Armagh Senior Football Championship final: Crossmaglen v Granemore (Sunday, 4.15pm, Athletic Grounds)
With 45 Armagh Senior Championship titles, Crossmaglen Rangers have more than double the tally of Armagh Harps, who are second on the roll of honour with 21.
The doyens of club football in the Orchard County go for number 46 on Sunday when they take on a Granemore side appearing in their first ever senior county final.
The Cross team is littered with past and present Armagh stars including Rian O’Neill, Aaron Kernan, James Morgan, Jamie Clarke and Cian McConville and they scored a facile 3-15 to 1-6 win over Maghery in the semi-final.
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The odds are stacked against Granemore. One bookmaker has them priced at 9/1. Crossmaglen are around 1/20.
It would rank as one of the greatest upsets in the history of club football, but manager Niall McAleenan insists his players are relishing the challenge of Sunday’s final.
They’ve the utmost respect for their illustrious rivals, but they won’t fear taking on the mighty Rangers.
“We understand the challenge that is ahead of us against Crossmaglen. They’ve been the top team in Armagh for a number of years,” said McAleenan.
“They were probably a little bit unlucky to lose the last couple of finals they were in.
“Their performance against Maghery (in the semi-final) was textbook - everything went right for them and they have the ability to do that.
“If you look at their full-forward line, it is probably the best you can get in Ulster Club football - maybe even in Ireland at the minute.
“All over the park, they’ve an incredible array of talent. We understand the challenge, but you don’t know what can happen in a final.
“At the start of the year, you’d have said that the team that was going to beat Cross would be the team who’d win the Championship.
“We know we’re up against it, but we’re going to relish the challenge.”
McAleenan managed Warrenpoint to a Down SFC final appearance in 2019 when they narrowly lost out to Kilcoo and St Peter’s took the All-Ireland club champions to extra-time in last weekend’s Down final.
He said there are numerous examples across Ulster of the underdogs punching above their weight in county finals and is confident his team will give a good account of themselves on Sunday.
“Warrenpoint were the underdogs last weekend and they got very close to Kilcoo,” added McAleenan.
“Aghagallon gave Cargin their fill in the Antrim final. In the Donegal final, St Eunan’s were big favourites against Glenties and were turned over.
“We can’t fear Crossmaglen - we have to go out and play to our potential.”
Granemore will look to their own county men, Ross Finn and Kieran Doyle, for leadership on Sunday while veteran attacker Ryan Rafferty has plundered some vital scores in their Championship campaign to date.
For club chairman Pete Carr, Sunday’s final is an occasion to be savoured. St Mary’s have watched on as other teams, including neighbours Ballymacnab, reached county finals in recent times.
Indeed, Granemore lost out to their rivals after extra-time in the 2019 semi-final. Taking on Cross in the decider might be daunting, but Carr wouldn’t have it any other way.
“If you are going to win it, you want to beat Crossmaglen in the final,” said Carr, whose construction company is also Granemore’s main sponsor.
“Our management team have done a serious amount of work with this group.
“They played the Pearse Óg’s in the first round, then they stepped it up a level against Mullaghbawn, they stepped up another level against Killeavy.
“They are going to have to step it up another level against Crossmaglen, but there’s a big game in Granemore too.
“Crossmaglen had a great win against Maghery the last day. You can’t take it away from them - they are a serious club and they’ve 45 Armagh SFC titles and are one of the best teams in Ireland.”
The odd car and even some livestock have been painted in the club’s green and white as the buzz and anticipation grows ahead of Sunday’s game.
“The build-up has been absolutely brilliant,” added Carr.
“We had a ‘green and white day’ at the club last Sunday and we’d about 300 people from Granemore there.
"All the players were signing jerseys for the young ones. It was a fantastic day for the club and everyone is looking forward to it.”
Of course, one talking point has dominated the build-up to Granemore’s historic county final appearance and that’s the bizarre goal which helped see off the challenge of Killeavy in the Armagh SFC semi-final at the Athletic Grounds.
Leading 0-8 to 0-7 with a few minutes of normal time remaining, Marty Carr’s effort looked to be sailing harmlessly wide and Killeavy ’keeper Shea Magil went behind the goals to retrieve another ball.
However, the ball hung in the air and remained in play with Tony McClelland taking full advantage to fire into the open net and Odhran Doyle added a second goal moments later to seal Granemore’s place in the final.
“I’ve never seen anything quite like that to be brutally honest,” stated St Mary’s boss McAleenan.
“I received a number of text messages afterwards. Martin Carr took the shot on and we were probably not happy with the shot selection at the time.
“I felt sorry for the goalkeeper afterwards, but it wasn’t just the keeper - their entire back line and most of our forwards stopped too.
“Tony (McClelland) said himself he couldn’t believe what happened when he caught it. He just stepped inside and kicked it into an empty net.
“It was a surreal moment.”
Granemore will be hoping they haven’t used up all their luck as they’ll need plenty of it on Sunday.
Stephen Kernan’s side have lost the last two county finals to Maghery (2020) and Clann Éireann (2021) and they’ll be eager to rectify that this weekend.
It would be a seismic shock if the Gerry Fegan Cup doesn’t return to the South Armagh village on Sunday evening, but Granemore have earned the right to have a crack at the title and one can only imagine what will be painted in the parish if they actually win.
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