T-Met Armagh Senior Football Championship final: Crossmaglen Rangers v Armagh Harps (tomorrow, Athletic Grounds, 4pm)
AHEAD of tomorrow’s repeat of last year’s decider, both teams have travelled the direct route and if league form is anything to go by little separates them.
Harps will be hoping to avenge that defeat of 12 months back and are fancied by many to do exactly that.
Crossmaglen, in the eyes of many, are no longer the force of previous years and without talisman Jamie Clarke have been seen to struggle throughout this championship.
They will be hoping that talisman Aaron Kernan, who retired injured 18 minutes into the semi-final game with Ballymacnab, will be declared fit to play.
Cross, who have dominated the championship for the last two decades are going for their 19th title in 20 years, while Harps have to turn the clock back over 20 years since their last senior title – in the playing days of present manager John Toner.
One of the first clubs to be affiliated to the GAA, Harps have a proud tradition and, along with Keady Dwyer’s, were the kingpins of Armagh football back in the 1950s. They had to wait all of 31 years to win back the Mc Killop Cup in 1989, beating St Paul’s.
Cross had little trouble scaling the first round against Granemore, winning 4-15 to 1-7, and next day out goals from Aaron and Tony Kernan, David McKenna and John Murtagh pushed Killeavy aside.
In the quarter-final against their old adversaries Pearse Og, they were not overly impressive, despite a goal from John Murtagh having them 1-2 to 0-0 up after five minutes. It ended 1-14 to 2-6, the city side having played the entire second half with 14 men.
An improvement was needed for the semi-final against Maghery. This turned out a disappointing clash with the holders just doing enough to get them over the line, 0-12 to 0-9.
Harps defeated Wolfe Tones in round one, but it took a late free from Conor Murphy to earn them a replay against St Patrick’s, target man Gareth Swift accounting for 1-7 in that 3-24 to 2-12 triumph.
Still missing regular free taker Ultan Lennon for the quarter-final against Killeavy, former county man Swift proved more than an adequate replacement, directing over no fewer than nine dead ball strikes in his personal haul of 0-12.
Harps were the most impressive of the four semi-finalists, defeating Ballymacnab 2-16 to 2-10, the goals coming from Charlie Vernon and Ryan McShane. Once again Gareth Swift played his part weighing in with 0-7.
Cross have been struggling at midfield, where Harps have been strongest, their county panellists Charlie Vernon and Declan Mc Kenna really hitting it off. The support coming from the attacking half-back line of Karol Loughran, Conor White and Joe Mc Elroy has also been central to their run of success.
Swift has been the outstanding player of this championship, something the Cross management of John McEntee and Oisin Mc Conville have surely noted.
The holders have a promising young full-back in Aidan Rushe, but one wonders will he be given the task of marking the much taller Swift, or will the more experienced James Morgan be assigned to the role.
Harps will be keen to emulate the feat of their great city rivals Pearse Og, who have been the only Armagh team to lower the Cross colours since the champions set out on that amazing journey back in 1996.
In the final analysis, scores win matches and while Cross may just be a shadow of former teams since their phenomenal rise to dominance, they may just come up trumps and keep the silverware for yet another year.
