AIB Ulster Club Senior Football Championship final:
Crosmaglen Rangers (Armagh) 2-17 Scotstown (Monaghan) 2-12 (after extra-time)
AFTER a three-year hiatus, Crossmaglen Rangers are back on top of Ulster again. As far as mountains go, this was one of their toughest and most rewarding climbs.
The glory days at St Oliver Plunkett Park were supposed to be well and truly behind the south Armagh club.
Last year, ‘Cross bowed meekly out of the Ulster series to St Enda’s, Omagh at the first round stages and no longer carried the fear and ruthlessness of old.
But they managed to scale the heights yesterday to win their 11th provincial crown by overcoming the warrior-like resistance of Scotstown after extra-time, and will now face Connacht champions Castlebar in the All-Ireland series next February.
Played in sheeting rain and a schizophrenic wind, the Armagh champions showed unbelievable character to finally clinch victory deep into extra-time thanks to a late goal from Kyle Carragher.
At pitch side, you got the sense of just how much it meant to Crossmaglen to win Ulster again.
Yesterday’s post-match interviews were regularly interrupted by hugs and kisses and heavy, well-meaning slaps on the back for joint managers Oisin McConville and John McEntee.
“People praised us for winning All-Irelands in the past, and rightly so,” said McEntee afterwards.
“The current team has to earn their crust. Some of them have done well in the past and are now a bit older but there are a lot of young fellas there that haven’t won an All-Ireland and do have things to prove to themselves.
“We have a history there. Sometimes it stands to you and other times it’s a hindrance and they have to work through that.”
The mood at the Athletic Grounds yesterday evening was a far-cry from the gut-wrenching feeling of Omagh year ago.
“We were probably deflated from that performance last year against Omagh because we were in a good frame of mind, a good position going into that game,” McEntee said.
“But we picked up injuries and viruses that day and it maybe made us look worse than we actually were. In saying that, we were beaten fairly and squarely by a good Omagh side last year.
“You can be caught any day. Like, we met a fabulous Scotstown side today and it was only through strength of character that we pulled through that match.”
Although Cross held a three-point advantage at the interval, Scotstown wiped that advantage out by the 46th minute and looked the more cohesive unit entering extra-time.
While the Crossmaglen faithful in the stands were perhaps wavering, McEntee never lost faith.
“I never thought it was slipping from us at any time. In the second half we were just making silly mistakes and Scotstown put us under a lot of pressure.
“I suppose we got a wee bit frustrated because we couldn’t buy a free and we were giving away a lot of soft frees as well. But we steadied ourselves. The boys stuck at it and we knew we had plenty in the tank, so we’re very pleased.”
Oisin McConville was up in arms a number of times at some decisions by match official Barry Cassidy of Derry.
Afterwards, McConville said: “I could quibble about decisions all day but the referee had a tough job out there on a tough day... I think the less said about it, the better.”
McEntee was less expressive of the pair on the mucky sidelines.
“Well, Oisin is a wee bit more animated than I am,” smiled the 2002 All-Ireland winner.
“I thought the players did very well in the conditions. It was a horrendous day. When you look back on the video you might think the match wasn’t of great quality but ‘live’ I thought it was excellent.”
In the ninth minute, Scotstown danger man Darren Hughes took full advantage of James Morgan’s failure to read the bounce of the ball and raised a green flag.
McEntee revealed: “James lost a contact lens and when the ball was coming in he couldn’t see the ball. He got a spare lens after that.
“But Darren Hughes is a fine footballer and is very hard to contain. James did his best considering the player he was marking.”
Despite his early lapse, Morgan recovered well and kept a tight rein on Hughes which undoubtedly blunted Scotstown’s prolific attack, while the Monaghan men did less well in minding man-of-the-match Tony Kernan who top-scored with 1-6.
Amid the wind, rain and freezing conditions, there was a hair’s breadth between the two teams.
Under the effervescent leadership of Mattie McGleenan, Scotstown added plenty of dash and colour to this season’s Ulster Club Championship and would have been worthy winners of the Seamus McFerran Cup.
“I’d love the cup but that’s not to be,” said the former Tyrone player. “We’d love another crack at it next year.
“We got a taste of it but it’s a long way back to here.
“The whole of Monaghan will be looking for Scotstown next year. So there are no guarantees in life. The only thing we could guarantee today was to come here and do our absolute best and we done that.
“It wasn’t good enough on the day – and that’s something we’ll have to learn from. Listen, we made mistakes. We probably made too many fundamental errors across the pitch, but ‘Cross were outstanding today in terms of how they press up on you. They are a superb football team.
“Yes, we made mistakes – but if you said to me at the start of the year we’d be in the Ulster Club final and you’ll take ‘Cross to extra-time, that was a roller-coaster I thoroughly enjoyed.
McGleenan, who has guided Scotstown to two county titles in three seasons, added: “This is football. This has been a fabulous occasion.
“We’ve thoroughly enjoyed the Ulster Club... They say: ‘Sport reveals character – it doesn’t give you character.’ And Scotstown showed real character and I’m seriously proud of every one of them.”
