belfasttelegraph

Wednesday 22 May 2013

McDonnell set to Cross his first major hurdle

Oisin McConville

New Armagh manager Peter McDonnell will get an early chance to assess some of the talent at his disposal as he gets down to the business of assembling his initial playing panel.

And he could hardly be starting in a promising environment given that AIB All Ireland Club champions Crossmaglen Rangers will be the first team to come under his personal microscope.

Donal Murtagh's side aim to take a step nearer their 12th Armagh senior county championship title on Sunday when they confront Carrickcruppen in the semi-finals at Silverbridge (5.30).

And McDonnell expects to dissect their resources and indeed those of their opponents.

Murtagh, indeed, has special reason to be thankful that some of his young guns are now firing impressively in the side.

With the experienced Stephen Kernan battling against a shoulder problem and Francie Bellew out of the equation as a long-term injury victim, Murtagh will lean more heavily on his rookies to ensure that the Rangers extend their reign at the top.

In this respect, he can look for further big performances from defenders Paul McKeown and Stephen Finnegan while David McKenna is rapidly maturing into a quality midfielder and John Hanratty is beginning to put his injury worries behind him at full-forward.

While the less experienced brigade bid to sustain the club's stunning record of success, they can look to the old hands for guidance.

Skipper John McEntee, goalkeeper Paul Hearty, full-back Tony McEntee and sharpshooter Oisin McConville will provide the guile and craft against a Carrickcruppen side that boasts a useful defence but may be found wanting on the score of forward power.

Barry Loughran, Mark Rooney, David Kelly and James Hughes will bid to thwart the Rangers scoring touch while Paul Keenan, who has a number of games in the Armagh county team under his belt, is the key player in their attack.

Peter Loughran jnr, whose late father was for so long the axis of the Carrickcruppen attack, has inherited his dad's free-taking artistry but whether he gets the chance to avail of his skills in this department against a frugal Rangers defence is another matter.

In the 60's and 70's, Crossmaglen and Carrickcruppen served up some titanic championship battles and Rangers PRO Tom McKay believes that Sunday's tie could rekindle some of the glamour and passion that marked those contests.

In the other semi-final tomorrow, Pearse Og will be hoping to produce a much more impressive display against Maghery at Davitt Park, Lurgan (5.30) than they did against Ballymacnab last time out when they just managed to win by a point.

Pearse Og have key players in Andy Mallon, Pauric Duffy, Paul Duffy and Ronan Clarke and they face a stiff test against a Maghery side who have shown themselves to be resilient of late.

Ogs' manager Adrian Clarke knows that this year offers his side the chance to topple Crossmaglen - but they will certainly need to keep their guard up tomorrow.

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