Crossmaglen vs Dromintee
There’s a rich history between Crossmaglen and Dromintee that stretches back almost two decades, when the sides were chasing Senior Championship glory.
Like a lot of teams, Dromintee suffered at the hands of the Rangers during the noughties, but no one endured quite what the St Patrick’s club did.
Five county final appearances and five defeats is how the record stood for Dromintee between 2002-2010, as Cross held their vicelike grip on the Gerry Fegan trophy.
Neither squad would suggest they are close to those levels, but Dromintee may see an opening to get one over their old foes on Sunday.
The current league leaders haven’t fielded since their 2-13 to 1-10 win over Pearse Og way back on the 20th of September 2020.
At that stage, Crossmaglen sat 4th in the table, but have since slipped to second from bottom with two defeats on the trot in recent weeks.
They lost out to the Ogs two weeks ago when an unanswered 1-7 in the second half saw the city side take maximum points, despite Cross leading at the interval.
Similarly last weekend they held the upper hand heading into the half time break, but an injury time goal by Granemore saw Cross lose out.
Stephen Kernan has been forced to field inexperienced lines up over the past few weeks, with several household names either sidelined or missing.
That includes the four county panellists as well as the injured Chris Crowley, Aaron Kernan and Callum Cumiskey to name a few.
The leading lights in Stephen Morris, Cian McConville and Dara O’Callaghan are now trusted with carrying the torch.
Youngsters such as Ronan Fitzpatrick and Caolan Finnegan have been called into the senior panel and were handed debuts on the opening day.
As Dromintee have yet to play a competitive game in 2021, it’s hard to know where they are at and how their form is looking.
Full-back Peter Campbell will be one of the big names missing as he recently endured the dreaded ACL injury, so he will be out for the season.
Aaron McKay has been playing a starring role for Armagh at centre half back and will also be unavailable for Sunday’s encounter.
Dromintee were brilliant in the league last season and will surely be targeting a league title by the time the competition finishes.
With all teams now caught up on six games apiece, John Kennedy’s men remain top of the table with four points to spare over their closest challengers Granemore.
Dromintee were victorious in five of their six outings in 2020, only dropping points in a 1-10 to 1-10 draw with Maghery, who subsequently knocked them out of the championship.
While it is a depleted Crossmaglen side, a win over their South Armagh rivals would be a massive boost for Dromintee’s confidence.
On the other hand, Cross are in desperate need for points as only Killeavy are below them at the bottom of the table. An intriguing tie is to be expected.
