McConville still enjoying his football

The orange and white of Armagh may have been cast aside by Oisin McConville after he decided to retire from inter-county action this year, but club football is something he is set to enjoy for the foreseeable future after Crossmaglen Rangers captured their seventh Ulster SFC title yesterday.

McConville's five-point haul was the difference as the South Armagh outfit denied Ballinderry Shamrocks silverware thanks to a 0-12 to 1-4 victory at Brewster Park.

The 33-year-old scoring ace says he is happy to have retired from Armagh, despite his brilliant display yesterday in the black and amber of Cross.

"Nothing really makes the decision to step down easy. It was something I thought long and hard about," McConville admitted.

"If it can prolong my football career with the club for another couple of years, well then it is worthwhile. That remains to be seen what happens but I am happy with my decision.

"It is great that now I can look forward to an All-Ireland semi and there is no void there as yet.

"We felt as if we beat Ballinderry three times because we felt that the game was over shortly after half-time.

"We tried to do the right things all the time but we kept making things hard for ourselves. That is something we need to look at too.

"There were lots of things that went wrong for us but at the same time if you come out of here with a win, it is all you can ask for really."

McConville confessed that he does not remember much about his first Ulster title back in 1996, which also came following a replay victory over then Derry champions Bellaghy.

"I don't really remember much about it now. Tony (McEntee) always says that your next win is your sweetest.

"That's the way it is. The fact that we had to work that wee bit harder for this win.

"We felt as if we did enough that last day to win the match but you can't focus on these things. It was a draw and that's it.

"No matter what injustices and whatever else happened the last day, we had to come and focus on our game-plan for the replay.

"The plan was to get the ball into the forward line as quickly as possible and kick the scores.

"It worked at certain times and it didn't at others. But we are in an All-Ireland semi-final and we have something to work on so that is great."

And although this five-point triumph will place Crossmaglen Rangers as favourites for their All-Ireland semi-final in February, McConville knows nothing will come easy against first-time Munster champions Dromcollogher-Broadford.

"I don't want to do a Steve Staunton but it is a potential banana skin. That is true. If we are not up for a match we always struggle.

"We have to be up for them and we have to give them the respect they deserve.

"They didn't come out of Munster for no reason. If we were playing Nemo Rangers in the next game we would probably be back training on Tuesday night. We have to take Dromcollogher-Broadford as diligently as we would take Nemo Rangers," he insisted.