Sisters Aveen (left) and Orla Donaldson are two of only three survivors from Crossmaglen’s last county final in 2007
BY RICHARD BULLICK
FAYE Fitzpatrick will captain Crossmaglen’s ladies footballers in their first county final since 2007 this Sunday, seven days after she top-scored with 2-4 as the club booked their place in camogie’s domestic showpiece after an absence of 21 years!
The Cross camogs sprung a surprise by beating Ballymacnab – finalists for the last six seasons – 3-11 to 1-7 and in the decider will play county champions Granemore, who hammered Keady 4-19 to 0-2 in the other semi.
Fitzpatrick’s two first half goals helped Crossmaglen establish a narrow interval lead but they pushed on after the break with Faye’s young football vice-captain Eva Cassidy scoring 1-1 to seal a convincing victory.
Before the camogie final, Crossmaglen go into ladies football’s Buttercrane Senior Championship showpiece (4pm) as unfancied underdogs against back-to-back provincial champions Clann Eireann, who are aiming for their 14th county title triumph in two decades.
However, while understandably delighted to be back in the county final after an 18-year wait, you don’t get the impression Crossmaglen are just going to Armagh headquarters for a long overdue day out with the result being of almost secondary importance.
Such thinking wouldn’t be in Crossmaglen’s nature nor that of the legendary Lauren McConville, who at the age of 30 is finally getting to grace the Orchard domestic showpiece for the first time in her glittering career.
The Armagh great came along just after Crossmaglen’s glory years of the early to mid-noughties had begun morphing into what would prove a prolonged period of relative struggle as they dropped down into the Intermediate tier and took time to find their feet again.
A bustling teenage McConville caught the eye as Crossmaglen lost out to Grange after a replay in the 2013 Intermediate decider, the season before she commenced an exceptional inter-county career in the orange jersey of Armagh.
Four years later, at the age of 22, Lauren was the inspirational skipper who lifted the trophy in Clonmore after her superb Player of the Match performance in another replay was instrumental in Crossmaglen’s victory over Sarsfields.
That Cross side contained several very promising 15-year-olds, including future Armagh ace Alex Clarke who has since been lost to professional soccer, but both Aislinn McMahon and Faye Fitzpatrick have graduated into valuable leaders over the intervening period.
They have gone from being schoolgirls then to schoolteachers now, with Faye as the current club captain of a team managed by her dad Francis Fitzpatrick. That Intermediate title-winning team of eight years ago had Aislinn’s father Peter at the helm with Maria O’Donnell.
Faye’s younger sibling Grace Fitzpatrick is expected to line out in midfield this weekend and there are several sets of sisters in the Crossmaglen squad including two of the only three survivors from that last county final appearance, Aveen (Bellew) and Orla Donaldson.
Current captain Faye Fitzpatrick (right) and Aislinn McMahon were just 15 when Cross last won a Championship
Captain Fitzpatrick feels that Crossmaglen just being in the ladies football final offers a refreshing new narrative for the Buttercrane Championship, but she wants her team to make the most of this hard-won opportunity rather than being overawed or letting it pass them by.
While Clann Eireann’s regular rivals Carrickcruppen have much more big game experience as a team than Crossmaglen, there must surely be some scars from being beaten in the final five years running, twice by Harps and thereafter by the current title holders.
By contrast, Crossmaglen are coming into this weekend with a sense of excitement ahead of what will be an entirely new experience for most of their players – Fitzpatrick herself is one of those who have never played football in the Athletic Grounds before.
“We certainly aren’t underestimating the challenge ahead and how good Clann Eireann can be, but we played well against them in the league, we’ve worked hard to get here and want to make sure we put our best foot forward,” insists Faye.
“There’s a freshness from this being a first county final for most of us, so what we might arguably lack in big game experience is offset by not having any bad baggage from losing finals against Clann Eireann.”
Now teaching in the Irish-medium primary school in her native Crossmaglen, Fitzpatrick has fond memories of that 2017 Intermediate title triumph in her mid-teens and is now one of the experienced players enthused by the younger girls who have been pushing through since.
“I think this (breakthrough of getting to a county final again) has been coming for some time and is what we’ve been working towards. We’ve been consistently strong in the league these past couple of seasons and draw confidence from that.
“Our semi-final against Dromintee was a really good game. Both teams saw it as a great chance to reach the county final and they really put it up to us but we came through and the tough test should stand to us.
“I think us getting there this time, after two or three teams have dominated for so long, will encourage clubs around the county to think that they can push on too. The excitement and interest in Cross, in the schools and so forth, is unbelievable and great to see.”
Faye has no personal recollection of Crossmaglen’s last county final and, rather than being burdened by the history of such a decorated club, instead she’s proud to be leading a largely young, upcoming team with nothing to lose and looking forward to a new experience.
She says the manager-captain relationship with her dad has ‘been great’ and that the challenge of having so many dual players in the panel – including herself – is offset by the excitement of competing at the business end of the Senior Championship in both codes.
Crossmaglen captain Faye Fitzpatrick (right) and Clann Eireann’s Cassie Henderson at the Armagh finals launch
Speaking the day before the Orchard camogie semi against the much more established Ballymacnab, former county player Fitzpatrick – who helped Cross to the All Ireland Junior B final two years ago – offered a positive perspective.
“Being competitive at Senior level is where we want to be in both codes and it’s a busy but exciting time. It’s something that can be hard enough to manage, but we’ve been building a new programme of training together and it seems to be working out well at this stage.”
Although Lauren McConville got the opportunity to play with the renowned O’Donnell twins, Bronagh and Alma, and high-profile forward Sharon Duncan early in her Cross career, it is just the Donaldson sisters and Marie Luckie left from that 2007 county final squad.
Anything other than a Clann Eireann win would be a huge upset, especially considering how they have pushed on under manager Gregory McGonigle these past two years, but Crossmaglen being back in the final after so long away will add interest for neutrals this time.
Buttercrane Shopping Centre in Newry are the title sponsors of Armagh ladies gaelic’s adult club championships
