Murtagh has high praise for ‘special bunch of players’

DONAL MURTAGH had every reason to be proud of Crossmaglen Rangers’ sixth AIB Ulster Club football title win in Newry yesterday, having successfully carried on the torch from Joe Kernan and proving him as successful a manager as he was a player.

But for him it was all about the players.

“These boys knew they were up against it. They produce it time and time again, they are a very special bunch,’’ he commented.

If he was especially pleased about any particular aspect of their victory it was that they achieved it with “a bit more flair” and in some style.

“We played more football, the boys were really up for it today. They seem to be saving their best for finals! A win is a good win but obviously you’d like to be winning a bit more comfortably.

“We’ll take a point any day but at the same time the boys were really up for today. I knew there was really only going to be one winner — the same as against Ballinderry last year.’’

For all his disappointment at losing, St Gall’s manager Paul Duffin agreed that they were beaten by the better team. The only negative, he said, was that they didn’t do more with the ball when they were on top.

“When we got the goal in the first half we certainly felt we were in the driving seat, even though we weren’t happy with the way we were playing. If we had tagged on another point after that goal I think we would have put a bit more pressure on Cross. But they are too experienced at that. They contained us at three points and then cut it right back.

“We just could not get any rhythm going, but that was largely due to Cross. We could not get any fluency going either at the back or at the front and whatever chances we got we were either losing our footing or giving the ball back.

“It was a very disappointing performance from us but that takes nothing away from what I thought was a fantastic Crossmaglen performance. I thought they were terrific.’’

While Oisín McConville picked up the man-of-the-match award, Murtagh thought that corner-back Paul McKeown was the team’s most valuable player “by a country mile”. “Oisín did what he does best. He missed a free in the first half and he was disappointed with himself. He put his hands on his head which is very unlike him but two minutes later he got one from the far corner. He was exceptional.’’

Team captain, John McEntee, who had captained the All-Ireland-winning team of 2000, agreed that the game was as tough and as competitive as they expected: “We knew they were a fantastic side. We set ourselves a target of being ‘in it’ at half time. We knew if we were we would grind out a result.

“We played fantastic football in the first half, they scored a goal but we came back and showed our composure. It was fantastic to be level at half time because we knew that when the chips were down in the second half we were going to pull it out.”