AIB Ulster Club Junior Hurling Championship final: Craobh Rua (Armagh) 1-15 Carrickmacross (Monaghan) 1-10
Craobh Rua manager Paul Cunningham has set his sights on All-Ireland glory after guiding his side to their first Ulster title on Saturday.
The Camlough men were worthy five-point winners in the final played at Newry’s Pairc Esler which also saw three red cards in 12 minutes of additional time.
The south Armagh side are due to play the British champions in Manchester early next year and Cunningham says the best is still to come and that Saturday’s win gives Armagh hurling a huge shot in the arm.
“We do have a team there that don’t know where their ceiling is, so there is always improvements for us,” said Cunningham.
“Our work-rate has been good all year and I suppose the test for us as we go through the levels is if that is enough and today it was again. Going forward we will have to see if it will be enough but we will probably have to add to it again.
“I suppose it does give everyone a lift. We do have a nice hurling community in Armagh, every single one of the clubs contacted the club and me over this past week and every one of them would be sincere in willing us to win Ulster. The rivalry is forgotten whenever you get out of the Armagh championship and they would be sincere, which is brilliant for us.
“Every young person from the club must have been here today, it was a massive crowd.”
Craobh got off to a dream start by hitting 1-01 within the first opening two minutes, as Conor McKevitt struck the all-important goal.
It put Carrickmacross on the backfoot and they reshuffled the pack by dropping Jack Guinan as a sweeper. This allowed Camlough to have a spare defender too and after the stunning start the Craobh manager said he never thought the game was in doubt.
“Their sweeper did well I suppose, it took us a while to settle down and stop going down his throat.
“We played much better in the second half and probably controlled the game for 50 minutes. The last five they went for goals and it is natural enough for teams to retreat and retreat but we just had to snap out of that and have an out-ball, we probably controlled the last five minutes as well if I am being honest,” said Cunningham.
“The last three games the opposition have gifted us up a sweeper but we would rather set-up and just play man-for-man because we trust our backs to be honest and we do trust our backs for 50-50 balls.”
Craobh led 1-8 to 0-6 at half-time, Tiarnan O’Hare kept chipping in with frees, while his brother Oisin and former county man Fiachra Bradley tagged on magnificent points. Luke Kelly and James Slevin replied for the Monaghan champions and at the start of the second half they pushed for a goal, when perhaps points would have sufficed.
Tiarnan O’Hare, Bradley and McKevitt stretched Craobh’s lead and the game got a bit ragged going into the final stretch. Kelly picked up a straight red on the hour before Oran Kieran’s goal on 62 minutes left only five points between the sides with as many additional minutes left.
As it happened Antrim referee Kevin Parke played 12 additional minutes, where Craobh’s Ronan McAllister picked up a second yellow card and Carrickmacross were reduced to 13 men when Caolan Martin was sent off.
The Monaghan men put Craobh under pressure as they sought a goal but Tiarnan O’Hare tapped over his ninth point of the afternoon as Craobh secured their first Ulster title and Miceal Doran picked up the trophy and the Man of the Match award.
Craobh Rua scorers: T O’Hare (0-9, 0-8 frees), C McKevitt (1-2), F Bradley (0-2), O O’Hare (0-1), R Lewis (0-1)
Carrickmacross scorers: L McKenna (0-5, 0-4 frees), J Slevin (0-5, 0-4 frees), O Kieran (1-0)