Copyright belfastlive
How Cullyhanna booked their place in today’s final Cormac Leonard Armagh SFC semi-final: Cullyhanna 1-21 Crossmaglen 0-23 There will be a new name on the Gerry Fagan Cup this year after Cullyhanna produced a rousing late comeback to stun Crossmaglen and book their place in the Armagh SFC final. St Pat’s fought back from being nine points down midway through the second half as a last-gasp Aidan Nugent two-pointer gave them the lead for only the second time in the game. Crossmaglen led by seven at the break thanks to seven points from play from Oisin O’Neill and, despite a Shea Hoey goal for Cullyhanna early in the second half, they looked to be cruising towards yet another county final appearance. Yet, the tide slowly began to turn for St Pat’s with Cian McConville shown a black card as Rangers began to run out of steam. Cullyhanna could hardly have wished for a better start as Jason Duffy hit a stunning two-pointer from 45 metres out within the opening minute. Crossmaglen’s reply with emphatic as Cian McConville split the posts before Oisin O’Neill matched Duffy’s effort from a similar range. O’Neill could do no wrong in the first half with Nugent missing three scoring chances at the other end with Hoey also dropping a short short. Two late points from Jason Duffy and Ross McQuillan helped keep Cullyhanna in contention at the break. Crossmaglen played some exceptional football on the restart with Rian O’Neill delivering some stunning passes for Oisin O’Neill and McConville to convert. Hoey’s goal arrived via an equally brilliant ball from Nugent and Gavan Duffy added a point from play moments later to cut the gap to five. Cross didn’t flinch as they hit 0-4 without reply to lead 0-22 to 1-10 with McConville scoring another hat-trick of points. The Armagh attacker would have to watch the closing 10 minutes from the bench after picking up a black card for dragging back Duffy. Nugent found his range when it mattered most and back-to-back two-point frees got Cullyhanna back in the hunt with five minutes left. Ross McQuillan’s fisted effort preceded another brace of two-pointers from Nugent with the second one coming from play to put his side one-point ahead. There was still time for further drama as Fearghal Laverty awarded Cross a free outside the arc for a foul by Duffy on Aaron O’Neill. However, Rian O’Neill dropped his effort short and Cullyhanna cleared the danger as they booked their place in the county final for the first time since 2016.
