Experienced players swung game our way, says McEntee

BALL tucked tightly under his arm, Francie Bellew made his way into the Crossmaglen dressing room in Breffni Park yesterday with the broadest of smiles.

How fitting it was that the stalwart was in possession when referee Joe McQuillan blew the whistle for the last time. How appropriate it was that another one of the old brigade Oisín McConville delivered the coup de grace.

Throw in the introduction of John McEntee, who has recently come out of retirement, from the bench and it certainly appeared yesterday was a day for the old as much as the new in the likes of Jamie Clarke.

“You can be sentimental about these days but if the question is ‘are we putting on these men because they’re older?’ the answer is no,” said their joint manager Tony McEntee. “We put them on because they can do a job.

“John came on to hold the ball and use possession wisely and he did that. Francie came on to shore up the defence.

“Half-time triggered us,” he acknowledged. “It gave us a chance to get restructured. I thought our defence in the first half was poor because our defenders were lacklustre. The ball going into their full-forward line was causing us trouble hence Francie had to go on. But our midfield was sluggish in the first-half as was our half-forward line. And there was no ball going into our full-forward line. We reorganised at half-time and the key to the end of the game was the goal after the sending off. That gave us the opportunity to soak up pressure and get them on the break.”

On the topic of the dismissal, McEntee felt it was justified. “Tony Kernan got sent off and probably deserved it. He swung back at a man and it was his second yellow so he had to go.”

Alongside Gareth O’Neill, McEntee has made an impressive start in football management but he admitted he doesn’t enjoy all aspects of the job.

“Some of it is frustrating — the three-week break, for instance and trying to rise players time and time again is tough.

“The other part that’s frustrating is that it’s a social service we’re running here, not a management.

“Everyone has problems and you don’t realise it until you have to deal with it!”

Naomh Conaill manager Cathal Corey was a dejected figure afterwards.

“We are heartbroken. We came here to win. We set out our stall early on, we played well, we tackled well, we seemed to be going well, we conceded a goal against the run of play but we came back strongly and took the lead again.

“Going in at half-time, we knew that the job was not done and we got ourselves ready again. The one thing Cross’ needed was a big incident to happen and they got a man sent off. That gelled them again and got them going, got their intensity up and I suppose we never got a chance to regroup again once they got the second goal.”