Garrycastle could rue not finishing off job
It was edge-of-the-seat stuff and a tremendous advertisement for club football.
Garrycastle, who were 4/1 outsiders, did superbly to push themselves into a five-point lead (1-10 to 0-8), early in the second half and for a few minutes their supporters must have thought the Andy Merrigan Cup was heading to Westmeath for the first time.
However, Cross are masters at pulling themselves back from the abyss. They rattled off five points in succession and dominated the centre for 15 minutes. Aaron Kernan, the hard-running Tony Kernan and three superb points in a row by Oisín McConville drew them level. It could have been much worse for Anthony Cunningham’s men too, only that the normally deadly Jamie Clarke was misfiring in front of goal.
What turned the game Cross’s way and reigned in Garrycastle was that Johnny Hanratty, David McKenna and Tony Kernan started lording it around the middle. Garrycastle keeper Cathal Mullen also persisted in landing his kick-outs in this sector where both Seanie O’Donoghue and David O’Shaughnessy seemed to have run out of legs.
The Midlanders got a breather when James Dolan embarked on a superb 50-yard dash before winning a free which Dessie Dolan converted to edge them ahead. Paddy Mulvihill had another goal opportunity that he pointed to give them a two-point cushion.
Crossmaglen came roaring back and when McConville lofted a superb free (his fourth score in a row), and David McKenna kicked an equaliser, it was theirs to win. But they took the wrong option on three or four occasions in the last few minutes.
It is difficult to escape the feeling that Garrycastle may have missed the boat. The Crossmaglen captain, Steven Kernan will be back for the replay and he wins a lot of ball at centre-forward. And it is hard to imagine Clarke being so wasteful in front of goals again.
Referee Rory Hickey (Clare) got a lot of stick after the game and he most definitely should have red-carded Garrycastle’s Paul Dillon in the first half for a dangerous attempted head-butt.
However, the double yellow cards he issued to both Tom McHugh and Paul Kernan were acceptable in my opinion. We are looking forward to the replay already.
