Threepeat in sight for all-conquering Crossmaglen

Crossmaglen Rgs (Armagh) 2-10 Errigal Ciaran (Tyrone) 0-10

Four times the sides had met before and the South Armagh men had somehow failed to claim a victory in any of them. Call it a hoodoo or a jinx – and Rangers claimed it was neither – but it has been well and truly banished after this ultimately comfortable win.

“No, it had no bearing whatsoever,” said manager Tony McEntee afterwards. “We’ve played numerous teams that we’ve never beaten before – Loup, in Derry, who we played once in an Ulster semi-final and got beat.”