The best club team ever? There are a few contenders for that title but Armagh’s Crossmaglen Rangers would be at the top of many lists. But which Cross team? Is it the side that won back-to-back All-Irelands in 1999 and 2000, or the team that repeated that remarkable feat in 2011 and 2012? Francis Hanratty, the man who stole the show in the 2012 All-Ireland final replay against Garrycastle, recalls a season of thrills and spills with Andy Watters…
Sitting there like clowns
GOING into the 2009 season, Crossmaglen had won 13 Armagh titles on-the-trot and there was little definitive evidence that their period of dominance was anywhere near an end. Then the unthinkable happened - Pearse Og beat the Rangers in a low-scoring semi-final to bring the run to a halt.
Some predicted the end of an era, but it turned out to be just a bump in the road.
“I think that was the best thing that ever happened to us,” says Francis.
“If we had beaten the Ogs, I don’t think we would have went on and won two in-a-row. It kind of lit a fire in us because we were coasting through Armagh. We felt we were guaranteed to win Armagh until Pearse Og caught us and you couldn’t begrudge them winning that day – they were the better team on the day.
“We weren’t used to losing so and we didn’t like the feeling in the dressingroom after that game. Some of the older players, who were retired came in and we were sitting there like clowns basically. It wasn’t a good feeling.”
Good cop, bad cop
DONAL Murtagh stepped down at the end of the 2009 season and the appointment of a new management team – Tony McEntee, Gareth O’Neill and trainer Seamie McGeown – breathed fresh life into the squad.
“We were machines,” says Hanratty.
“Seamie McGeown is the best trainer I’ve ever trained with. He had a background in running and we were like greyhounds. We’d be running around Gosford Park for about two hours non-stop, no breaks. It was amazing. You were enjoying training even though you were getting absolutely battered.”
The new management duo – McEntee and O’Neill - were both former players, club legends and All-Ireland winners.
“They were crazy, but good crazy,” says Hanratty.
“Gareth and Tony were like good cop, bad cop. Gareth was the crazy one and Tony Mac was the calm one. It worked well and without the two of them there wouldn’t have been any two in-a-row. “They are great Cross men and they’re still involved with the club – Gareth is the manager of the seconds and Tony takes the U8s, so they are still putting plenty into the club.
“Gareth could flip and then Tony would calm him down. He would flip in a good way to get a rise out of you. If you were playing shite, he would let you know, he wouldn’t be sugar-coating it. If you weren’t playing well you’d be getting the curly finger: ‘Come on, off with ye’ and that’s good, there was no falseness. You knew you had to pick up your game or you’d lose your spot.”
Hand-in-hand with the new management, the influx of a batch of talented young players, who’d been accustomed to success from U14 up to senior level, revitalised the Rangers.
“There was me, Paul McKeown, Kyle Carragher, Jamie Clarke, David McKenna, Paul Kernan and Johnny Hanratty,” says Francis.
“There was nine of us who started in 2010 that had played in our underage team. So there was a good group coming through and we all knew each other well.”
Kings of the Orchard again
STUNG by the disappointment of 2009, Cross recaptured their county crown in 2010 and the 2011 Armagh SFC final was a bridge too far for an inexperienced Ballymacnab side that managed only three points. Cross won the game by a massive 25 points.
“We were flying,” says Hanratty.
“During the league and championship, no-one was within 10 points of us. In-house games would have been harder than championship matches to be honest – it was a lot tougher getting battered by Paul McKeown than someone from another club.
“When we were growing up we knew everyone was against us – we were like the Man United of Armagh football. We were well used to it and we kind of grew a thick skin. We knew that if we played to our potential there was no-one touching us - that’s the way we were brought up.
“We went out knowing that if we played our best no-one was going to beat us whether it was the other team, or referees, or linesmen, or other spectators… It didn’t really matter. We had that mindset of: ‘Forget about everything else, if we play, we’re winning’ and that helped. It paid off.”
Roll in the red carpet
WITH the Armagh title safely stored away in the clubhouse once again, Crossmaglen set their minds on retaining their Ulster title. To do that they had to account for three former All-Ireland-winning clubs and the first of those was St Gall’s.
The west Belfast men were almost as dominant in Antrim as Cross were in Armagh during that era and the year before (2011) they had arrived at Oliver Plunkett Park for an Ulster club quarter-final as the reigning Ulster and All-Ireland club champions.
Cross rolled out the red carpet that day but, once the ball was thrown in, they quickly rolled it back in again.
“We gave them a guard of honour,” Hanratty recalls.
“Then the first ball that came in ‘Fiddler’ (Stephen Finnegan) nearly put his man through the stand! That set the tone. There was a feeling in Cross that morning: ‘These are the All-Ireland champions coming to our club’ and we literally beat the shite out of them – within the rules (to an extent) - and the vibe around the town after that game was just electric.”
That game ended 1-12 to 0-9 in favour of Cross and they stretched their winning margin to seven points in the 2011 meeting to book an Ulster semi-final against Derry’s Ballinderry who had seen off Tyrone’s Dromore in their quarter-final.
The Kernan brothers – Aaron, Stephen (the team captain) and Tony – contributed 10 of Crossmaglen’s 17 points against Ballinderry and so the men in black and amber prepared for a provincial decider against Down’s Burren.
“Burren were a very good team and we were very lucky against them on a few occasions,” says Hanratty.
“Paul McKeown stepped up that day, he had a great game against their corner-forward Sean Murdock. He kept him quiet. It was a tough game but we had quality subs and you could always rely on Oisin McConville (1-2) to come up with a few scores.
“Jamie Clarke was brilliant too. You couldn’t mark him back then – you could beat the life out of him and he’d still get the ball. He was an awful talent, a different kettle of fish and manys a day he won games for us on his own.”
Hailstones and the Gooch
THE All-Ireland semi-final pitted Cross against Killarney’s Dr Croke’s. Spearheaded by the peerless Colm ‘Gooch’ Cooper and the skilful Daithi Casey, the Kerry men had racked up six goals and 39 points in their successful run through Munster. They were tipped by many to land a first All-Ireland title since 1992 and looked on course to do just that when Casey’s first half goal sent them into a 1-5 to 0-1 lead.
But, as ever, Cross battled back. There were only two in it at the break and the Armagh men were three ahead when referee David Coldrick – who had sent off Stephen Kernan midway through the second half meaning he was suspended for the final - blew the full-time whistle.
“They could have won two or three All-Irelands only for us – they came up against us when we were at our peak,” says Hanratty.
“I remember I came on as a blood sub in that game. When I got onto the field, the hailstones started and it was hailstones flat-out for about five minutes. Once they stopped, I was wagged back off! I wasn’t too pleased to be honest – I was ready to kill somebody! I got battered by hailstones for five minutes and then I was took off. But we won, that was the main thing.
“I remember David McKenna had a stormer that day marking Eoin Brosnan. Big David was only 23-24 at that time and he had a brilliant game.
“We were buzzing after that but we still knew we had won nothing.
“Semi-finals are only there to be won, that’s the way we were brought up (to think). Some of the boys had a few drinks that night after the game but from the Monday morning on we were getting ready for the final.
“We were very professional when it came to preparation – everybody was singing from the same hymn sheet and we very professional for a club team. The fact that we were winning made it all enjoyable.”
Garrycastle miss the boat
ATHLONE outfit Garrycastle were the opposition in the final and the unheralded Leinster champions were the dominant force for two-thirds of the game. It wasn’t until the last 20 minutes that Cross finally found some fluency and half-a-dozen points from Oisin McConville salvaged the situation and enabled them to emerge with a draw.
“Everything was set up for us to fail that day,” says Hanratty.
“All the papers were saying basically: ‘What’s the point of Garrycastle turning up?’ But fair dues to Garrycastle, they gave it everything they had. They had a few opportunities but they didn’t take them and then Oisin stepped up and saved us - although he took about 10 steps! They were unlucky, they missed the boat. They were a bit like Mayo – they had their chance but if you don’t take it, you won’t get a second one.
“We came off the pitch knowing that we didn’t do ourselves justice at all. When you’re playing at Croke Park you should be buzzing but we just didn’t perform. Tony Kernan performed – he got man of the match but other than him and Oisin, I don’t think anyone could hold their hand up and say: ‘I’d a good game’. I suppose, in one sense, we were able to think: ‘Most of us played badly and we still got out with a draw so we have something to improve on’.
“And in the replay something clicked – there could have been 15 men man of the match that day. Everyone played well including the subs.”
Opportunity knocks
HANRATTY had been a starter throughout the Armagh championship but his form dipped and he lost his place in the team. Despite being limited to cameos as a substitute his head did not drop and his persistence paid off when he was told that he was starting the replay.
“It was a strange year for me because I was playing well in Armagh and then I just got crap,” he says with a chuckle.
“I got a chance in the All-Ireland semi-final (the hailstones incident) and I got the same again in the drawn final and then I was told on the Thursday night before the replay that I was starting.”
It turned out to be an inspired selection by the Cross management because Hanratty stuck the ball in the back of the Garrycastle net after five minutes and he repeated the dose and added a point before half-time. By that stage Cross had the game, and the Andy Merrigan Cup, in the bag.
“I haven’t played well since!” he jokes.
“Everything clicked on the day. The ball coming in was amazing. I remember Jamie kicking the ball into me for the first goal and I couldn’t miss. The two goals were put on a plate and it was just my job to put them away which, thankfully, I did.”
In the end, Cross won by 15 points at Breffni Park. McConville scored six points and Aaron Kernan’s treble brought his total for the campaign to 1-21 from half-back.
“Corofin were magnificent to watch last year but, other than that, there hasn’t been a better performance than us in that All-Ireland final. It was one of them days that everything went right.
“We were so annoyed about the first day – we felt we had let the whole town, the whole parish down.
“We said: ‘We can’t let it sit like that’. It was hard work that made it all possible. Obviously every other team is working hard but we felt like absolute machines back then – we could run for days and we could run through walls.
“We were down with Billy Walsh (former Irish boxing coach) for a weekend in Wexford beating the shite out of each other with boxing gloves! Tony Mac and Tony Kernan had an awful scrap! Johnny Hanratty busted somebody – I can’t remember who it was. All the hard work that year came together on one day and, lucky enough, it was on All-Ireland final day.”
