free), P Blessing; P Hughes, D Cumiskey (0-1), A O’Neill (0-2)
Subs: J Clarke (0-1) for C McConville (24), O Caraher for P Hughes (48), D O’Callaghan for D Cumiskey (52), C Dillon (0-1) for O Kieran (58)
Referee: P Conway (Grange)