Armagh SFC Final/ Crossmaglen 0-12 Pearse Óg 0-6: At this stage it doesn't matter if Crossmaglen never win another football match because they'll be talking about this particular team as long as GAA records exist.
It doesn't matter either that this was as bad a football match imaginable, because for Crossmaglen, victory on the day was all that ever counted.
Counting, that is, the titles - as that remarkable winning streak continues, with this ultimately facile win over Pearse Óg giving them a record 12th consecutive Armagh club football title. More remarkable than that is the fact there is no end in sight. After some bizarrely wayward shooting in the first half, Crossmaglen were in a class of their own for much of the second half.
This, after all, is the team that has also won four All-Ireland club titles during this winning period, including the current one. And having won the first of this run of titles in 1996, they've now gone 51 games unbeaten in the county. No wonder the series of signs approaching Crossmaglen read: "Not just a team, a championship winning machine".
This was a game they should have won by a more convincing margin: they fluffed at least three first-half goal chances, and played most of the second half a man down, after substitute Johnny Murtagh saw a straight red card. They now have 36 titles in all, and in the end fairly demolished the hopes Pearse Óg could win a first title since 1992.
So how to they do it? Ruthless determination? A bit of luck? Win one, get one free? "I don't know," said Aaron Kernan, one of four brothers playing on the day, and son of famous father Joe Kernan. "I just know football is a religion in Crossmaglen . . . Every young lad wants to be next player coming through to make the team, and thankfully we do still have players coming through.
"And winning these titles is so special. I think winning last year meant more to us than winning the All-Ireland title. So it's great to have another one. And that's what drives us on, the fear of losing it, as much as winning it."
There's nothing grandiose about Crossmaglen, no sneaky imports, just old-fashioned club spirit and tradition. And their supporters packed the town from lunchtime yesterday, filling St Oliver Plunkett Park close to capacity. They didn't have much to cheer about in the first half, as Crossmaglen's apparent determination to end the game early on failed in front of their eyes. Kernan, Oisín McConville and captain John McEntee had open goal chances, yet delayed their finishing long enough for Ciarán McKinney to pull off the saves.
Pearse Óg were putting up a real fight in terms of tackling and harassing, but they didn't have the quality up front. Ronan Clarke, Armagh's former teenage star, was at midfield yet lacking fitness, while some of the former county stars, most noticeably John Donaldson at centre back, made sure Crossmaglen held the greater share of possession.
Still that possession was dangerously slow being turned into scores: Crossmaglen went the first half without a point from play, relying on Kernan's free-taking, and the same from McConville. They were up 0-4 to 0-3 at the break, and yet Pearse Óg still looked threatening, at least if Crossmaglen continued in squandering mode.
Except they didn't - and despite losing Murtagh, who foolishly kicked Seán Clarke having just being awarded a free, Crossmaglen rode out easy winners. Midfielder David McKenna got their first from play on 35 minutes, and while Pearse Óg could only manage three points in the second half, the champions stepped up a gear, most notably through the class of Kernan and McConville, who together contributed two thirds of their total.
They'll next play the Monaghan champions, and if they improve their accuracy in front of goal Crossmaglen will be difficult to stop on a run to another Ulster tile.
CROSSMAGLEN RANGERS: P Hearty; S Finnegan; T McEntee, P Kernan; A Kernan (0-4, all frees), J Donaldson, B McKeown; D McKenna (0-1), S Clarke; M McNamee, J McEntee, S Kernan (0-1); T Kernan (0-1), J Hanratty, O McConville (0-4, two frees). Subs: J Murtagh for McNamee (33 mins), C Short (0-1)for Hanratty (37 mins), R Carragher for T Kernan (59 mins).
PEARSE ÓG: C McKinney; G McCoy, G Barton, A Mallon; S Clarke (0-1), C Rafferty, D McAuley; C Hughes, R Clarke; G Loughran (0-2, one free), B Gordon, C Clarke (0-2); P Duffy, S Moore (0-1), P Duffy. Subs: M Toner for R Clarke (half-time), D McManus for Gordon (42 mins), E Maguire for Duffy (56 mins).
Referee: B Gorman.
