MAYO CHAMPS AMBUSHED BY ARMAGH ARMY



Connaught Telegraph Mayo GAA News 19 March 1997


Knockmore find land of hope but no glory

Crossmaglen Rangers 2-13 -------------------- Knockmore 0-11

John Melvin reports from Croke Park

The sporting certainty that you are only as good as your next game, rather than your last, was driven home with rather painful results, as Knockmore failed to reach the final frontier in their bid for All Ireland Club glory at Croke Park on St Patrick's Day.

And not casting any aspersions on the decent people of Crossmaglen, who have had to wage a struggle both on and off the pitch to claim club football's most coveted prize, but, I'm sure, there was many a Knockmore man wishing that St Patrick might have banished a few of the Crossmaglen men when he rid the country of snakes of those years ago. It seems he missed a few, notably half forwards, Oisin McConville and Cathall Shortt, as they came back with venomous determination to cause Knockmore a lot of grief in this engrossing final.

And so, it seems, a place for the name of a Mayo, or indeed Connaught club, on the Andy Merrigan Cup, cannot be found. Knockmore, the latest to attempt to bring the All Ireland club football title west of the Shannon, suffered the same fate as those who went before them- Garrymore and Castlebar Mitchels

And while it is generally agreed that Knockmore put up the best performance from a western club, it was painfully obvious that while the inter-county gap may have closed considerably, if not entirely, those who have designs on the club champions title will have to come up with a new formula.

Hindsight

Hindsight can be a great educator, and I'm sure if Knockmore had another opportunity to correct their shortcomings there are a few obvious areas they would readily have tackled.

First of all, the inclusion of Ray Dempsey was a tactical mistake which wasn't corrected until halftime when the man literally was unable to resume his place.

A player of his influence and experience was a huge loss and his discomfort with an injured finger compounding his obvious back discomfort from a very early stage.

Knockmore had no contingency plan when they found themselves being swamped at midfield, where Crossmaglen brought out the full forward to supplement the work of their powerful and mobile partnership of McEntee and Cunningham.

But, most importantly, Knockmore knew that any possession they did win had to be worked for, and needlessly giving it away was continuously punished by Crossmaglen, the example being the second goal which came directly from a Knockmore pass being intercepted.

And, of course, to win the big one, you certainly do need a rub of the green. And St Patrick did not favour the Mayo men on this occasion. He might for instance, have given Padraig Brogan the benefit of another degree in his angled shot when the 'Bomber' hit the crossbar, and he might also have stuck the Armagh goalkeeper to the ground, instead of allowing him to get his touch on another piece of Brogan wizardry which denied him a goal, and he might have covered for Pat Reape's unfortunate error when he let the ball drop over his head, in what most keepers would describe as their worst nightmare.

He might on another day, but ON St Patrick's Day he chose not to. In the end Knockmore were magnanimous in defeat and readily admitted that the better team had won, perhaps not quite by a mile, but certainly by a good few furlongs as they were always sharper in both mind and body.

Will be back

Paddy Naughton, a man ho always keeps the beacon of hope shinning even in the darkest of hours, promised that they will be back, and I have no doubt they will.

But there was a general feeling that many players did not perform and that the big stage of Croke Park certainly got to a few., And that was certainly the case in the opening period as Crossmaglen got into their stride and fired over two early points, the first from Oisin McConville, the man who was to have the biggest influence on the game with a haul of 1-7.

By the time Crossmaglen had their second point from half-back Gary McShane, Knockmore knew they were in a battle for survival. It was to their credit that they did not sink, when at times a collapse looked so imminent. Peer Butler stood solid at the back and at times stood on his own an imminent disaster, with his young flankers very much at sea against McConville and the Cathal Shortt, two of Armagh's most lethal attackers. The full back line was regularly pulled out of position with Crossmaglen sending in a lot of ball into space behind the defence and Fergus Sweeney, Cathal Naughton and Tomas Burke did as wel as they could under such bombardment.

It was Kevin O'Neill and Padraig Brogan who did most to lift them in an attack which was never allowed to play with the same fluency or cohesion as in the semi-final. O'Neill's 4th minute free on the left peg from a difficult angle was just the lift their huge supporters needed and for a while Knockmore had the 'Glen under pressure with Brogan hitting the crossbar.

But the disaster they didn't need came at the other end when Oisin McConville speculative lob deceived the advancing goalkeeper Pat Reape. Reape's confidence suffered as a consequence and the Glen picked off two more points to extend their lead to five points after ten minutes.

Had Knockmore got a goal at this stage it would have settled the nerves which were jangling in many areas, but a very good move involving O'Neill and Dempsey saw Brogan have his placed shot tipped over for a point. But an excellent point from O'Neill from play had Knockmore trailing by just three point and they had that back to two going into the last ten minutes with another point from O'Neill with a left footed free from Declan Sweeney.

But Crossmaglen always looked menacing on the attack and their second goal, although coming from Kevin Staunton's pass which was intercepted, was well executed with Jim McConville left unmarked and he had plenty of time to take the pass from his brother Oisin before drilling it low and past the despairing dive of Pat Reape.

O'Neill retrieved point just before the break and there was still a belief that Knockmore could turn round a five points deficit- 2-5 to 0-6- with the breeze at their backs in the second half.

Resolve

However, it was Crossmaglen who seemed to strengthen their resolve. Knockmore drafted in Tom Holmes who was posted to the halfback line with Graham O'Hara moving into the attack for Dempsey.

By three minutes of the restart Crossmaglen had extended their lead to the widest it had ever been since the game started- seven points- and it seemed there was no way back.

To their credit they hung in. Padraig Brogan with a superb point, Shane Sweeney and Brogan reduced the deficit to four points but that was as close as they were to get.

Oisin McConville with two great points from play and those two goals still separated the sides with ten minute remaining. Declan Sweeney did have powerful shot saved in the closing minutes but on this occasion too many of their Knockmore players just were not all playing on the same wavelength while all the Crossmaglen boys were to tuned into the same station.

Knockmore: Pat Reape, Fergus Sweeney, Cathal Naughton, Tomas Burke, Graham O'Hora, Peter Butler, Joe David, Kevin Staunton, Declan Dempsey, Declan Sweeney, Peter Cawley, Shane Sweeney, Kevin O'Neill, Padraig Brogan, Ray Dempsey. Subs: Tom Holmes for Dempsey (halftime), Hugh Langan for O'Hora. K. O'Neill 0-6; P. Brogan 0-3; D. Sweeney 0-1; S. Sweeney 0-1.

Crossmaglen: J. McConnville, M.Califf, D. Murtagh, P. McKeown, B. Fitzpatirck, F. Bellew, G. McShane, J. McEntee, A. Cunningham, C. Short, T. McEntee, O. McConnville, J. McConville, G. Cumiskey, C. O'Neill. Sub: M. Morley for J. McEntee (inj). O. McConville 1-7; J. McConnville 1-1; A. Cunningham 0-2; G.McShane 0-1; J. McEntee 0-1; M. Morley 0-1.

Ref: Brian White (Wexford).



Connaught Telegraph - News & Sport - March 1997