Crosserlough hold off the Gaels in cagey semi-final

SFC semi-final

Crosserlough 0-10

Cavan Gaels 0-8

Paul Fitzpatrick at Kingspan Breffni

Crosserlough returned to a first county final in four years after surviving a late Cavan Gaels onslaught in this forgettable contest at a blustery HQ.

The pre-match favourites led by 0-7 to 0-1 at the end of a very tactical first half in which the Gaels, playing against the wind, were not overly concerned with attacking, mustering just a single shot, which they scored. The rope-a-dope almost paid off as Crosserlough’s panicked shooting kept the Terry Coyle Park men in the contest but while that intriguing sub-plot – could the Gaels somehow eke out enough scores to edge it – kept neutrals interested, the football on show was hard to watch.

An unusual pattern developed early on; at times, Crosserlough, set up in their defensive shell, sat back and the Gaels held possession uncontested. When Crosserlough did win the ball in attacking positions, particularly on the right wing, they adopted a shoot-on-sight policy, which produced mixed dividends in the first half – seven points, seven wides, and two other long-range shots also struck the right upright and were cleared.

It all led to a poor spectacle but that won’t bother the Crosserlough players, although, tiresomely, they were not allowed to speak to the local media after the match, so that much must be presumed.

While to some extent Cavan Gaels’ negative approach could be justified in that they were where they wanted to be, well in the game and exerting pressure in the dying minutes, that was more to do with Crosserlough’s wayward shooting and a couple of moments of magic from Gearoid McKiernan than any tactical masterplan and the truth is that the eventual winners, who were under-cooked given they had been handed a very easy draw to this stage, were vulnerable on the night. The Gaels, then, will have bitter regrets about this one.

The Lough opened the scoring with a 40-metre strike from play from Emmett Boylan but the Gaels soon replied with a well-taken point from target man Luke Molloy.

That score, in the fourth minute, would prove their last until eight minutes into the second half, which tells it all about the pattern of this match; Crosserlough should have been at least 10 up at the break.

Dara McVeety, the best player in the first half, won a free which Brandon Boylan converted to edge Ryan Daly’s men into the lead before defender Paddy O’Reilly bombed over a huge effort from outside the 45.

A 45-metre free from Matthew Costello, off the deck, made it 0-4 to 0-1 after nine minutes. Crosserlough were unfortunate not to push on – they struck the same upright twice and saw Harry Boylan intercept a Gaels kick-out only to spill possession – but they remained in control, albeit rushing shots.

In the 22nd minute, they eventually lumped in a long ball and gained some joy when the break fell to Costello, who squeezed over in tight confines.

Further wides followed but two super strikes from Brandon Boylan and Emmett Boylan ensured the 2020 champions went in holding a useful but far from insurmountable 0-7 to 0-1 lead.

They registered their eighth wide on the restart before the Gaels finally managed a second shot, this one off target. The town side almost got in for a goal but Conor Rehill produced a spectacular block on Evaan Fortune but as the match wore on, there was a sense that a battle-hardened Gaels side were coming into it as Crosserlough grew jittery.

A 40-metre McKiernan free from the wing made it a five-point game and when the resulting Crosserlough kick-out skewed over the sideline – netminder Shane McManus was very good in open play, bold and composed, but the kick-out malfunctioned badly when the Gaels pressed in the last 20 minutes – the Gaels began to sense they could make inroads.

McKiernan then scored one of the points of the championship, taking the ball at pace 45 metres from goal and swinging over a brilliant score, his second in a minute, to make it 0-7 to 0-3, but Kieran Smith came up with a vital white flag at the other end when he rose highest to punch over a McVeety delivery.

James Smith, after an initial Garryowen-style effort, gathered possession and fisted over to settle the nerves but the Gaels were coming. Emmanuel Shehu kicked a good score off the left, then McKiernan won and converted a free to leave four in it with seven minutes to play.

Peter Smith, who had marshalled McKiernan well in the first half, kicked a poor wide and then McKiernan, with another magnificent intervention, sent over a free from 50 metres on the left wing – but Crosserlough responded well when sub Stephen Smith, after good work from Fionn Lovett and Kieran Smith, clipped in a point off the woodwork.

The Gaels weren’t going away, though, and when John Fortune got a fist to a Keenan Donohoe pass to cut the gap to three, it seemed it was anyone’s game.

What looked a harsh call against Kieran Smith for over-carrying was punished by McKiernan to cut the deficit to two, 0-10 to 0-8, and by now Cavan Gaels were dominating Crosserlough’s kick-out and belatedly going for broke.

In this spell, Crosserlough looked nervy, which was perhaps understandable given the pressure they would have felt to return to a county final, and made some poor decisions and poor executions of the basics, such as a bad wide by the normally accurate David Shalvey which would have wrapped it up.

As it was, though, the Gaels hadn’t the quality in the final third to punish them, McKiernan aside, and a couple of big plays from the impressive Fionn Lovett on the home straight helped them over the line.

It was far from a convincing win but, then again, nobody remembers semi-finals or the manner in which they were negotiated. Crosserlough are back in the final; improvement is needed but, stern test passed, it should be forthcoming. Their record in close matches in recent years has not been good and getting the job done here, regardless of how it was done, was all that mattered.

James Smith went off injured with 12 minutes to go, which will be a major concern to the Crosserlough camp, too. With Paddy Lynch already sidelined, the county man would be irreplaceable.

The Gaels, for their part, will rue their passivity in the first half as their wait for a return to the big day is extended to at least eight years, by a distance their longest spell since their record 20-year run without a final appearance which ended in 1998.

Crosserlough: Shane McManus, Kieran Smith, John Cooke, Fionn Lovett, Cian Boylan, Patrick O’Reilly (0-1), Conor Rehill, Emmett Boylan (0-2), Peter Smith, Brandon Boylan (0-2, 1f), Matthew Costello (0-2, 1f), Harry Boylan, Oran Rehill, James Smith (0-1), Dara McVeety

Subs: David Shalvey for C Boylan (temp, 36, reversed 44), Stephen Smith (0-1) for J Smith (48), D Shalvey for E Boylan (51), Ryan Galligan for B Boylan (58), Dylan Harten for H Boylan (60), Michael Donohoe for O Rehill (60)

Cavan Gaels: Ciaran Flynn, John Fortune (0-1), Evaan Fortune, Levi Murphy, Kevin Meehan, Luke Fortune, Padraig Sexton, Luke Molloy (0-1), Robert Maloney-Derham, Emmanuel Shehu (0-1), Gearoid McKiernan (0-5, 4f), Paul O’Connor, Favour Shehu, Jack Tully, Evan McIntyre

Subs: Ben Tully for K Meehan (32), Declan Meehan for F Shehu (43), Niall Murray for E McIntyre, K Donohoe for J Tully (both 48), Andrew Graham for P O’Connor (51)

Ref: Joe McQuillan