Armagh SFC quarter-final: Crossmaglen 0-21 Armagh Harps 2-12 (aet)
REIGNING Armagh champions Crossmaglen edged past Armagh Harps after extra time to reach the last four of the Senior Championship.
Two second half goals from the city side looked to have caused the upset of the weekend before two points in quick succession pushed the Rangers ahead. James McCoy slotted over a late free to bring the game to extra time, where Cross proved the better side.
Conor Murphy and Oisin Hughes (mark) both split the posts early on before Cian McConville pointed to get the Rangers off the mark. Tommy Turley and McCoy (free) extended the Harps lead to 4-1 after eleven minutes.
Scores from McConville, Oisin O’Neill and Odhran Kieran closed the gap while a huge score from Tadgh Grimley kept the Harps ahead. But it was only delaying the Cross onslaught as they hit seven on the trot.
Jamie Clarke (0-2), McConville (0-2), Rico Kelly, Callum Cumiskey and O’Neill all pointed for Anthony Cunningham’s side. Joe McElroy and McCoy slotted over frees to close the gap before the break, 0-11 to 0-7 at half time.
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Hughes then punched home the first goal of the game four minutes after the turnaround. The Crossmaglen defence failed to deal with a McCoy free that dropped short and at the other end, John Daly pulled off a fantastic save to deny Odhran Kieran.
Both sides were reduced to 14 men late in the game as Cathal Agnew received his marching orders with a straight red while Thomas Og Duffy picked up a black card, adding to his earlier yellow.
Rian O’Neill and McElroy swapped scores while two further frees from McCoy tied things up. Ronan Fitzpatrick and McConville nudged the favourites in front, but another punched goal, this time from substitute Conor Lavery, shot the Harps ahead.
Daniel Cumiskey tied things up before McConville slotted over what looked like the game winning score, but the Harps had one more chance and McCoy fired over a free to bring the game to extra-time.
The O’Neill brothers, Oisin (0-2) and Rian, who picked up a black card just before the turnaround, raised the only white flags of the first half of extra time. McElroy and Aaron Kernan exchanged efforts in the second half and the Harps couldn’t grab the goal that would keep them in the game as Cross ran out 0-21 to 2-12 winners.
