Armagh Club football & hurling

[AFS]

Funny game, low scoring but not unenjoyable.

Thought Ogs just about deserved their half time lead, but in the second half Cross were the better team. Cross will feel they kicked it away, they must've hit 15+ wides, including some from Aaron and Oisin that were very uncharacteristic.

Ogs played smart football though, didn't panic and took their opportunities to lie down when they came 

Wouldn't be rushing out to put money on Ogs to win the whole thing yet though, they've no midfield so will always be vulnerable. Their win tonight was all the more astonishing considering Cross annihilated them around the middle.

Cross will be back surely but tonight perhaps provided a wee bit more evidence for what many have been suggesting for a while - that their younger players aren't nearly as good as the men they're replacing.

[emainmacha]

Photos from game

http://www.flickr.com/photos/16144312@N07/sets/72157622132856617/detail/

Ogs were by far the better side in the first half with what appeared to be a certain penalty not being given, Cross controlled first 20 minutes of the second half but Ogs then came back and I thought more than deserved the win

[armaghniac]

Well done Ogs, they played with championship fervour throughout. Cross might have got going in the early part of the second half, but the had some poor wides. You'd expect Oisin, AK, and TK to plot those frees.

[Real1995]

Anybody got starting line-ups from 2nites game?

[orangeman]

Amazing run by Cross. Well done to Pearse Ogs. Hope Pearse Ogs win it now.

[Celt_Man]

Wow, always gonna happen but mad to think that for the first time in 15 years Cross won't have any championship football in late September - October... 
As a matter of interest, what stage is that the championship at in Armagh and will the defeat of this amazing club team be a benefit to club football in Armagh in general???

[AFS]

Anybody got starting line-ups from 2nites game?

My effort, hope not too many are wrong. Wouldn't know all the Ogs lads.

Cross
1. Hearty
2. Carragher
3. B McKeown
4. P McKeown
5. A Kernan
6. P Kernan
7. Donaldson
8. McEntee
9. McEntee
10. Ahern
11. McNamee
12. Cunningham
13. Clarke
14. T Kernan
15. McConville

Ogs
1. McKinney
2. McCoy
3.
4. Mallon
5. P Duffy
6. Rafferty
7.
8. Moore
9. A Duffy
10. Shorty Clarke
11. R Clarke
12. McManus
13.
14. S Clarke
15.

[Throw ball]

Can add Parkinson was no. 3 and Conor Clarke at 15. Ciaran Hughes played at 10.Not an Ogs man so not sure of other two.

Was a very poor game of football with Oisin having as bad a game as I have seen in a long time. But then he has had so many good days he was due a bad one! Ogs full backline were superb and never gave the Cross forwards any room.

For Cross I thought only Paul Kernan and one of the McEntees(could not tell which one) had fair games and Jamie Clarke tried very hard up front. The rest were below their normal standard but much of this had to do with the effort the Ogs were putting in.

For the Ogs I think it is hard to pick out players but from a county perspective McKinney realy played well in goals and looked alot more secure than Hearty ever did. Although he was well marshalled I think Ronan Clarke had two key moments which swung the game the Ogs way. First when the Ogs were struggling in the second have he got a ball, went on a run and scored a great point which let to a couple of more scores. Then near the end with Cross looking a goal he made a great catch under his own crossbar. Great to see a great player standing up to be counted when needed.

Have to say I thought the Ref was fair enough - apart from his interpretation of overcarrying. He did miss a clear cut foul in the incident that people are suggesting was a penalty, although it may have been outside the square.

Finally, I think congratulations are due to Cross on their magnificent run and they did lead  an example to all clubs. At the end of the game it was noticeable how so many of their players went out of their way to congratulate the Ogs players. Champs to the end.

[TacadoirArdMhacha]

Wow, always gonna happen but mad to think that for the first time in 15 years Cross won't have any championship football in late September - October... 
As a matter of interest, what stage is that the championship at in Armagh and will the defeat of this amazing club team be a benefit to club football in Armagh in general???

My personal view is that it will do wonders for Armagh club football. Our championship (and recently league) had become nothing more than a procession for Crossmaglen. Crowds were poor and interest was low enough and people felt that all team were playing for was the right to beaten by Cross in the final. Division 1 teams were dropping down to intermediate because a senior championship run wasn't very appealing when a hiding was all you were likely to get at the end of it.

Team lacked belief. THe middle part of this decade saw a fine Dromintee team, probably a team capable of challenging most sides in Ulster, beaten time and time again by Crossmaglen. By last year they'd pretty much thrown in the towel and went out with barely a whimper to Cross. The biggest problem is that they simply did not really believe they could beat Cross. This year they exited tamely int eh first round without some of their best players in the country. And could you blame the players? Why give up a summer in America or Australia to take a beating from Crossmaglen.

This result tonight shows that Cross are beatable. No excuses, few players missing, Ógs seem to have beaten Cross simply by being a better team on the night. Now no doubt Cross will be back and they'll probably win more county titles than anybody else in the next decade. But they won't win them all and tonight was the crucial match in ensuring that.

[winsamsoon]

Good stuff emain you are on the ball

[under the bar]

Now the hoo-doo is broken you will probably see a clutch of teams win the championship over the next few years.  So many teams believed they were beat before a ball was thrown in past years that Cross could probably have played their ladies team in the first half of many games.

Super run but the grinders have finally succumbed.

[stephenite]

What a result!

Raging I sat at home to watch the soccer now. Blows the championship wide open. Obviously Ógs are strong favourites but plenty of team will fancy their chances.

Fair play to Cross - great champions for a long long time but its positive for Armagh football for someone to beat them. Stephenite will be a happy man as well!

Hats off to Crossmaglen though - to do what they have done in this era is a superb achievement.

[gaapunter]

The best team won and my personal moment of the match was Stephen 'long face' Kernan getting getting dogs abuse from 85 % of the crowd for disputing a correct umpires decision- he is hated.

ps its wide open now lads - its anyones championship

[Smokin Joe]

Anybody got starting line-ups from 2nites game?

My effort, hope not too many are wrong. Wouldn't know all the Ogs lads.

Cross
1. Hearty
2. Carragher
3. B McKeown
4. P McKeown
5. A Kernan
6. P Kernan
7. Donaldson
8. McEntee
9. McEntee
10. Ahern
11. McNamee
12. Cunningham
13. Clarke
14. T Kernan
15. McConville

Ogs
1. McKinney
2. McCoy
3.
4. Mallon
5. P Duffy
6. Rafferty
7.
8. Moore
9. A Duffy
10. Shorty Clarke
11. R Clarke
12. McManus
13.
14. S Clarke
15.

7 was Darren someone and 13 was Marc Cullen.

[bennydorano]

7. Darren Davidson.  10. Kieran Hughes, Shorty Clarke was 15 I think.

Fair play to the Ogs, no harm to Cross but I was happy to see them finally beaten in Armagh.  Interesting Championship now, but the Ogs looked focused after the game and it's theirs to lose now.

I was suprised at how some the younger ogs lads competed.  Having saw young Parkinson playing B football during the year (and not very well) I thought he was in for a torrid night, but he had a stormer, ditto for young Davidson who suprised me as well. The Ogs had a clear game plan and didn't deviate from it, that and a bit of luck saw them through.

Does open it the Championship up a bit, but if Cross had've come through we wouldn't be saying that.  The winners of tonight's game could have a big say yet.