Crossmaglen beat Clan na Gael to win 47th Armagh SFC title

Crossmaglen Rangers 2-16 Clan na Gael 1-07

Crossmaglen Rangers came good in the second half to outscore Clan na Gael 2-10 to 0-03 to claim their 47th Armagh Senior Club Championship title.

Captain Jamie Clarke lifted the Gerry Fegan Cup and it was his penalty late in the game that cemented Rangers' place in the Ulster Championship.

Clan na Gael had the measure of their opponents in the opening periods but failed to take their scores even though Michael McConville’s goal on 25 minutes gave them a narrow 1-04 to 0-06 lead at the break.

The Lurgan side had held Cross to only two first half points from play, from Oisin O’Neill and Paul Hughes, while Rian O’Neill and his cousin Rian O’Neill grabbed a brace of frees each.

Stefan Campbell (frees), Sean Mackle and McParland were on target for the Lurgan Blues who lost Ciaran Campbell to a black card early in the second half.

Rangers started the half brightly with Man of the Match Paul Hughes, Rico Kelly, Stephen Morris, Rian O’Neill and McConville stretching Crossmaglen’s lead and when Jamie Brady fouled Thomas Og Duffy in the box, it was no other than captain Clarke to coolly dispatch the penalty low into Clan na Gael net.

That gave Cross a 1-13 to 1-05 lead with ten minutes remaining and Rangers kept the scoreboard ticking over with the lively McConville chipping over points while Rian O’Neill manned the house and with the hour up substitute Ronan Fitzpatrick bagged the second goal for the back-to-back champions.

It may not have been vintage Cross but a 12-point win in a county final can’t be anything other than emphatic and they’ll be confident when they make the trip to Healy Park Omagh, to face the Tyrone champions next month.

Crossmaglen: Miceal Murray, Orin McKeown, Rico Kelly