Crossmaglen surge to another title

Crossmaglen 2-11 Burren 0-10:TIME AND tides say that this will all end one day, that we'll wake up one morning and Crossmaglen will be just another club kicking ball in south Armagh with no more claim to greatness than what the history books say. But sitting in the Athletic Grounds yesterday, that morning felt as far off in the distance as ever.

They collected their second Ulster Club title in a row, their fifth in six years, their ninth in all. And they did it with all the ease of a man reaching out of his hammock to pick up another drink.

You know how we know it will end? Because there was a time when the team on the flame-end of the torching yesterday did their own bit of looting in this championship. Burren were Crossmaglen long before the idea had even popped into Crossmaglen’s heads.

When the Down club picked up their fifth Ulster in six years back in 1988, Cross had never won the title even once. Now they have nine of them. It’ll all crumble to dust some day as it must but for here and for now, there’s nobody to touch them.

“Just another victory,” said joint-manager Tony McEntee afterwards. “Little more than another win and progression towards an All-Ireland. Once we got out of Armagh we had six or seven matches to win and All-Ireland and we’ve two left and that’s our target this year. When you look back and you’ve time to clap yourself on the back that’s when it looks sweet.

“We’ve won five of the last six Ulsters and the one we didn’t win was the one we weren’t in. It’s a phenomenal achievement for any club or any team. I think when the boys look back they see the fantastic club and outfit that it actually is.

“Five out of six isn’t bad and the majority of them we’ve won with some sort of style and I think today was the same. Once we got up and running and once we were moving well, we were comfortable.”

In all honesty, they were rarely far from comfortable after the initial pleasantries were out of the way here. Cross popped the first four points of the game inside the opening eight minutes and were rabid in their hunt of every spare ball on offer.

When Burren midfielder Anton McArdle was red-carded for an off-the-ball hit on Tony Kernan 12 minutes in, it was just about impossible to imagine a route back into matters for the underdogs.

Although they briefly found their sea legs with a couple of decent points from Donal O’Hare and Conal McGovern, what fight they had left in them was all but extinguished with Oisín McConville’s goal in the 20th minute. The outstanding Jamie Clarke set it up with a gorgeous crossfield ball and McConville finished high into the net. Crossmaglen 1-5 Burren 0-2.

But for a plethora of feckless wides, Cross would have been clear by double figures at the break instead of just five points. As it was, Burren managed to get back within a goal early in the second half but a couple of McConville frees kept them at bay. In the end, the extra man told and a late Kyle Carragher goal made the scoreline look a little more like it should have.

“Tony and Gareth (O’Neill) have turned the whole thing around at this club,” a delighted McConville said after securing a record ninth Ulster club medal. “Not just from the playing point of view but equally the whole thinking behind what we’re doing as a club. It’s been taken up a notch over the last couple of years. The younger players have stood up like men. We’ve asked them to be men and they’ve done it.

“People ask me about winning all those things and yeah, it was brilliant winning those trophies but I can’t concentrate on what went before. This club will always be about moving on. We’ll have to get ready for whoever’s coming out of Munster and it’s no good winning this if we don’t go on then and win the All Ireland.”

CROSSMAGLEN RANGERS: P Hearty; J Morgan, P Kernan, P McKeown; A Kernan (0-2, both frees), D O’Callaghan, S Finnegan; J Hanratty, D McKenna (0-1); T Kernan (0-1, 45), S Kernan (0-1, free), A Cunningham (0-2); J Clarke (0-2), O McConville (1-2, two frees), M McNamee. Subs: F Hanratty for McNamee (12 mins), K Carragher (1-0) for McConville (43 mins), M Aherne for Hanratty (49 mins), K Brennan for A Kernan (60 mins).

BURREN: C Murdock; R McGovern, D McCarten, G McCarten; K McKernan (0-1), G McGovern, D McEntee; A Higgins, A McArdle; C McGovern (0-1), S Murdock, P Poland; D O’Hare (0-7, six frees), J McGovern (0-1), S McArdle. Subs: E Toner for Poland (28 mins), C Byrne for S Murdock (49 mins), G Sands for Higgins (58 mins).

Referee: M Higgins (Fermanagh).