Ulster Final
Bridge to much to Cross
Below article Taken
from BBC Website
Result: Cross 0-14
M'bridge 0-09
Crossmaglen Rangers lifted their fourth
Ulster Senior Football title when
they defeated Mayobridge at Casement
Park.
Despite being reduced
to 14 men when Gareth O'Neill was
sent off near half-time, the Armagh
boys never allowed the Down champions
back into the game.
Cross held a 0-08
to 0-05 interval lead, but four second-half
points from Oisin McConville kept
them clear.
John Murtagh top
scored with six points for Cross while
Noel Sexton, Benny and Robbie Coulter
all chipped in with three points apiece
for Bridge.
Cross were first
out of the traps against a Mayobridge
side looking to become the first Down
side to win the title for 16 years.
Murtagh speared over
three points and Michael McNamee another
to set the scene for Cross.
Bridge, however,
were underpower with the loss of player-manager
Mickey Linden after 10 minutes after
he was helped off following a big
hit from a Cross defender.
Mayobridge's Kieran O'Hare (with ball)
tussles with Cross's Michael McNamee
Mayobridge kept in touch through points
from Sexton, and the two Coulters.
But the game could
have changed dramatically in first-half
injury time when O'Neill was given
a straight red after throwing a punch.
But instead of Bridge
taking the game by the scruff of the
neck, it was the experienced McConville
whose accuracy from frees kept Cross's
noses in front.
McConville was only
given the all clear on the morning
of the game, but he still only looked
half-fit as he struggled with a back
injury.
The nearest Bridge
came to their opponents was at 0-11
to 0-09, but McConville's fifth point
along with another couple from Stephen
Kernan and Murtagh, wrapped up the
game for the Armagh boys.
Cross's last three
titles were in 1996, 1998 and 1999
and each time they went on to win
the All-Ireland.
Ulster Club SF Championship
final
Crossmaglen Rangers 0-14 0-09 Mayobridge
