Cormac Leonard Commercial Vehicles Armagh Senior Football Championship semi-final: Clan na Gael 0-14 Madden Raparees 0-12
From Brendan Crossan at BOX-IT Athletic Grounds
BETTER decision-making in the final third of the field was the difference between Clan na Gael and Madden in Saturday night’s nail-biting semi-final as the ‘Clans’ made it back-to-back final appearances.
For Clan na Gael supporters, the final quarter of this last four clash was probably watched through clasped hands as Madden almost pulled off an unlikely comeback after trailing 0-7 to no score after 23 minutes and 0-13 to 0-5 after 43 minutes.
A deceptively strong wind undoubtedly helped Clan na Gael build up a healthy lead in the opening half, and the elements and Madden’s aggressive full court press pinned their opponents back in the second period.
A comeback led by the irrepressible Niall Grimley, Madden hit six unanswered points between the 46th and 57th minutes to bring them within two points of their opponents.
But, crucially, within that golden period of scores were also missed opportunities to get level or even forge ahead.
Joe Sheridan missed a gilt-edged chance for Madden and there were other good scoring situations they didn’t take full advantage of.
Niall Grimley converted two stunning placed balls – a ‘45 and a 50-metre free – two kicks that ignited Madden’s comeback around the 46th minute mark.
He narrowly missed with another long-distance attempt as Madden continued to turn the screw.
For a time in the second half, Clan na Gael couldn’t buy a kick-out. When it was crying out for a short one, just to give themselves some respite, ‘Clans’ keeper Ryan Conway simply couldn’t find a free blue jersey.
“When you’re in the firing line with bodies on top of you I don’t know if I’d like to be kicking it out there,” said ‘Clans’ boss Ronan McMahon, now in his second year with the club.
“It’s alright saying, kick it short, and on the line, I can see gaps but if I start going down and chastising the goalkeeper that doesn’t help things. But we’ve a lot of size out there too – Shane McPartlan, Stefan [Campbell], Diarmuid O’Hagan, Diarmuid Loney – all big men.”
Madden had nothing to lose tattooed across their chests at that point too which made Conway’s job doubly difficult.
Trying to reach their first senior final since 1998, Madden just ran out of road in the end.
In the second minute of stoppage-time, the ‘Clans’ worked the ball smartly to Stefan ‘Soupy’ Campbell who landed his fourth and final point of the night to give his side some breathing space.
The Lurgan men were just better at getting their shooters on the ball in the final third of the pitch – and Soupy’s two clinical points at either end of the second half were hugely important in getting them over the line.
“Every team works on those things,” McMahon said.
“You’re trying to get Stefan on the ball. It’s easier said than done when you’re in the heat of battle.
“But, whenever you’ve rehearsed it so many times, there’s a play, there’s a bit of muscle memory there – run it to him. If you kick it to him then he gets clamped.
“If you run it to him, you can create a wee bit of space, he can come around on the loop, and that’s exactly what happened.”
In the opening half it looked as though Clan na Gael were going to blow Madden away. In the opening 23 minutes, they put on an exhibition of distance shooting and mined seven points.
The impressive Diarmuid Loney opened the scoring after seven minutes. Callum O’Neill was the next to land a score from distance while Sam McClarnon’s 11th minute effort was arguably the best of the lot.
The ‘Clans’ defender took aim from the far side of the field and on his left foot and from at least 40 metres he hit a beauty.
Clan na Gael were playing with their tails up and the few times Madden worked the ball up the field against a strong head wind, they picked bad options.
They eventually got themselves off the mark on 24 minutes when their go-to attacker Conor Grimley hit his first of six points with the outside of his right boot.
‘Soupy’ Campbell grabbed his second point of the first half in the 25th minute when off balance and Michael McConville advanced to land a cracking score – but Eoin Grimley and Conor Grimley nabbed back-to-back scores for Madden in first-half stoppage-time.
Although they trailed 0-9 to 0-4 at the break, it could have been much worse for Madden in that first half.
Mark Harte and Adrian O’Donnell’s side could have really pushed on in the second half had Shea Vallely’s fisted effort on 36 minutes not been saved on the line by the alert Malachi Ward.
As a result, the ‘Clans’ still held a 0-10 to 0-5 advantage and tagged on another couple of scores.
In that final quarter, though, Madden gave it one hell of a lash with Niall Grimley, Eoin Grimley, Conor Grimley and Darragh McMullan emptying themselves - but their opponents had put just enough on the scoreboard to make their second county final in a row.
“We knew we were facing a brilliant pack of footballers, brilliantly coached by Aidy [O’Donnell] and Mark [Harte]. One of my men Eamon McEvoy, the research he did on Madden has been out of this world – and we needed it all. And we just got ahead enough in the game to win.”
Clan na Gael: R Conway; S McClarnon (0-1), S McCann, J Lavery; N Loney, M McConville (0-1), J Brady; D O’Hagan, S McPartlan (0-2, 0-1 ‘45); D Loney (0-3), N Henderson (0-1), C O’Neill (0-1); M Ward, S Campbell (0-4), B O’Hagan (0-1 free) Subs: C France for B O’Hagan (53), J Austin for N Henderson (60)
Yellow cards: M McConville (29), S McPartlan (30+3), S Campbell (56)
Madden: J Sheridan; S Vallely, J Murphy, D Rafferty; O O’Hara, E Grimley (0-1), N Smith; P Carr, L Grimley; J Sheridan, N Grimley (0-2, 0-1 free, 0-1 ‘45), D McMullan (0-1); C Vallely, C Rafferty, C Grimley (0-6, 0-3 frees) Subs: P Lappin for C Vallely (h/t), A McKenna (0-1) for J Murphy (h/t), P Morgan for L Grimley (42)
Blood substitution: P Lappin for D McMullan (25-27),
Referee: S Murphy
