Crossmaglen Rangers defender James Morgan pictured at the launch of the AIB Ulster Club Senior Football Championship at the Athletic Grounds, Armagh, this week.
By Michael Devlin
James Morgan says there are kinks to iron out for Crossmaglen Rangers ahead of their AIB Ulster Senior Football Championship opener against Clontribret this weekend.
Cross’ ran out 2-18 to 2-9 winners over Ballymacnab in the Armagh final two weekends ago after producing an electrifying second half scoring burst that yielded an uninterrupted 1-9 to give them their 45th county title.
But as effervescent as Crossmaglen were in the second half hour, there were faults in their first half performance according to Morgan.
Ballymacnab, chasing their maiden senior county title, were shading the contest and had carved out a 2-7 to 0-9 lead ten minutes into the second half before the Rangers onslaught came.
“There’s a lot that we can work on, says the 27-year-old defender. “In the first half, we didn’t really do what we were told by the management.
“Luckily enough, when we came in at half time we weren’t trailing by as much as we could have. Ballymacnab are probably kicking themselves a bit that they weren’t further in front.
“The break at half time gave us a chance to chat to the managers, chat to each other, sort out what was going wrong on the field. We discussed what wasn’t working, and what we were supposed to be doing, and that bit of communication settled us going into the second half.”
Crossmaglen celebrate after their Armagh SFC Final win over Ballymacnab at the Athletic Grounds, Armagh.
Despite Ballymacnab full-forward Jack Grugan punching home his side’s second goal and following up with a point in quick succession at the start of the second half, Morgan was confident his side had adequately addressed their errors at the midway point and would swing the game back in their favour.
“Although they got the goal in the second half, as soon as the whistle for the throw-up went, I felt like we were playing our own game and it was going well for us.
“They got that goal and a point, but we were always coming. It maybe came against the run of play, and it didn’t really affect our game plan in the second half.
“As soon as you start doing your own thing and being selfish and move away from the game-plan, that’s when you can run into trouble."
Crossmaglen will ultimately want to pick up where they left off as they take on Monaghan champions Clontibret on Saturday evening in the familiar environs of Armagh’s Athletic Grounds.
The O’Neill's club ended Scotstown's bid for five Monaghan titles in a row, with ace attacker Conor McManus inspiring them to a 1-14 to 0-11 win in Clones.
Aside from McManus, Clontibret also have seasoned Monaghan campaigners Vinney Corey, Dessie Moan and Conor Boyle within their ranks, and are managed by one of Crossmaglen’s own heroes, former All-Ireland club winning captain John McEntee.
“Ideally you’d want to start the next game like you’d finish the next one,” says Morgan. “But as I said, we’ll just stick to our usual game plan and influence our own instruction onto the game, and just trust the process.
“You have to be a good team to beat Scotstown. I’m excited to see what they bring to the table. I haven’t seen much of them play, but their team sheet is impressive. I’m sure it will be an open, attacking game of football from both teams.”
Oisin and Rian O'Neill are key figures in the Crossmaglen attack.
Crossmaglen enjoyed a monopoly on the Armagh championship since the mid 1990’s, winning the title 19 seasons out of 20 before a two-year blip in 2016 and 2017.
Synonymous with success for so long, those winless seasons witnessed a changing of the guard in the senior team, and last year a crop of talented youngsters came of age to return the cup to the club’s busy trophy cabinet.
Led by the gifted O’Neill brothers, Rian and Oisin, along with the likes of Cian McConville and Colin O'Connor, Morgan believes this new generation of Rangers are cut from the same cloth as their illustrious predecessors.
“These younger boys are more than ready. They’ve got a chip on their shoulder, a lot of them. They’ve seen other players do it, they’ve heard from other people, ‘We’ve done it, it’s your time to step up’. They are more than ready. They need more chances, but they only starting off.
“When I came onto the team I was 18, and I slotted into a role at corner back, and I just had to do my job. I nearly just went along for the ride.
“It’s slightly different now that we lost two county finals when the young boys came onto the team, Rian and Oisin and those boys, they had to drive the ship in comparison to what I was doing at their age. That core of our team now is young, and it’s their time to step up.
“Last year we were a bit more naive, and maybe happy with winning that county title in a way. This year we are a bit more focused, and maybe working harder and communicating a bit better than we were last year. Hopefully that will stand to us.”
