Crossmaglen stick to principles

Crossmaglen (Armagh) 3-11 St Eunan’s (Donegal) 1-7

Forget that it is November, forget the sodden pitches and the inclement conditions, Armagh’s torch-holders notched up yet another victory in the provincial championship by dint of their commitment to kicking the ball. Not for them the massed defensive ranks that are now all the range up and down the land. The three goals the reigning All-Ireland champions claimed yesterday were efforts to make the most perfectionist of traditionalists grin with pleasure.

“Brendan Devenney mentioned how this isn’t the type of football that they wanted to play,” said Crossmaglen manager Tony McEntee, “and that they had to adjust to it because everyone else in Donegal played it and therein is the problem. People are happy to follow what the status quo is or the vast majority do.

“For us, we are not interested in what the vast majority of inter-county teams do or other clubs do. We have a system which we try to work to. Some days it works – a lot of days it works – and other days it doesn’t and for now we are interested in playing our style and nobody else’s.”

Playing pretty football has never been enough to win All-Ireland titles. Crossmaglen have shown their steel on many an occasion since claiming the first of their six national crowns in 1997 and they stood toe to toe with the Donegal side when tempers threatened to boil over yesterday.

At one point in the first half, players were engaging in pushing and shoving contests in a handful of differentflashpoints while members of themanagement team were doing something similar in front of the main stand.

None of it phased Crossmaglen. Eunan’s ended up committing the most fouls and having a man sent-off – Mark McGovern for a second yellow after 43 minutes – but by then the favourites were well on their way to a comfortable conclusion.

Devenney looked elsewhere for the difference between the sides andconcluded that Crossmaglen’s power in the tackle was one of the chief differences between the winning and losing of this one.

That and Eunan’s own inadequacies on the day.

“It was the simple things killing us,” said the former Donegal forward. “I think we maybe gave Cross 1-7 from direct mistakes and they are too good a team for that. That is what they don’t do. That is the best thing about them, I think. They stick to the game plan: their passing, their tackling. That’s what they’re brilliant at. There were dropped balls and bad passes when we were in the game and that was the difference between the teams.”

With Eunan’s adopting the same defensive system that won thembragging rights in Donegal and McGovern sitting in as a sweeper in front of the back three, McEntee knew that a good start was a priority and they got it. There were only five minutes played when Óisín McConville dinked a clever (kicked) pass over the cover and into the path of the onrushing Aaron Kernan whose square ball was palmed to the net by Kyle Carragher.

Eunan’s, to their credit, responded well with three successive points before two in reply from the South Armagh outfit and the game was in the balance when the red mist descended temporarily midway through the half.

Cross emerged with the clearer heads, picking off another hat-trick of white flags to leave them 1-6 to 0-4 ahead at the break, but a goal from John Haran gave Eunan’s hope six minutes after the interval.

It was a beautifully worked effort, reminiscent of Michael Murphy’s early goal against Mayo last September but with Rory Kavanagh and Haran assuming the roles of provider andfinisher.

Both sides would put together sublime, length of the pitch moves that were denied fitting endings by saves later in the second half but Cross managed a second and a third goal besides from Aaron Kernan after 46 minutes and Paul Grant in injury-time.

And to think, McEntee claimed later they still aren’t playing well.

Scary.

Scorers for Crossmaglen: A Kernan 1-2 (2fs), O McConville 0-4 (3fs), K Carragher, P Grant 1-0 each, D McKenna 0-2, C Cumiskey, P Hughes, T Kernan (45) 0-1 each.

Scorers for St Eunan’s: R Wherrity 0-3, J Haran 1-0, L McGonagle (f), M McGovern (1f), C Dunne, C Gibbons (f) 0-1 each.

CROSSMAGLEN: P Hearty; P Hughes, P Kernan, P McKeown; A Kernan, J Morgan, M Aherne; J Hanratty, D McKenna; T Kernan, S Kernan, A Cunningham; O McConville, J Clarke, K Carragher.

Subs: S McConville for McKenna (44), R Finnegan for A Kernan (47), C O’Neill for Aherne (49), C Cumiskey for Cunningham (52), P Grant for O McConville (58).

ST EUNAN’S: JP Clarke; C Park, P Devine, E Brennan; M Martin, E Doherty, M McGowen; J Haran, R Kavanagh; L McGonagle, C Dunne, K Rafferty; C Ward, R Wherrity, S McVeigh.

Subs: C Gibbons for McGonagle (45), C Greene for Ward (47), C Sharkey for McVeigh (60), A McCafferty for Park (60).

Referee: M Higgins (Fermanagh).