SPECIAL DAY FOR CROSS LEGEND LAUREN
Richard Bullick
Crossmaglen go into this Sunday’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.
Lauren is relishing the prospect of sharing Sunday’s special occasion with her own sister Aoibheann McConville, who missed out on the celebrations back in 2017 as she was studying in Wales at the time.
“Aoibheann was part of the Intermediate-winning panel eight years ago but wasn’t always there due to university commitments in Cardiff. She missed the replay as a result. It’s been great playing alongside her this year and will be a special family occasion for us on Sunday.
“Thinking back to that 2017 Intermediate Championship campaign, the main thing that sicks out for me is grinding out a draw in the original game against Sarsfields in Mullabrack to force a replay,” recalls Lauren.
“I remember giving Aveen Donaldson a shout to get into the square towards the end of the game and I booted the ball in to her. She managed to get a goal to help seal a draw and we went on to win the following weekend in Clonmore.
“I really feel like that game showed the resilience of our team and I think that has been a common feature for us in general over the years. It has taken time to find our feet at Senior level – it’s a big step up to the top teams – but we’ve kept progressing, getting closer.
“We’ve been very lucky with some of the talent that has come up from underage in recent years. I remember the likes of Faye, our captain now, and Aislinn first coming up to play (adult level) and it’s great to see the leaders that they have become on our team.
“We’ve a great mix of youth and experience and it’s definitely stood to us throughout the course of this season. We knew we weren’t far away over the past few years but I suppose this season it just really feels like it has all come together at the right time.”
After showing some great form in Division One, it felt like Crossmaglen might make the big breakthrough of reaching the county final last season but it proved a bridge too far without McConville, who had headed Down Under to play for Gold Coast Suns in the AFLW.
In their taliswoman’s absence, Crossmaglen were well beaten in what was expected to be a much closer semi-final by championship specialists Carrickcruppen, who reached their 15th county final in 17 seasons, a remarkable record.
This time round though, Cruppen were knocked out at the quarter-final stage by Dromintee on a 3-3 to 0-11 scoreline while Crossmaglen had a landslide 5-23 to 0-1 away win against Shane O’Neills in their last eight tie.
It is always a bonus being on the opposite side of the draw to Clann Eireann so this month’s semi-final was seen as a golden opportunity to reach the county final by both south Armagh clubs. Hosts Cross won 1-18 to 2-6 on an afternoon of poor weather.
“We were absolutely delighted to get the job done last Sunday in a match with so much at stake for both teams. Although we were in decent control for most of the game and were winning by five at half-time, Dromintee did threaten at different points.
“They got a goal at the start of the second half, which gave us a bit of a scare, but we did well otherwise and 2-18 was good scoring from our perspective considering the conditions,” reflects Lauren.
Apart from Clann Eireann, Carrickcruppen and Armagh Harps, Dromintee are the only other club to have contested an Orchard county final since Cross were last in the showpiece, having got there in 2012 when beaten by the Lurgan giants in the decider.
While we must credit Clann Eireann for their sustained domestic dominance, Carrickcruppen for being such consistent challengers over many years and Harps for their purple patch at the start of this decade, Crossmaglen’s involvement gives this season’s final a fresh feel.
They’re such a big brand in gaelic football, largely because of the exploits of the men’s team stretching back to when Lauren’s dad Jim McConville captained them to their first All Ireland title in 1997 when she was just a toddler.
Winning this weekend will be a very tall order against a Clann Eireann team with huge championship pedigree, packed with county players and ambitious to go on and complete a hat-trick of Ulster title triumphs under their illustrious manager Greg McGonigle.
Neither Armagh great McConville nor her Cross captain Fitzpatrick are under any illusions regarding the task which awaits them in the Athletic Grounds but neither of them sound defeatist about facing Clann Eireann in the big game.
“Clann Eireann’s record in Armagh is incredible. They are a great team, so we know we will have to be at our best next weekend. It will be a tough battle no doubt but one we’re really looking forward to,” declares McConville who never shies away when the going gets tough.
Fitzpatrick agrees that Crossmaglen just being in the 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.
Speaking the day before Sunday’s camogie semi against the 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 McGonigle these past two years, but Crossmaglen being back in the final after so long away will add interest for neutrals this time.
Consistent Carrickcruppen have bravely shouldered the mantle for so long but now Crossmaglen get their chance while the Lowe’s Lane ladies have the opportunity to chase some well-deserved silverware in the form of the Senior Shield for a change.
