ULSTER SFC SEMI-FINAL Crossmaglen Rangers 1-11 Burren 2-7:CROSSMAGLEN HAD to rely on all their experience as well as a little bit of good fortune to beat Burren for a place in the Ulster club football final.
Deep into injury time, with the south Armagh giants leading by a solitary score, Kevin McKernan was presented with the type of chance he ordinarily points without difficulty. But the Down star skewed his effort wide of the target and Crossmaglen held on for victory.
After 18 minutes Cross’ led by eight points and there was little sign of a Burren comeback. The throw-in had been delayed due to a security alert on the motorway approaching Casement Park and the Down champions must have felt, like many spectators, that they had arrived late to the party.
Aaron Kernan put Rangers in front after only 20 seconds and despite Seán Murdock levelling from a 13-metre free there was no doubt about where the momentum lay. Crossmaglen were dominant in midfield and points from Oisín McConville and Johnny Hanratty underlined their superiority. Michael McNamee netted for Crossmaglen on seven minutes after good work from Francis Hanratty on the wing to put five points between the teams.
Murdock posted a reply from the dead ball for Burren but Cross were rampant. Points from McConville and Tony and Stephen Kernan saw them stretch their lead. Two minutes before the break a fine counter-attack saw James McGovern pass to Anton McArdle who, in turn offloaded to Murdock. The corner forward unleashed an unstoppable shot that meant Burren went into the break trailing by five points.
Burren had seized the initiative before the break and held tightly to it for the duration of the second half. Eoin McCartan, the younger brother of James and Daniel McCartan, was introduced to the forward line as Burren began to believe. McCartan’s impact was immediate as he pointed the second half’s first score to reduce the arrears to four points.
Cross’ relied on McConville from the dead ball for their scores with Tony Kernan providing the only real outlet for the seven-time All-Ireland champions. Burren poured forward with conviction. Murdock’s reliability from frees didn’t diminish and with 13 minutes left there were three points between the teams. Then Burren drew level through a goal by Damien O’Hare.
Crossmaglen then did what they have done for the best part of 15 years. They struck back. McConville set up Michael McNamee for what was the final score.
CROSSMAGLEN: P Hearty; P McKeown, P Kernan, J Morgan; A Kernan (0-1), D O'Callaghan, S Finnegan; J Hanratty (0-1), D McKenna; K Carragher, S Kernan (0-1), F Hanratty; T Kernan (0-3), M McNamee (1-2), O McConville (0-3, frees). Subs: K Carragher for A Cunningham, F Bellew for J Hanratty, M Aherne for F Hanratty, J McEntee for S Kernan.
BURREN: C Murdock; Ciarán McGovern, D McCartan, Ronan McGovern; K McKernan, D O'Hare (1-0), G McCartan; A Higgins, D Rooney; Conal McGovern, J McGovern, E McGovern (0-1); A McArdle, E Toner, S Murdock (1-5, 0-5 frees). Subs: E McCartan (0-1)for Conal McGovern, Ryan McGovern for A Higgins, C Byrne for E Toner.
Referee: J White(Donegal).
