Football

Armagh Harps aim to bridge 18-point gap with Crossmaglen

Paddy Morrison (left) says Armagh Harps have no fear of county champions Crossmaglen Rangers
Paddy Morrison (left) says Armagh Harps have no fear of county champions Crossmaglen Rangers Paddy Morrison (left) says Armagh Harps have no fear of county champions Crossmaglen Rangers

LAST year Armagh Harps took the field hoping to somehow bridge a 17-point gap against Crossmaglen. This year the gap has widened to 18 points.

The Cathedral City side were caught in the headlights in county finals against perennial champions Cross and lost the 2014 Armagh SFC decider 4-14 to 0-9 before suffering a 2-22 to 0-10 reverse last year.

On Sunday they meet the Rangers once again, this time at the quarter-final stage, and goalkeeper Paddy Morrison says that hope springs eternal in the Harps ranks.

“We didn’t give a true account of ourselves (in the finals),” said the Armagh goalkeeper.

“We’re a young-enough team and maybe there was a bit of final nerves but we just didn’t perform on the day. This year we’ve been playing well although we just haven’t been clinical enough to turn possession into scores.

“We need to do that, especially against Crossmaglen who’d be very clinical themselves so our aim is to worry about what we can control and let the result take care of itself.”

You have to go back 25 years for the Harps’ last county title and since that 1991 win Cross have taken the Gerry Fagan Cup to south Armagh 19 times.

But the fact that Sunday’s match is in Keady and well away from the razzmatazz of a county final at the Athletic Grounds could be a plus point for the underdogs.

“I don’t know if it’ll suit us, but for the last two county finals we’ve played the occasion rather than the game itself,” he said.

“Cross have vast experience of finals, they’re used to them – but we’ll take Cross at any stage, you have to play them some time so it doesn’t really matter.”

Harps bounced back from losing to Ballymacnab in their first game by beating Grange and Sarsfields in the qualifiers. Meanwhile, Crossmaglen saw off Dromintee in their opener before ruthlessly disposing of Portadown’s Tir na nOg 6-20 to 0-8.

“We have been putting up good scores against teams (5-49 in three games),” said Morrison.

“In our last game we did look a bit shaky at the back but I think that was a one-off.”

Since last year’s meeting Harps have lost former Armagh star Gareth Swift (retired) while Ultan Lennon is unavailable for Sunday’s clash. Cross are a changed team too – Gareth O’Neill is manager now after Oisin McConville and Tony McEntee stepped down while county stars like Jamie Clarke (unavailable) and James Morgan (injured) won’t feature on Sunday.

“You can understand that people write us off because of the way Cross have beaten us in the last two finals and the way they’ve disposed of the two teams they’ve played already,” said Morrison.

“We have to believe in our own ability and we know we are capable of causing that upset. We have no fear of Cross – we never have – but we have to make sure we turn up on Sunday and play the way we know we can.

“Cross are no mugs, they’ve done it all before and I’d say they know we’re a good team. I think we’ve beaten them in four out of the last five league games and we’ve always stayed with them until late on and then in the last 15 minutes we took off and won the game.

“In both finals they knew that if they us beat by half-time the game would be over. They blitzed us in the first half and they did it very, very well but if we can keep going to the end of the game on Sunday and are still in touch, we’re good finishers and we’re always dangerous in the last 15 minutes.”

Armagh SFC quarter-finals

Saturday

Ballymacnab v Clann Eireann (Pearse Og, 5pm, referee: Patrick McDaid)

Sunday

St Patrick's v Wolfe Tone’s (Ballymacnab, 1.30pm, referee: Patrick O’Neill)

Armagh Harps v Crossmaglen (Keady, 3.45pm, referee: Oliver Hearty)

Maghery v Dromintee (Athletic Grounds, 5.15pm, referee: Kevin Faloon)