Ulster Club FC Quarter-finals/Slaughtneil 0-14 Crossmaglen 1-11: The biggest talking point from a superb game of football at Maghera yesterday will surround an incident after the final whistle when Slaughtneil manager John Brennan was apparently hit in the eye by a stone.
"I was hit by the stone thrown from the crowd - I just want that put on the record," said the Lavey man after the game.
"I am a sports man and when the final whistle goes the game's over. Obviously, for the person who threw that stone the game wasn't. That's something I might expect in other codes, but not in Gaelic games."
Having witnessed his captain being sent off and trailing by two points after the concession of a soft goal in the last minute - when goalkeeper Francis Bradley allowed Oisín McConnville's long-range free to slip through his hands - Brennan can be pleased with the character shown by his side to take the game to a replay thanks to two nerveless late frees from Paul Bradley.
Crossmaglen boss Mickey McConville was unaware of the stone-throwing incident, but was content with the draw. "That's the hardest game we've had this year, but you expect that when you play the Derry champions," said McConville.
A tight opening half saw Crossmaglen pull into a 0-7 to 0-4 lead after 22 minutes, but the Emmett's pulled level thanks to the free-taking accuracy of Jim Kelly and Paul Bradley.
The sending off of Jim Kelly four minutes into the second half looked to have dealt a serious blow to the Derry men's hopes. But, for a while, it seemed to galvanise the side and Kelly and Bradley continued to punish a foul-happy Cross' backline.
Scores from Stephen and Aaron Kernan and John Murtagh restored parity with 10 minutes to play and the teams traded scores before Slaughtneil edged into a narrow lead.
Crossmaglen looked to have snatched victory thanks to the fluke goal, but the concession of a couple of needless frees gave Bradley the opportunity to claim a deserved share of the spoils.
SLAUGHTNEIL: F Bradley; C Cassidy (0-1), M Kelly, M McEldowney; Francis McEldowney, D Kearney, P Kelly; S Kelly, Patsy Bradley; D Doherty, Fergal McEldowney, B McGuigan (0-1); Paul Bradley (0-9, eight frees), J Kelly (0-3, two frees), N Convery. Sub: D Cassidy for Covery.
CROSSMAGLEN: P Hearty; B McKeown, F Bellew, C Dooley; A Kernan (0-2), T McEntee, J Donaldson; S Clarke, S Kernan (0-2); J Murtagh (0-2), J McEntee (0-1), 0 McConville (1-3, one free), M McNamee, C Short, J Hughes (0-1). Subs: A Cunningham for Clarke; D Murtagh for McNamee; C O'Neill for Hughes.
Referee: M Hughes (Tyrone).
